We create digital products and experiences for startups and arts organisations.
We create digital products and experiences for startups and arts organisations.
We recognised early on that for a collection to thrive it requires nurturing. It cannot remain relevant if its sole purpose is just to be consumed by students.
The collecting of new material needs to be encouraged and the gardening of material already in the collection needs to be encouraged.
Through a series of discovery workshops, interviews and research, we considered the broader ecosystem into which the collection would grow, adapt and fit and set ourselves some questions to answer: How is new material going to be acquired? How do we pull things out from the collection and present them in different contexts?
We created a digital space to explore, discuss and ultimately experience the collection making it relevant for students, researchers, the University and the art world.
Our strategy was to bring the collection to visibility by encouraging users to explore it the way they want, through tagged content, via discussion or by following artists or works.
Users can create events, groups and share discussions centred around the collection as well as contribute their own content. This creates a unique platform for art exploration, discussion and information-sharing. It also provides new context on how archives can be accessed, made relevant and useful and vitally, we’ve seen an important archive brought back to life.
Next steps: A round of usability testing combined with interviews to discover how they are using the system.
“A shared space that we can all use and develop and contribute to ... an important way of developing research practice.”Steven Ball Curator of British Artists Film and Video Study Collection Central Saint Martins