Wednesday, November 6, 2019
This is Collection Explorer, a generous interface for the collection at the Williams College Museum of Art. The concept of a “generous interface” was developed in response to the limitations of the search box, which acts as a roadblock to many users of online collections. Instead, interfaces like Collection Explorer shows the shape of the whole collection and invites visual exploration. Collection Explorer is one of the first of its kind.
We wanted our audiences to dive into the collection and find objects, connections and ideas that they didn’t even know they were looking for. More than precise answers, we hoped faculty and students would find interesting questions in our collections. We aimed to provide open conversation starters rather than definitive endpoints. Moreover we knew that even world-renowned math scholars could find an art collection intimidating, and come up short when confronted with a keyword search.
The Collection Explorer was created to help faculty and students—especially non-art specialists—to find works of art to use in their own teaching and learning. In practice, the online tool has allowed many audiences, including curators, staff, and specialists, to see the collection in new ways and make unforeseen discoveries.
Session Type30-Minute Session (Presentation or Case Study)
TrackSystems
Chatham House RuleNo
Key Outcomes...recognize the value of generous interfaces for online collections, see an example of one in production, and learn how to implement such an app for their own institution. (Code is open source)
Speaker: Chad Weinard, Independent Museum Technology Strategist, Independent
GLAM Collections on Social Media: Navigating Copyright Questions
Copyright & Open Access for GLAMs in the age of COVID19
Facing Reality: Taking a Visitor-Centered Approach to Augmented Reality
Expanding the vision: A replicable approach to in-museum digital experiences
How to Avoid, Handle, and Recover from Burnout in Digital Communications
How to Train Your Dinosaur: Building a Smart(er) Chatbot
Don't Call it A Kids' Tour!: The Rise of Family-oriented Content
IIIF: Collaboration and Community Built Technological Innovations
Get Inside Their Heads: Learning from visitors
International Copyright Law: Implications for Digital Collections and Collaborations
How the Cleveland Museum of Art is using big data and a data science firm to verify the impact of digital and other stories
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Making More of Open Source
Museums for Digital Learning: A Community of 21st Century Museums, Educators, and Students
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Plague Water for Everyone! How open-source digital publishing tools can organize and amplify multi-partner research projects
Prototypes: Learning Through Making
Staff are Clients, Too: Applying Design Thinking to an Internal-Facing App (That's Still Cool)
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