Alison Bean: Online Exhibitions- Top tips and creating the buzz -

www.postalheritage.org.uk

Online Exhibitions- Top tips and creating

the buzz -Alison Bean

The British Postal Museum & Archive


Who are we?The British Postal Museum & Archive was

established in 2004 to manage the public records of The Royal Mail Archive, and to develop access to the museum collections of the former National Postal Museum, which closed in 1998.


LocationsFreeling House,

London• Storage of Archive

and high-value material

• Public Search Room

• Small exhibition space

Museum Store, Essex

• Storage of Museum collection (large objects)

• Some public access and events


In-house exhibitions

Space is limited to three display cabinets in our Search Room used to display philatelic material


Museum Store displays

• Primarily a working Museum Store, although objects are arranged with visitors in mind

• No room for exhibitions


New CentreA new home for the British Postal Museum &

Archive, opening in 2013 in Swindon. It will offer the full Museum and Archive experience for the first time.


Online exhibitionsOnline versions of real life exhibitions

e.g. Designs on Delivery: GPO Posters 1930-1960


Online exhibitionsBenefits• An affordable way to mount an exhibition• Raises the profile of a real-life exhibition• Raises the profile of the institution• Demonstrates what an institution can do• Provides greater access to the exhibition and

collection• Online exhibitions allow you to display more

material, in more detail, than you could in real life


Online exhibitionsGentleman on Stamps – Stamp designs


Making the most of online• If you don’t have the budget for a bespoke

mini-site, get a flexible CMS designed with online exhibitions in mind

• Structure your exhibition to suit the medium• Text should be engaging, intelligent and

interesting rather than short for short’s sake• Consider what different audiences will want or

expect (i.e. zoomable high quality images)


Making the most of online• Add details and extras for those that want them

– Informative image captions– Links to related material on your website and

elsewhere– Related products you may be selling

• Include multimedia elements– Audio and video– 3D scans– Interactive elements and comments boxes


Social media and web 2.0

Build, generate and target audiences, and let them find you through tags and searches– Blog and tweet about the progress and process

of your exhibition– Put material from your exhibition on sites such

as Flickr or You TubeFlickr is a cheap and easy alternative to

building an online exhibition from scratch


Using FlickrFlickr Groups• Add your photos

to special interest groups (e.g. London at war)

• Members will not only view your pictures, but may know more about them than you!


Using FlickrFlickr Notes• The notes feature in

Flickr allows you to draw a box around part of a photo and annotate it.

• The annotation can include a hyperlink

• Any Flickr user can add a note


Using Flickr


AragoAn innovative

website from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum– Online catalogue– Online

exhibitions portal

– Volunteer involvement

– User interactivity

http://www.arago.si.edu/




Alison Bean: Online Exhibitions- Top tips and creating the buzz -

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