Ceara Mullins

Problem Statement

Existing museum toolkits used for generating digital exhibitions are not easily accessible for users who are not archivists and the content is generally dependent on a users’ access to archival content. These tools also typically expect a higher level of digital literacy than most average users have, as the tools are designed as research projects for researchers, professional archivists and museum personnel. There is no cross section between a tool that provides access to archival material that is rich in historical data and a tool that is easily usable and accessible for users with lower levels of digital literacy. The importance of addressing this desire will help users to share their cultural histories and express their heritage with access to digitised archival material, while also having the ability to upload their own heritage artefacts.

Objectives

The main goal was to create a way for people to be able to easily incorporate archival content with rich metadata, with locally uploaded personal content. The text content included in the exhibits had to be able to be formatted and styled. After finishing populating an exhibit, the exhibit needs to be saved and viewable on the browse page.

Services

Archive Browse

The archive browse page contains previews of archival content stored in the database. The previews are stored as cards and users can preview content and add it to their personal tray. The previews display the available metadata of the artefacts. Personalised trays contain items selected and can be used in the exhibition population phase. Click on the Archive Browse heading above or "Browse" in the navigation bar to see more information via the feature page.

Exhibit Population

What is an exhibit?

An exhibit is an empty template created during the template creation phase, that can be populated with content. The content included can be text and images. The images included in the exhibit can be archival images stored in the EXHIBIT database, or locally uploaded content. The text included in the exhibit can be formatted and styled to add context to the exhibit. The purpose of an exhibit can be varied, for example, to showcase content or to create a narrative. Click on the Exhibit Population heading above or in the navigation bar to see more information via the feature page.

Exhibit Viewing

After completing the save, an exhibit is viewable from the browse page, or directly from the population page. The view option loads the exhibit as an HTML page in a new tab. The stylings and data from the template are loaded and then populated with the exhibit content. Click on the Exhibit Population heading above or in the navigation bar to see more information via the feature page.

Evaluation

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluations and interviews were conducted through the use of online tools such as Google Forms and video-conferencing software.

A Wizard of Oz study was conducted in the first phase of prototyping. This was used to inform the requirements gathering that was completed. Some of the features needed to be redesigned and further evaluated, such as the tray system. The original tray system was rigid and did not allow for customisation. The ability to create a personalised tray was expressed so that the system was more efficient and usable.

A system usability survey, followed by an interview and heurisitc evaluation revealed the most insight into the preferable design on the system and some areas available for future work. The feedback revealed that the notification system was inefficient and not informative enough for users. The new notification system, used when a personal image is uploaded and when the exhibit is saved now comprises of a gif showing that the system is loading the request and a toast message for when the process is complete.

Conclusions

The exhibition phase of the project is a population system that incorporates both archival material that is rich in metadata, as well as personalised content to create a diverse exhibit. The tool was developed using the Python CGI module, HTML, JavaScript, Bootstrap CSS and JSON files for database information. The tool is easily usable and accessible to users of various digital literacy levels, this was achieved through extensive user evaluations and testing.

Future Work

Live collaboration was suggested as a feature, but did not fall within the scope of the original project. Managing a more indepth account system would be required in order to achieve a high level of coediting. Another feature would be a history system for trays, to remember old personalised trays or to be able to favourite certain trays. It was also suggested that metadata could be further incorporated in the viewing phase of the exhibition system.

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Literature Review
Final Report
Design Artefacts