Skyscrapers in Cyberspace: Maps and History Online (14 May 2004)

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Skyscrapers in Cyberspace: Maps and History Online (14 May 2004)
As museums digitize their collections and cram their Web sites with images of artworks, archaeological artifacts and other cultural treasures, they also must decide how people can sort through the material. Most museum sites offer a search engine and a few chronologically organized virtual exhibitions. But museums, always cost-conscious and often conservative, are rarely inclined to experiment with how information is presented onscreen.

Judy Gradwohl, associate director for public programs at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, said the challenge for museums is to develop onscreen elements that help Web visitors make sense of what they see. "Well-designed collections interfaces offer more than a random walk through cool stuff," Ms. Gradwohl said. "They provide a thematic or narrative framework and a sense of the relationships between objects."

Maps are one approach. The Web site of the Theban Mapping Project (thebanmappingproject.com), based at American University in Cairo, lets visitors use an interactive map to explore the tombs of Thebes. Closer to home, the novelist Thomas Beller links essays and stories about New York to their settings on a satellite map of Manhattan (mrbellersneigh borhood.com).

Article URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/14/arts/design/14SKY.html?ex=1399867200&en=afc9734c0d5452d7&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

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