Question: Which one of the popular/public
history sites visited makes the most effective use of new media? (And
how?)
Perhaps I am showing my age a bit, but
I find that the more I explore this world of new media, the more I gravitate
toward sites that employ the wisdom of the ages -- “less is more.”
This week's sampling of sites offer several examples of designers who
think in opposite terms, confusing innovation in the realm of new media
with clutter. Indeed, clutter is what comes to mind when entering the
Smithsonian's History
Wired: A Few of Our Favorite Things. The concept of a private
tour of the vast collection of the Smithsonian is appealing. However,
the presentation was over-whelming, and I get a little suspicious of
any web site where I actually need to use their “help” link
to learn how the navigation works. Moreover, while a younger audience
might catch on a lot quicker than I did, the home page map reminded
me of a video game as I moved my cursor back and forth across the screen.
I could see children more interested in “playing” the map
than exploring the objects.
Although The
History Channel and National
Geographic: Remembering Pearl Harbor did not startle quite
like the Smithsonian's site, I still found their home pages evoking
images of a teenager's bedroom - overwhelmingly cluttered. Particularly
with the History Channel site, the home page is broken up into so many
pieces, its difficult to know where to start. I did enjoy the access
to the Kennedy/Nixon debate, but trying to remember how I got to it
was mind-numbing. Mostly, I thought the site was a celebration of video
online which, given the fact that it is developed by the History Channel,
is not surprising. The National Geographic site focused on one historical
topic and was less overwhelming but still not simple. I think that the
“Multimedia map and timeline” is a fascinating use of new
media because it allows visitors to track the Japanese invasion not
only by using sight and sound, but also by employing a map and timeline
in its instruction -- two old standbys in teaching history. And because
graphics and still images are employed along with the narration, the
whole experience evokes feelings of listening to a radio report rather
than watching television, another historical tie-in to the time period.
Before moving on to my pick for the
best use of new media, I'll comment briefly on the popular history site,
Without Sanctuary:
Photographs and Postcards of Lynching in America, collector
James Allen's lynching postcards from the late 19th and early 20th century.
While I thought the design of this site was much better than those discussed
above, I did not find their use of new media to go much beyond access
and multimedia. However, they have created an online community which
I found to be the best part of the site. I think I learned more from
other people's discussion of viewing the images than from my own experience
with them.
The site that I think combines a sophisticated
design with the most effective use of new media while remembering the
“less is more” adage is Devices
of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen. It
was created around an exhibition at the J.
Paul Getty Museum from November 2001 to February 2002 whose purpose
was to explore some of the forerunners to our modern media and optical
devices. Providing access to the exhibit for those of us unable to go
to this California museum is in and of itself important. But this site
is so much more, for it centers around the illusion itself of "playing"
with some of the objects. By clicking and dragging, visitors to the
site can "play" 19th-century parlor games, “manipulate”
early 19th-century Indonesian shadow puppets, and “use”
the early 18th-century French sorceress's mirror. Indeed, in this regard,
new media offers something that virtually no museum would allow us to
do with the real objects. There is also access to some early silent
film, and each device has an “about me” link that allows
the visitor to learn about that particular item. Finally, while there
is a “help” link to learn about using the site, thankfully,
I didn't need to use it --the pop-up circles gave me all the information
I needed. In short, the design was sophisticated yet not overdone, and
the designers employed new media in a way that went well beyond simply
putting the exhibit online. Oh, that others would learn from it.