Why Create an Online Exhibit?

Last week I reviewed an online exhibit, Manifold of Greatness. Overall I thought the exhibit to be well assembled and informative. Reviewing this exhibit made me think about online exhibits more thought than I previously had and as a result I have decided to discuss them in this blog post. Specifically, I will be discussing why one should create an online exhibit and their potential.

Online exhibits are becoming more common and are associated with both museums and archives. An online exhibit can be a stand-alone exhibit (not related to a pre-existing physical exhibit) or it can complement an exhibit currently in existence at a museum or archive. For the purpose of today’s blog post I will be focusing on online exhibits that are an extension of a physical exhibit.

Physical exhibits created by a museum or archive, that displays and explains all of or pieces of a collection are valuable and interesting. But they are bound by the limitations of physical space. This is where and online exhibit can be useful. An online exhibit is not restricted by physical space in the traditional sense (though there can be data restrictions depending on what kind of website you are using), whereas a physical exhibit can only accommodate so many artifacts and can only include minimal text or the exhibit will risk being clunky.

Another upside to creating an online exhibit is accessibility. Perhaps a museum that is located several hours away is putting on an exhibit of medieval tapestries. You are very interested in this subject and want to learn more about this collection. Unfortunately you have neither the time not the resources to go see this exhibit. In such a situation online exhibits can be extremely useful. Knowing that not all those who are interested in the exhibit may be able to attend, the host institution can create an online exhibit that complements the physical one. Therefore the medieval tapestry enthusiast may not receive the same experience as one would by seeing the collection in person, but can access an (often free) alternative.

As stated above the online exhibit is useful as it transcends physical restrictions while also increasing accessibility to a collection. But does that mean that online exhibits should be an exact replica of the physical exhibit? Though some may argue otherwise, I believe that an online exhibit should not mimic the original, but rather complement it.

An online exhibit should be an extension of the physical exhibit and should take advantage of the lack of physical boundaries that the online medium provides. An aim for an online exhibit is to not only attract those who could not make it to see the physical exhibit, but also those who attended the physical exhibit and wish to learn more. Therefore the online exhibit can include more in-depth information and pictures of additional collection pieces that may have been too fragile to put on display. With technology ever progressing there are new techniques, such as 3D imaging, that can allow an online exhibit to be more intriguing and informative that ever before. 

Online exhibits are a valuable project for both archivists and curators to help show their collection and the expand upon the traditional exhibit.

Some examples of good online exhibits:

Queen Victoria's Scrapbook

War of 1812 Exhibit

The Burgess Shale

Manifold Of Greatness: An Exhibit Review

For this blog post I will be doing a review of the online exhibit Manifold of Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible.

To begin, the project Manifold Greatness was undertaken for the 400^th anniversary of the 1611 King James Bible. It was jointly produced by the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Bodleian Library and the Harry Ransom Center. This project was made possible with the National Endowment for the Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom grant. The online exhibit has also won the 2012 RBMS Leab Exhibition Award in the “electronic exhibition” category.

The exhibit is divided into three sections: “Before”, “Making”, and “Later”. This allows for chronological organization without becoming too clunky. The site is visually appealing and easy to navigate through the use of tabs. The site makes use of a variety of mediums and creatively uses them to present their collection. Some of these media are videos, timelines, audio recordings, genealogical charts and collection galleries.

There are a handful of videos throughout the exhibit. They provide further information on the King James Bible or on the development of the exhibit itself. A feature of these videos is the inclusion of  a “Transcript” button. The inclusion of a transcript of the video is important because it provides access to a wider audience who may not be able to view the video.

A critique of the design of the exhibit would be the lack of a “Zoom In” option in the Gallery sections. In the gallery sections the user is able to look at the collection in slideshow format, where they can remain on the current page or enter a full screen mode. While the full screen mode does enlarge the document a bit, there is no feature to get a closer view. This is different from the “Read the Book” section which allows the user to read excerpts from the King James Bible. This section gives the audience the option to zoom in on the pages, allowing for a more detailed exploration of the artifact. I would suggest that the exhibit apply the same function to the rest of their gallery so that users can more closely examine the collection.

The section of the exhibit that I find most interesting is the “Compare Translations” segment. This section of the exhibit allows the user to compare passages from the King James Bible with the same passage form earlier English Bibles. This illuminates decisions that the translators made while transcribing the King James Bible. A handful of chosen verses are put side by side, and an analysis of the differences is provided. I like this section because the creators of the exhibit are not just  making the collection available to the public online, but they are also taking the time to interpret the collection and explain their findings to their audience.

Another section  of note is the “Handel’s Messiah" section. Composed in 1741 George Frideric Handel created “Messiah”, which was shaped by the King James Bible. The exhibit highlights the importance of the King James Bible to Handel’s composition by playing an audio recording of Handel’s work, while highlighting where from the King James Bible this music was inspired from.

Overall this exhibit is well laid out, visually appealing, easy to navigate, makes use of a variety of mediums, and presents the collection in an interesting way. In one of the videos, English Fellow Helen Moore states, “we decided to attempt to celebrate the King James bible, whilst at the same time, bringing to a new audience a knowledge of the processes that went into its making”. I believe Moore achieved this goal by presenting the collection in a creative and accessible way that reaches out to new audiences.