parks & gardens uk project new vistas for historic designed landscape records
DESCRIPTION
Parks & Gardens UK project New vistas for historic designed landscape records. Rachael Sturgeon Project Manager, PGDS Janet E. Davis Web Manager, PGDS. Project aims. Encouraging volunteers to research & record Collating information from other sources. Creating database web site - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Parks & Gardens UK projectNew vistas for historic designed landscape records.
Rachael SturgeonProject Manager, PGDS
Janet E. DavisWeb Manager, PGDS
Project aims
• Encouraging volunteers to research & record
• Collating information from other sources
Creating
• database
• web site
• educational resources
Specific project aims
• 6,000 records of sites in England & Wales
• 1,000 records of sites in Scotland & Northern Ireland
• References records
• Archives sources
• Associated Person records
• Associated Organisation records
• Digital images & digital image records
• 20 themed educational resources
Who is involved?
• Parks & Gardens Data Services– not-for-profit company set up by:
• IT contractor • hosting service
• Supported by
and
• Volunteers
Who is involved? Stakeholders
Advisory Panel
Experts include representatives from:
English Heritage
RCAMHW
Hampshire County Council
Consultative Group
Volunteers organisations - NADFAS, County Gardens Trusts, NCCPG
Universities
Culture 24
Who is it for?Experts Non-experts
Site owners/managers Archaeologists Historians
Heritage professionals Planning professionals Design professionals
HE & FE students Life-long LearnersUK schoolchildren
General public Volunteers Tourists
Accessibility issues - physical and technological
Front end of web site
Need to allow for:
• people with disabilities, especially with visual impairments, including colour blindness;
• slow dial-up internet access
• older hardware and software
Database interface
Intellectual accessibility - navigation
Providing methods to access the database records that do not require:
• prior knowledge of historic parks & gardens;
• knowledge of UK geography or local authority areas;
• good spelling or high level of literacy.
Building a semantic bridge using navigation
Find records
Map-based Search
Intellectual accessibility - images
Building a semantic bridge using description
• People ‘read’ pictures according to what they know.
• Need to describe what is where.
• What is obvious to one expert will not be obvious to another from a different discipline.
• Accessibility for visually-impaired.
Intellectual accessibility - writing styleBuilding a semantic bridge using writing style
• Using plain English or providing explanations of specialist terms
• Abbreviations and acronyms written in full.
• ‘Friendly’ but objective style.
• Concise, short sentences.
Controlled vocabulary
Example of early controlled vocabulary list for terms to describe the context or principal building for historic parks and gardens.
The Thesaurus within the database
Data entry form - Context
Illustrated Glossary
Illustrated Glossary - Front End
Back end content editor
• Designed to be used by staff with no or little HTML knowledge.
•Incorporates easy entry of basic metadata.
Front end content editor
• Next stage - letting volunteers add their own articles from the front end.
Conclusion
Accessibility
Sustainability
Delivery of content
www.parksandgardens.ac.uk