m m interactive applications0708 assignment a 2

Politecnico Di Milano

ASSIGNMENT ‘A’ - ANALYSIS

MULTIMEDIA INTERACTIVE APPLICATIONS FOR THE WEB AND MOBILE DEVICES

2006-2007

Analysis and comparison among three different websites on Museum

using different dimension

Instructor: Prof. Paolini Paolo

Submission Date: 5/11/2007 Submitted By ID: 707241 Ferdous Mohammad Jannatul Master of Science in Computer Engineering

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Table of Contents Executive summery ..........................................................................................................................2

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................3

2. Design Analysis of Hermitage Museum Website ........................................................................4

2.1 Content of the site..........................................................................................................4

2.2 Information architecture ................................................................................................4

2.2.1 Home page and Top level pages....................................................................4

2.2.2 Navigational Structure ...................................................................................4

2.2.3 Search and Search Engine .............................................................................5

2.2.4 Landmarks .....................................................................................................5

2.3 General interface ...........................................................................................................5

2.3 Multimedia features.......................................................................................................5

2.4 Interaction......................................................................................................................7

3. Design Analysis of Vatican Museums Website ...........................................................................6





3.2.3 Landmarks .....................................................................................................7



3.4 Interaction......................................................................................................................8

4. Design Analysis of Guggenheim Museums Website ...................................................................8





4.2.3 Search and Search Engine .............................................................................9

4.2.4 Landmarks .....................................................................................................9



4.4 Interaction......................................................................................................................9

5. Comparison among the websites................................................................................................10

6. Conclusion..................................................................................................................................11


Executive Summery The Museums Association definition (adopted 1998) is: “Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artifacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.” and my analysis is on museum websites regarding design analysis (benchmarking) using different dimension. The main four dimensions are content of the website, information architecture, interface, multimedia feature and interaction. The following three websites have been analyzed and comprised using different dimensions. The famous St Petersburg Hermitage Museum website provides virtual viewings, excursions, 3D images and digital collections which give importance on both artworks and information about the museums. Homepage contains both index and introduction and it has six sections of landmarks. The information architectures are tree, linear and also hyper-textual structure which is called mixed architecture. Interface template is same for all pages except hermitage shop section containing header, graphical image, landmarks, quick links & search option. Multimedia features are still images with zooming, 3d-view image, animation and interactive map. The main interactions are zooming, rotating, enlarging (part of the images), traversing interactive map and navigation. The famous Vatican Museum website provides online tour and online digital huge art collection of the museum which emphasis mostly on the collection and artworks. Homepage contains both index and introduction and two landmarks are dedicated to online collection. The information architectures are tree, linear and also hyper-textual structure which is called mixed architecture like Hermitage Museum website. Interface template is almost for all pages except sub-index is organized in different way in some sections like beside a sketch image or without image. Interface contains header graphical image and landmarks. Multimedia features are images, maps (without interaction) and pictures. The interactions are zooming, rotating, enlarging the part of the images, traversing inside the image and navigation. The Guggenheim Museum website of New York provides general information, history of the building, calendar and events about the museum, educational resources, current exhibitions, membership etc. The most highlighted part of this site is information about the museum and on the visit. Home page is index type and contains more landmarks. The information architecture is tree (hierarchical) info-architecture. The interface template is same for most of the pages and includes a header with the landmarks and a table of contents of the current section. Multimedia features are only images and pictures with no interactive option except enlarging some images which is interaction.

Vatican Museum website(Index & introduction, mixed info-arch,

quick search, image, still map)

Guggenheim Museum website(Introduction, tree hierarchical, no

search, image & pictures)

Hermitage Museum website(Index & introduction, mixed info-architecture, advance and QBIC

search, 3d-view image &animation, interactive map)

Museum

Figure 1: A brief graphical comparison among websites

The content of the websites are very similar where every website has information on the museum and an online collection section with some selected pieces from the museum collection. What the changes from one website to another website is where they emphasis and how they represent the content.


1. Introduction This report is generated to design analysis (benchmarking) and a brief comparison using different dimension regarding content, information architecture, interface, multimedia & interaction for three museum websites and those are the Hermitage Museum, the Vatican Museums and the Guggenheim Museum of New York. The resulting report can be used to make the design for a new website in the small museums of Fine Arts filed. The design part has been analyzed according to the following dimensions and after that a brief comparison has been shown into table. First the content of each museum website has been described. The content of the website undoubtedly the most important part of the website, which is the king and it is not only informs the reader about the subject but also educate readers. The second dimension is the information architecture which makes the content attractive, effective, accessible and so on. It has been split in to Homepage and Top level page, Navigational structure, search & search engine and Landmarks to better understanding. Home page or Top level is the first page to access the site and also the first impression of the site, which make the decision for most of the users (visitors) to enter in to entire site or not. Navigational structure or organization is the most crucial part of Info-architecture which indicates the way how is navigation organized across the site. Three types of organizations of information units are linear, tree (hierarchical) and hyper-textual (network). Search & Search Engine is useful for the user to find some related information from the website quickly by putting keywords. Landmarks are the simple links which are present in every page during navigation and it usually represent in the different section of the website.

Figure 2: An example of a Tree (hierarchical) with nonhierarchical connections

Thirdly, interface analysis is another dimension which defines how the content is represented and structured in the page and what is the general style of the site. This issue also concern about labels, graphics and grouping etc. And multimedia feature is the fourth analysis that is beside text and data such as photos, images, panoramic photos, audio or video, 3D constructions and animation. It basically enriches the websites content. Finally, the interaction feature is the last dimension which is related to navigation links including image or audio-video control or any kind of media interaction like zooming, interactive maps etc. Basically, it provides the functionality of the website and response with the user request.

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2. Design Analysis of Hermitage Museum Website 2.1 Content of the site: Hermitage Museum Website (www.hermitagemuseum.org) is a small-medium size website which starts with the cover home page and contains the general introduction about the museum for the visitor in the main home page. There is lots of content about the museum are present such as general information, description about exhibition complex and center structure, visitor information and so on in the information section. Visitors can learn about the collections of different categories such as antique, oriental art etc and know about the future, current or past exhibitions. This site offers huge digital collection, different educational programs and continuously refreshing news and updated information of the site. They can also know about the ticket cost, look at the museum’s map, what the services are and how to buy something in the shop or to write a feedback. Visitors can visit a virtual gallery, look at exhibits of the museum in high resolution, or choose a section with the selected masterpieces of the collections. A big on-line collection is available, and search mechanisms are provided to explore it. It is also possible to learn about the museum treasures by reading detailed descriptions and watching pictures. For any kind of works a brief introduction is available, with images as well. 2.2 Information architecture 2.2.1 Home page and Top level pages: Users get the Cover page as home page with a nice image and language option when they first hit on this site. We can also call it as a type of appetizer home page. User gets the actual home page (top level) after selecting the language witch is combination of index and introduction. It offers the main menu and brief introduction about the museum. There are also sub top level page are present for buying ticket and hermitage shopping. There are also some quick links are present with an interactive image and alternative hypertext such as virtual visit, ticket booking etc. 2.2.2 Navigational Structure Basically, navigation structure of this site is organized using mixed architecture. The main structure of this site is tree (hierarchical) structure. There are three different menus use for navigation: the section landmarks of the website, index of the selected section and the list of quick links. This site uses the linear information unit in some sections such as artwork inside the digital collection. Here images are shown linearly one after another according to browsing result. The tree structure is not strict here because of connection between different level elements such as general information is connected with the information node and also with site map node. So the hyper-textual (network) structure is also present in this site to establish arbitrary connection between elements.

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Figure 3: An example of navigation structure of this site with additional nonheirarchical connction

2.2.4 Search and Search Engine This museum website provides quick search functionality from every page. Visitor can search any content of this site by putting “keyword” or related word to get the related topic. It also offers advanced search in the digital collection and QBIC search by selecting colors from a palette or by sketching shapes on a canvas. Moreover, all searches are done across this museum website. 2.2.5 Landmarks Two groups of landmarks are present in Hermitage Museum Website. Both groups are presented in every page and maintain its position constantly. First contains quick links to practical information, such as museum services, calendar, feedback etc. Another group of landmarks is situated below the header image and appears when a visitor chooses a section from the index menu in the homepage; it represents the list of the sections of the website. 2.3 General interface The interface of this site uses the same template for all pages except hermitage shop section (uses another template and top level page). Each page normally contains header graphics image with section name, group of landmark, quick links including image link, navigation link, sub index and body content of the page. Search option is available in every page with an attractive background image. 2.3 Multimedia features Multimedia is an important part for this web site to enrich the information. This website uses relevant media features such as still images, 3d-views and animations. Still images are present beside the link text like “SHOP ONLINE”, “Virtual visit” in the Top level Page. 3D-views images of the room & gallery are available in the “Virtual visit” and “Virtual viewings” sections. Each section contains separate header image with the title and main index. There are also Artworks are described as images with zooming option using a special tool in the “Virtual academy”.


2.4 Interaction The interaction of this website starts from the cover home page of this website by choosing site language. There are lot of interaction are present in the home page after choosing the language it appears. Two groups of Landmarks and quick links are the first level interaction of the tree (hierarchical) structure. Quick links contain both hypertext label and graphical image link interaction to redirect in to same destination node. One group of landmarks top menu is divided in to section and each section has left index menu to interaction details. There are some other interaction is also present when user visit virtually into digital collection or virtual academy to navigation material’s image and text or large image of that. 3. Design Analysis of Vatican Museum Website 3.1 Content of the site: Vatican Museum website (http://mv.vatican.va/StartNew_EN.html) offers an online exhibit of a part of the huge art collection of the museum. Only a relatively small amount of pieces of the collection is available as content in the site. It includes images and descriptions of the paintings and frescos contained in some selected rooms of the museum. The website also allows the user to access some general information, including a brief history of the museum, the forthcoming related events, and practical information like opening hours, transportation and visitor services. The most part of the website is dedicated to the navigation and browsing of the selected art collection, including artwork index and details, sorted by building and room in which they are contained. For every piece of the online collection, images and detailed description are available. The description includes historical context, brief author information, and depiction of the art technique used by the author. It is possible to navigate through the online collection, to have a virtual visit of the museum and to access to a small list of the most important pieces. 3.2 Information architecture 3.2.1 Home page and Top level pages: The homepage contains a brief introduction of the museum, and Landmarks links of the sections of the website which define an introduction and index homepage. For every section, the homepage offers a list of the subsections, as an index of its contents. It is not much appetizing for the user but it is easily understandable for the user about the inside content immediately what the user can find. 3.2.2 Navigational Structure The navigational structure starts from the home page and then chooses the various sections and subsections until the desired page is reached which follows the tree (hierarchical) structure of the pages but also from other pages that have a related content, even if they are in a different section or subsection. So, hyper-textual (network) structure is also present here. For example, in the museum history page, quick links to the online collection allow the user to reach the page with images and description of paintings or rooms mentioned in the paragraphs about history. It also


uses linear info-architecture for simple group of view such as viewing ”Sistine Chapel” in the virtual tour in the online tour section.

Vatican museum

Vatican Museums Online Virtual Tours Info Museums Help

History of the Vatican Museums

Brief History

Gregorian Etruscan Museum

Etruscan Museum

Figure 1: An example of navigation structure of this site with additional nonhierarchical connection

3.2.3 Landmarks There are three landmarks, and therefore three sections, one for the online collection, one for the online visit, and one for all the other information about the museum. The links to the sections, present in the homepage, are replicated in every page as landmark; they do not change their position in the screen during the navigation. The online collection landmark includes also the highlighted selection of artworks. As there are just three landmarks, every section includes many pages. 3.3 General interface The interface of this site uses the same template for all pages except sub-index in the body section. Every page contains header graphics image with landmarks name, sub index (without homepage) and body content of the page. Sub-indexes are placed beside still images in the Vatican Museums Online and Online Tour and others are only text links. Search option is not available in any page of this site. 3.3 Multimedia features The multimedia content of the website, which helps presenting the museum collection, consists basically in photos and images of painting, frescos and artworks, and in panoramic photos of the rooms, that allow the user to experience a virtual visit of the museum. The visitor has the possibility to select single parts of a painting or fresco to obtain detailed description of that part. There are also maps of the buildings of the museum, but they are not interactive.


3.4 Interaction The interaction of this site basically starts from the home page after introductory animation. Home page only contains hypertext links of landmarks and no image link is presents through out all pages except image interaction. Most of the images are interactive in the Museums online and online tour sections. The interactions are zooming, rotating, enlarging the part of the images, traversing inside the image etc. 4. Design Analysis of Guggenheim Museum Website 4.1 Content of the site: Guggenheim Museum website (http://www.guggenheim.org/new_york_index.shtml) of New York allows the user to get different types of information about the museum. This Museum site offers general information, history of the building, calendar and events about the museum; separate sections are dedicated to educational resources available for the users, current exhibitions, and practical information on the visit to the museum. Another section contains all the information about the museum collection, both the artworks, with descriptions and images, and the authors, with biography and related books. Online collection covers a major part of the actual collection of the museum. For every work, the description includes year of creation and acquisition, physical dimension and artistic technique, and a short review, regarding main themes and styles, artistic movement and emotional content of the work. 4.2 Information architecture 4.2.1 Home page and Top level pages: The homepage of the Guggenheim Museum website of New York is composed by a header with the list of landmarks, represented by a small picture, and a content area. This website synthesizes the content into list of titles and images (landmarks) and provides to access them which is called index type home page. Inside it there are quick links that allow the user to reach immediately some pages that are particularly relevant or frequently accessed, and other pages that are not included in any section. The page contains a small amount of text, and the attention is focused on the pictures in the header. 4.2.2 Navigational Structure The structure of the site is composed by few levels: sections are made up by subsections and every subsection consists often of a single page; this implies a great number of subsections. The organization of the pages is represented by a simple tree (hierarchical), and there are no “transversal” links that connect pages belonging to different parts of the site. During the navigation, the current section and subsection are highlighted; this makes the “history” unnecessary, as the user can always reach the home page, the sections and the subsections from the header and no other information is needed to reconstruct his path in the site.


4.2.3 Search and Search Engine The websites allows the user to search the online collection by artist, title, date and artistic movement, and there is also the possibility to try a quick search by keyword from the homepage. It returns the list of search result heading with little description which matches with the keywords. 4.2.4 Landmarks The landmarks of this website are presented in the header of all the pages including the quick search form and links to all the sections of the site. One landmark is used only to reach the online collection, and all the other regard information about the museum, for example practical information on the visit, membership and exhibitions. 4.3 General interface The template of this site is constant for most of the pages and includes a header with the landmarks and a table of contents of the current section; the contents are in the lower part of the page. The disposition of the landmarks in the header changes a little from one page to another, as sometimes they are in the centre of the header section and sometimes they are on the left. For most of the sections the content is mainly textual, with some pictures to catch the attention of the user. In the online collection section, the interest is focused on the images, and the textual content is less highlighted. 4.3 Multimedia features The multimedia content is made up by images (of different sizes) of the artworks, and other pictures of activities related to the museum used in the mainly textual pages. Pictures are also used to represent the sections and subsections of the website in the table of contents header. There is no an interactive image or picture except enlarging some images in some sections. 4.4 Interaction The interaction of this site starts from the home page which contains hypertext and image links of landmarks. Most of the images are interactive in the collection sections basically to get details and enlarge image. The interactions are only enlarging the images here.


5. Comparison among the websites

Table 1: A brief comparison among three websites Hermitage Museum

Website

Vatican Museums Website

Guggenheim Museum Website

Content This site gives almost equal importance to highlight both artworks and information about the museums. Digital Online collection is more than others two. It uses enough interactive multimedia content to visit virtually such as interactive map.

This site emphasis mostly on the collection and artworks. Two landmarks provide online collection and only one landmark dedicated to all other information. Multimedia content image is used more.

The most highlighted part of this site is information about the museum and on the visit. Online collection is less in evidence. Multimedia content is less than others two.

Information Architecture

The first page is like cover homepage which is too simple but the top level home page is more complex which is like index and introduction type home page. The navigation structure of this site basically used mixed info-architecture tree, linear and hyper-textual. Quick, Advanced and also QBIC search is available across the content of this site Hermitage site has six section landmarks and also have some other relevant pages landmarks.

The home page of this site is simpler and works basically as an index and introduction homepage. It does not contain images, quick links or any highlighted selections. The navigation structure of this site basically used mixed info-architecture tree, linear and hyper-textual. No search engine is available in this site. It has just three landmarks and two of them about collection.

The home page of this site is index type homepage with some image and quick links. It does not contain any introduction or animation. The navigation structure of this site is a simple tree (hierarchical) info-architecture. Simple search option is available here. It has more landmarks but one of them about collections.

Interface The template is same for all pages except hermitage shop section containing header, graphical image, landmarks, quick links & search option.

The template is same for all pages except sub-index in the body section containing header graphical image, landmarks. The Sketch drawing Image is given with sub-index in some sections.

The template is same for most of the pages and includes a header with the landmarks and a table of contents of the current section


Multimedia It uses still images with

zooming, 3d-view image, animation and interactive map.

Multimedia content are photos and images is used more. The maps of the buildings of the museum, but they are not interactive.

Multimedia content is only image and picture with no interactive option except enlarging some images.

Interaction The interactions are zooming, rotating, enlarging the part of the images, traversing interactive map and navigation.

The interactions are zooming, rotating, enlarging the part of the images, traversing inside the image and navigation.

The interactions are only enlarging the images and navigation here

6. Conclusion At the end of my analysis, it is easier to understand that the content of the websites are more or less similar on museum domain. All websites have information about the museum and an online or digital collection section with some selected pieces from the museum collection. Most of the cases, digital collection are interactive at least zooming. Every website uses basic tree structure for the main navigation structure. What the changes from one website to another website is where they emphasis on which content and how the content is represent.

m m interactive applications0708 assignment a 2

Technology

home page

level pages

information architecture

navigational structure

general interface

multimedia features

different websites

search engine