eMuseum: The Web for Museums

Introduction

These are notes on web use for museum staff. They were prepared for a five day workshop for staff from museums of the Pacific Islands Region on the use of computer and telecommunications technologies. It concentrates on Internet and web technologies. It assumes familiarity with using a computer, the Internet and reading web pages.

The workshop was under the auspices of the International Council of Museums (ICOM):

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is an international organisation of museums and museum professionals which is committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible.

Created in 1946, ICOM is a non-governmental organisation maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations' Economic and Social Council.

From: "What is ICOM", 1 July 2005, URL: http://icom.museum/organization.html

The format of these notes is intended to demonstrate the approach recommended for use of the web. The notes are brief and will display quickly (at low cost) on a slow inernet connection. The document will automatically adjust its format for printing. While short, there are links to many pages of material.

The Web, Internet and ICT

1. Internet for Museums
   1. "Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage", UNESCO, 15 October 2003, URL: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=17721&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.
      Exercise: Look at these notes on-line. Now explore the Digital Heritage Charter link.
   2. Protection and promotion of culture in the Pacific: Model Law for the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Culture, from The ACP-EU Courier, No 194 - September-October 2002, European Commission, URL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/publications/courier/courier194/en/en_064.pdf#zoom=100
2. What is the Internet?, from "An unreliable history of the Internet", Tom Worthington, 26 April 2005, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/uhi.html#What
3. What is the World Wide Web?, from "Website Design For Information Technology Professionals: Structuring the Site", Tom Worthington, 1 May 2005, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/structure.html#what

Internet services

1. Search engines, directories: Researching Business Proposals On-line, from "e-Commerce for Small Business: Keeping it simple and inexpensive", Tom Worthington FACS, 21 May 2001, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2001/esb/index.html#Researchin
   Exercise: Find your institution using a search engine. Where else is your cultural content online?
2. E-mail, Newsletters, discussion forums, discussion lists: How to Read and Write E-mail Messages, from the book "Net Traveller - Exploring the Networked Nation", Tom Worthington, ACS 1999, Edition 2, ISBN 0909925771, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/nt/intrnt.html
   Exercise: Find a relevant discussion list and read some of the postings.

Designing web sites

1. Objectives, audience, content and function: Consider the audience and purpose, from "Website Design For Information Technology Professionals: Designing Pages", Tom Worthington, 1 May 2005, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/design.html
   Exercise: What are, or should be, the objectives, audience, content and function of your institution?
2. Site structure and design: Some fundamental technologies used with the web, from "Website Design For Information Technology Professionals: Structuring the Site", Tom Worthington, 1 May 2005, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/structure.html#technologies
   Exercise: What is the site structure for your web site? What should it be?
3. Hosting, domain name, maintenance: Invest in a Domain Name, from "e-Commerce for Small Business: Keeping it simple and inexpensive", Tom Worthington FACS, 21 May 2001, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2001/esb/index.html#domain
   Exercise: What does your institution's domain name tell you about it? What would be a good new name?

Designing Web Pages

1. Flexible Design: Making an Accessible and Functional Website for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Tom Worthington, 5 November 2003., URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2003/bws.html
2. Preparation of text and images: Images, from "Website Design For Information Technology Professionals: Designing Pages", Tom Worthington, 1 May 2005, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/design.html
   Exercise: Apply a Web test tool to your institution's web site and look at the results. How long does the front page take to download with a dialup modem? Is the web page usable without images?
3. HTML basics: The Web on Small Screen, from "Website Design For Information Technology Professionals: The Web on Small Screen", Tom Worthington, 1 May 2005, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/mobile.html
   Exercise: Simplify your institution's for a dialup modem and so it is the web page usable without images.

Promoting Your Web Site and the Future

1. Metadata, from: "Metadata and Electronic Document Management, Tom Worthington, 2004, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2004/dm/mpub.html#metadata
2. Digital Archives: ANU DSpace System, URL: http://dspace.anu.edu.au/
3. RSS, Tom Worthington, 2004, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2004/dm/masticate.html#oai
4. Web services: Web Services Demonstration, Tom Worthington, 2 August 2004, URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/2004/dm/index.html
5. Online Meetings: "Educating the Net Generation", interactive webcast, from learningtimes, 2005, URL: http://home.learningtimes.net/learningtimes?go=810875
6. Intranets: URL: "http://intranet.com/"
7. Museum Questionnaire
8. Workshop Evaluation Form