MoviA – Model Project for Testing and Implementing Virtual Exhibitions

Project Description

The project aims to use the model project to lay the foundations for integrating the virtual exhibition format into the digital portfolio of the BBF | Research Library for the History of Education. This should not only increase the visibility of the BBF and its holdings, but also provide a easy entry with high visibility into the BBF's digital collections as well as into topics related to the history of education. Historical background knowledge on current developments/issues in education should thus be conveyed in a way that is both easily accessible and comprehensible as well as attractive and up-to-date in terms of the intended transfer of knowledge on the history of education into society.

Virtual exhibitions enable access to exhibitions independent of time and place, so that they can usually reach far more visitors than temporary, place- and time-bound special exhibitions. They offer the possibility of conserving "finite" physical exhibitions. But their function goes beyond that. They do not simply transfer the physical exhibitions one-to-one into the digital medium, but represent a new medium alongside the physical exhibition that has an added value compared to it and complements it. In doing so, the virtual exhibition assumes the function of the classic exhibition catalogue, but expands it by incorporating audio-visual and interactive components. In addition, the hypertext linking enables a non-linear access to the topic and the almost unlimited extension into the net, even beyond the actual exhibition. Information can be offered at different information levels simulanously, giving the visitor the choice of which level suits him or her most. This is what makes the format so attractive, especially for a young, technophile audience that has been difficult to reach with previous services.

The project will test the existing technical solutions for realising virtual exhibitions as to their suitability for future virtual exhibitions of the BBF, with two fundamentally different approaches to choose from: integration into existing solutions such as Google Arts & Culture or the German Digital Library, and alternatively the development of a separate site within the framework of the existing web services, then possibly also as a service for other players in the educational history field.

After selecting the most convincing reusable technical solution, which should be suitable for hybrid exhibitions, i.e. physical exhibitions supplemented by a virtual exhibition, as well as for autonomous virtual exhibitions, a first virtual exhibition on the history and use of reading boxes for teaching reading at school is to be designed and realised.

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