www.hirshhorn.si.edu
From
the producers:
"Our goals for the Web site were to establish an online presence
as a “go-to” place to learn about and engage with modern
and contemporary art, to make our world-class collection globally
accessible, and to effect the same sense of discovery that people
experience at the physical museum. We expected to reach a wide
audience, including drop-in visitors, young students, and seasoned
museum professionals, so we made sure our site offered intuitive
and linear means to learn about our programs, exhibitions, and
collections. Finally, we wanted a site that was easily updated
and maintained by non-technical staff."
The producers' tips:
"Give visitors clear and varied options for accessing content
and provide them unexpected tidbits into what makes your museum
unique. Ease of use, met expectations, and fun surprises will
help you attract and retain an online audience more readily than
employing the latest technical innovations.
Web site projects are labor intensive and planning is everything.
Be sure to spend time brainstorming, benchmarking, and creating
a strategic plan (including long-term maintenance) before plunging
into any major changes regarding your site!
"Know your audience—analyze your inquiries, search
terms used to find your site, and where traffic goes and doesn’t
go within the site in order to discover what visitors are looking
for (and possibly not finding). The more you can anticipate what
people expect, the more likely it is that your online visitation
will increase."
The judges said:
"Very nice and easy use database search. Good content information
with clean presentation."
www.virtualmuseum.ca/English/
From
the producers:
The Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) showcases high-quality
Canadian cultural content developed by museums with an easy-to-use
interface that enables audiences to navigate resources contained
both in centralized databases and hosted on other Web sites. The
core objectives of this initiative, spearheaded by the Canadian
Heritage Information Network (CHIN) which is part of the Government
of Canada, are to provide audiences with increased Canadian choices
on the Internet, to reach new audiences for museums both domestically
and internationally and to enhance the capacity of Canada’s
museums to participate in the knowledge society.
A tip from the producers:
CHIN recommends comprehensive marketing research from your target
audiences during the planning, design and marketing phases to
ensure that the product you are developing is actually what your
audiences expect and need. This ground-breaking initiative presented
key challenges, including developing a collaborative vision with
participating museums, defining a scalable information architecture
to support the integration of the distributed and disparate content,
developing tools to facilitate participation by museums of all
sizes, and developing the portal interface to appeal to audiences
of all ages. To meet these challenges, CHIN held a total of 16
brainstorming sessions with more than 225 museum representatives
to develop the collaborative vision, operating principles and
policies, performance management framework and rules of engagement.
Additionally, 10 public focus groups were held across Canada during
the vision-definition stage and eight more during the portal’s
design phase. Other focus groups or similar audience evaluation
methodologies were undertaken by individual museums that were
developing specific content. Feedback mechanisms, from both the
portal and individual content elements, continue to provide opportunities
for the public to shape the VMC. Furthermore, new VMC content
is being added on an ongoing basis. As a result, the VMC is an
award-winning museum portal that received approximately 3 million
visits in its first year of operation.
The judges said:
"Good, educational and sophisticated site with rich content."
The Collection in Context, Asia Society
(http://asiasocietymuseum.org/)
The judges said: "Very nice design and easy navigation.
In general, this site is really good for novice user with extend
information to learn more about Asian art."
Connecticut History on Line, Mystic Seaport
(http://www.cthistoryonline.org)
The judges said: "Very comprehesive information for
all audiences including novice users, students, and teachers.
The site is really good and easy to use."
