The digital transformation of galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) has opened new avenues for engaging audiences worldwide. Digital exhibits offer a dynamic way to present collections and narratives, making cultural heritage more accessible. This article delves into some of the leading technology platforms that assist GLAM institutions in creating compelling digital exhibits, evaluating their strengths, limitations, and notable examples of use.
Adobe Express
Adobe Express is an intuitive, versatile tool that can significantly enhance the creation and presentation of digital exhibits for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAMs). With its range of design templates, multimedia integration, and easy-to-use interface, Adobe Express allows institutions to craft visually compelling and interactive digital exhibits without the need for extensive technical expertise.
Features and Strengths
- Design Templates: Adobe Express offers a wide variety of pre-designed templates that can be customized to fit the specific needs of an exhibit. This includes templates for posters, social media posts, web pages, and more.
- Multimedia Integration: The platform supports the incorporation of various media types, including images, videos, and audio, allowing for rich, engaging content. This multimedia approach can help bring exhibits to life and provide a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
- Ease of Use: With its drag-and-drop interface, Adobe Express is accessible to users with varying levels of design experience. This user-friendly approach allows GLAM institutions to create professional-quality exhibits quickly and efficiently.
- Brand Consistency: Adobe Express enables institutions to maintain consistent branding across all digital content. This is crucial for building a recognizable and professional online presence.
- Collaboration: The platform supports collaborative work, allowing multiple team members to contribute to the design and creation process, which can be particularly useful for larger projects.
Limitations
- Limited Advanced Features: While Adobe Express is excellent for basic to intermediate design tasks, it may lack some advanced features available in other Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator.
- Subscription Model: Access to the full range of Adobe Express features requires a subscription, which might be a consideration for smaller institutions with limited budgets.
Curatescape
Curatescape is a mobile and web-based platform designed for storytelling and digital exhibits. It allows institutions to create location-based narratives, incorporating multimedia content such as images, audio, and video. Curatescape is particularly suited for outdoor exhibits and heritage trails, offering an engaging way to explore cultural heritage. Examples include the Cleveland Historical project and the Fremont Historical Society using Curatescape for local history tours. The platform’s reliance on mobile technology might limit accessibility for audiences without smartphones or reliable internet access.
Features and Strengths
- Location-Based Storytelling: Curatescape leverages geolocation technology to create place-based narratives. This allows users to explore stories tied to specific locations, enhancing the context and engagement of exhibits.
- Multimedia Integration: The platform supports various media types, including images, audio, video, and text. This multimedia approach helps create rich, engaging narratives that appeal to diverse audiences.
- User-Friendly Interface: Curatescape is designed to be easy to use, both for institutions creating content and for end-users interacting with the exhibits. The platform’s intuitive design ensures a smooth user experience.
- Responsive Design: The platform is optimized for both web and mobile devices, ensuring that exhibits are accessible to users regardless of their device. This is particularly important for location-based storytelling, where users might be exploring sites in real-time on their smartphones.
- Customizable and Scalable: Curatescape offers customization options that allow institutions to tailor the platform to their specific needs. Additionally, it can handle projects of varying sizes, making it scalable for both small and large institutions.
- Community and Support: Curatescape has a supportive community and offers resources such as tutorials and documentation. This helps institutions get the most out of the platform and troubleshoot any issues.
Limitations
- Dependence on Mobile Technology: The platform’s reliance on mobile devices for location-based features might limit accessibility for audiences without smartphones or reliable internet access.
- Technical Setup and Maintenance: While user-friendly, setting up Curatescape and integrating it with existing systems can require technical expertise. Ongoing maintenance and updates might also necessitate technical support.
- Cost Considerations: While Curatescape offers valuable features, there are costs associated with its use, which might be a consideration for smaller institutions with limited budgets.
Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture is a powerful platform that allows GLAM institutions to create interactive digital exhibits. It offers high-resolution images, virtual tours, and tools to build engaging stories around collections. The platform’s extensive reach and user-friendly interface are significant advantages, making it easy for institutions to showcase their collections to a global audience. Notable examples include the Van Gogh Museum’s virtual tour and the Rijksmuseum’s Night Watch. However, some institutions may find the customization options limited compared to other platforms.
Features and Strengths
- High-Resolution Imaging: Google Arts & Culture allows institutions to upload high-resolution images of their artifacts, enabling users to explore details that might be missed in person. The zoom feature provides an in-depth look at artworks and artifacts.
- Virtual Tours: The platform supports 360-degree virtual tours, allowing users to virtually walk through museums and galleries from anywhere in the world. This feature is particularly beneficial for institutions looking to reach a global audience.
- Storytelling Tools: Google Arts & Culture offers tools to create narrative-driven exhibits. Institutions can combine images, videos, audio, and text to build comprehensive stories around their collections, enhancing user engagement.
- Extensive Reach: As part of Google, the platform has a vast audience. Exhibits created on Google Arts & Culture can reach millions of users worldwide, increasing visibility and engagement for institutions.
- User-Friendly Interface: The platform is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, both for creators and end-users. This ease of use helps institutions create and share content quickly and effectively.
- Educational Resources: Google Arts & Culture provides resources for educators, allowing institutions to create educational content and lesson plans. This feature helps museums and libraries engage with schools and students.
- Cross-Platform Accessibility: The platform is accessible via web browsers and a mobile app, ensuring users can explore exhibits on various devices. This accessibility broadens the audience and allows for greater interaction.
Limitations
- Customization Options: While user-friendly, Google Arts & Culture may have limited customization options compared to other platforms. Institutions looking for highly tailored exhibits might find the platform somewhat restrictive.
- Content Ownership: Institutions should be aware of content ownership and usage rights when uploading to a third-party platform like Google. It’s important to review and understand the terms and conditions.
- Technical Requirements: High-resolution imaging and virtual tours require good technical infrastructure. Institutions without high-quality imaging equipment or technical support might face challenges.
Matterport
In the realm of digital exhibits, Matterport stands out as a cutting-edge platform, transforming how Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAMs) present their collections. Matterport’s 3D capture technology enables the creation of immersive, interactive virtual tours, allowing institutions to showcase their spaces and artifacts in unprecedented detail.
Features and Strengths
- 3D Capture Technology: Matterport uses advanced 3D scanning technology to create highly detailed and accurate virtual replicas of physical spaces. This allows users to explore exhibits as if they were physically present.
- Virtual Tours: The platform supports the creation of interactive virtual tours, enabling users to navigate through spaces at their own pace. This feature is particularly valuable for museums and galleries looking to provide remote access to their exhibits.
- Dollhouse View: Matterport’s unique “dollhouse” view provides a 3D floor plan of the entire space, offering an overview that helps users understand the layout and context of the exhibit.
- Interactive Features: Institutions can enhance their virtual tours with interactive elements such as information tags, multimedia content, and links. These features allow for deeper engagement and provide additional context to the exhibits.
- Cross-Platform Accessibility: Matterport tours can be accessed on various devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. This ensures that users can explore the exhibits from anywhere, at any time.
- Easy Integration: The platform allows for easy integration with websites and social media, helping institutions share their virtual tours with a wider audience. Embedding Matterport tours on an institution’s website is straightforward and enhances online engagement.
- Analytics: Matterport provides analytics tools that allow institutions to track user engagement and understand how visitors interact with their virtual tours. This data can be used to improve the exhibits and enhance user experience.
Limitations
- Cost: The advanced 3D capture technology and hosting services come with associated costs, which might be a barrier for smaller institutions with limited budgets.
- Technical Expertise: Creating high-quality 3D scans and setting up interactive tours requires some technical expertise. Institutions may need to invest in training or hire external professionals.
- Hardware Requirements: Capturing 3D images requires specific hardware, such as a Matterport Pro2 camera or compatible 360 cameras. This additional equipment represents an initial investment.
Museum in a Box
Museum in a Box offers an innovative approach to digital exhibits by combining physical objects with digital content. Institutions can create “boxes” that contain replicas of artifacts accompanied by audio or visual content, which users can interact with through a smartphone or tablet. This platform is particularly effective for educational purposes, providing a tactile and immersive learning experience. Notable examples include the British Museum’s “Museum in a Box” project and Museum in a Box’s use by schools to enhance classroom learning. However, the physical component means that it might not be entirely digital and can incur additional costs for production and shipping.
Features and Strengths
- Physical and Digital Integration: Museum in a Box combines physical replicas of artifacts with digital content. Each artifact can trigger multimedia content when interacted with through a smart device, offering a blended learning experience.
- Educational Focus: The platform is designed to enhance learning and engagement, making it ideal for schools and educational programs. It helps students connect with cultural heritage through hands-on interaction and immersive storytelling.
- Customizable Content: Institutions can customize the content associated with each artifact, including audio narratives, videos, and images. This flexibility allows for tailored educational experiences that meet specific learning objectives.
- Tactile Learning: The physical aspect of Museum in a Box supports tactile learning, which can be particularly beneficial for younger audiences and those with special educational needs. The tangible nature of the artifacts helps reinforce learning through touch and interaction.
- Scalable and Portable: The boxes are designed to be portable, making it easy to share and distribute them to various locations, including classrooms, libraries, and community centers. This scalability allows institutions to reach a wider audience.
- Interactive and Engaging: By combining physical touchpoints with digital media, Museum in a Box offers an engaging and interactive experience. This interaction helps to keep users interested and actively participating in the learning process.
Limitations
- Production and Shipping Costs: Creating and distributing the physical components of Museum in a Box can incur additional costs. Institutions need to consider the expense of producing replicas and shipping them to various locations.
- Technical Setup: While the platform is user-friendly, setting up the digital components and ensuring smooth integration with the physical artifacts requires some technical knowledge.
- Limited to Physical Distribution: Unlike fully digital platforms, Museum in a Box relies on the physical distribution of artifacts. This can limit immediate accessibility and requires logistical planning.
Omeka
Omeka is a flexible, open-source web-publishing platform ideal for creating and managing digital exhibits. It allows institutions to display collections and curate interactive online exhibits with ease. Omeka supports a wide range of plugins that enhance functionality, enabling institutions to tailor the platform to their specific needs. The main limitation is the technical expertise required to set up and maintain the platform, which might be a barrier for smaller institutions without dedicated IT staff. An example of Omeka’s use is the History of Science Collections at the University of Oklahoma, which showcases rare manuscripts and artifacts.
Suffragette Stories
This is the Website for the Heritage Lottery funded Suffragette Stories project which used material from the archives of leading suffragettes, Annie Kenney and Jessie Kenney, to inspire conversations in Norfolk schools and community libraries about forgotten legacies and the history of women’s equality.
Features and Strengths
- Open-Source Flexibility: Being open-source, Omeka offers extensive customization options. Institutions can tailor the platform to meet their specific needs by modifying the code or adding plugins.
- Exhibit Building: Omeka allows for the creation of complex, multi-page exhibits with rich multimedia content. Institutions can easily combine images, videos, audio, and text to create engaging and informative presentations.
- Metadata Management: The platform supports robust metadata standards, making it easier to catalog and manage digital collections. This ensures that all items in the collection are searchable and well-organized.
- Community and Support: Omeka has a strong user community and a wealth of resources available, including forums, documentation, and tutorials. This support network is invaluable for troubleshooting and learning best practices.
- Plugins and Themes: Omeka’s extensive library of plugins and themes allows institutions to extend the platform’s functionality. These add-ons can enhance everything from user experience to backend management.
- Cost-Effective: As an open-source platform, Omeka is free to use. While there may be costs associated with hosting and customization, it remains a cost-effective solution compared to many proprietary platforms.
Limitations
- Technical Expertise Required: Setting up and maintaining Omeka can require a fair amount of technical knowledge, particularly when it comes to customization and plugin integration. Smaller institutions without dedicated IT staff might find this challenging.
- Hosting Requirements: Institutions need to manage their own hosting, which involves additional costs and technical responsibilities. This might be a barrier for some organizations.
- Performance: Depending on the hosting environment and the size of the collection, performance issues can arise. Large databases and extensive multimedia content can slow down the platform if not managed properly.
Smartify
Smartify is an innovative platform that allows galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) to create interactive digital exhibits using advanced image recognition technology. By transforming how audiences engage with art and artifacts, Smartify provides an immersive and educational experience, making cultural heritage more accessible and engaging.
Features and Strengths
- Cross-Platform Accessibility: Smartify tours can be accessed on various devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. This ensures that users can explore the exhibits from anywhere, at any time.
- Image Recognition: Smartify’s technology lets users scan artworks with their smartphones to get detailed information, audio guides, and multimedia content about the items. This feature enhances the visitor experience with immediate insights.
- Interactive Content: The platform supports the integration of various types of content, including text, audio, video, and interactive elements, providing a richer and more engaging narrative around exhibits.
- Personalized Experience: Smartify allows users to create personal collections of their favorite scanned items. This feature encourages deeper engagement and enables users to revisit their collections anytime.
- Accessibility: The app makes exhibits more accessible to a global audience by providing content in multiple languages and offering features that cater to diverse user needs, such as audio descriptions for visually impaired users.
- Analytics: Smartify offers institutions detailed analytics on user engagement, helping them understand visitor behavior and preferences. This data can inform future exhibit designs and marketing strategies.
- Integration with Existing Systems: Smartify can be integrated with an institution’s existing collection management systems, making it easier to manage and update digital content.
Limitations
- Initial Setup and Cost: Implementing Smartify requires an initial setup that might include digitizing collections and integrating the platform with existing systems, which can be resource-intensive. The cost of the service may also be a consideration for smaller institutions.
These platforms provide essential tools for GLAM institutions to create engaging and accessible digital exhibits. The choice of platform will depend on the specific needs, resources, and goals of the institution, but each of these options offers unique strengths that can help bring collections and stories to a global audience.
