Online Exhibitions and Archives:An Immersive Experience for Design

Students

Jane Devine Mejia2 November 2009

CETLD partners: collections and higher education

(2005-2010)

Online Exhibition Project goals

• to learn from best practice and existing research about online exhibitions and HE art & design audiences;

• to design a sustainable online exhibition learning site;

• to find effective ways of engaging design students and tutors with archives, particularly those in practice-based disciplines;

Models of best practice: inviting user involvement

Democratising curatorship: myVirtualGallery

2 Willow Road: Ernö Goldfinger, architectA modernist house and its archive

Jalbum Fotoplayer: an open source solution

Images courtesy of the Royal Institute of British Architects British Architectural Library and the University of Brighton Design Archives

Web album software: www.fotoplayer.com

An immersive experience for undergraduate design students

Visiting, documenting, exploring archives, blogging, creative practice

Undergraduate design students: an audience profile

• Predominantly female ( 70%+)• Ages 18-25 • Dyslexia is significant factor for 21-35%

• Makers, not writers• Proficient in use of social media• No experience with archives

Observations

• Academic vs. social networks

• Blogging (or not): image vs. text

• Recalling the physical: encouraging reflective practice

Participatory Online Exhibitions: Elgg Community@Brighton

Closing Remarks

• Web 2.0 sites such as Flickr and Creative Spaces encourage self-directed exploration and participation – online exhibitions need to incorporate these concepts

• Don’t be afraid to experiment , take risks and even make mistakes: the benefit of Web 2.0 tools is flexibility and collaborative learning

• Consider partnering with an HE institution to develop content and build reusable learning resources as part of your online exhibition