Wednesday, November 6, 2019

This is Collection Explorer, a generous interface for the collection at the Williams College Museum of Art. The concept of a “generous interface” was developed in response to the limitations of the search box, which acts as a roadblock to many users of online collections. Instead, interfaces like Collection Explorer shows the shape of the whole collection and invites visual exploration. Collection Explorer is one of the first of its kind.

We wanted our audiences to dive into the collection and find objects, connections and ideas that they didn’t even know they were looking for. More than precise answers, we hoped faculty and students would find interesting questions in our collections. We aimed to provide open conversation starters rather than definitive endpoints. Moreover we knew that even world-renowned math scholars could find an art collection intimidating, and come up short when confronted with a keyword search.

The Collection Explorer was created to help faculty and students—especially non-art specialists—to find works of art to use in their own teaching and learning. In practice, the online tool has allowed many audiences, including curators, staff, and specialists, to see the collection in new ways and make unforeseen discoveries.

Session Type30-Minute Session (Presentation or Case Study)

TrackSystems
Chatham House RuleNo

Key Outcomes...recognize the value of generous interfaces for online collections, see an example of one in production, and learn how to implement such an app for their own institution. (Code is open source)

Speaker: Chad Weinard, Independent Museum Technology Strategist, Independent