Dear All

DCMS have today issued this press release - marking the closing stages of
the DCMS/Resource IT Challenge Fund.

To visit the projects, go to
www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/itcf

David Dawson
Senior ICT Adviser
Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
Fifth Floor, 19-29 Woburn Place London WC1H 0LU 
email: [log in to unmask]  tel: 020 7273 8757 (direct line)
www.resource.gov.uk                             www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk

Join the ResourceNews mailing list at
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/resourcenews.html

* * * *

FROM THE ICE AGE TO THE VICTORIANS - MUSEUM IT PROJECTS WILL  PROVIDE WEALTH
OF CULTURAL MATERIAL


March 2001


Eleven innovative new technology projects in museums around the UK are set
to go live at the end of March Arts Minister, Alan Howarth announced today.
The projects will provide access, both online and offline, to a wealth of
cultural material.

 The projects include:

*       an exploration into how people in Sussex may have lived during Iron
Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon times; 
*       the social history, natural history and ecology of Morecambe Bay and
the Irish Sea; 
*       aspects of the Victorian era in London including transport, health,
commerce and the army; and
*       Ice Age archaeology of the Creswell Heritage Area. 

Alan Howarth said, "These projects set a fine example for other museums to
follow.  Not only do they develop the skills of Museum staff and encourage
collaboration and partnerships between different institutions, but they also
create a wealth of useful new online content that will benefit all those
interested in our heritage in a great many ways."

Culture Secretary Chris Smith also welcomed the emphasis of the scheme on
encouraging partnership between museums:

"As a London MP I am particularly impressed by the East West Central
project, which brings together online the collections of three London
museums - the London Transport Museum, the Ragged School Museum and the
Grange Museum of Community History. These museums have very different
collections and are each located in distinct parts of the city linked only
by the Central Line, but they have been able to work together to create an
extraordinary richness and diversity of content." 

He said that these projects were good examples of the innovative ways in
which museums and galleries were experimenting with the new technologies,
and noted that, in future, these developments might be supported by the
Culture Online programme which he announced last September.

The projects are being supported by the DCMS/Resource £500,000 ICT Challenge
Fund programme, under which museums were invited to collaborate in groups of
three or more on the creation of new digital resources. The eleven projects
cover very different subjects, but all support life-long learning and
feature state-of-the-art interactive technology. The ICT Challenge Fund is
managed for the DCMS by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and
Libraries. 

The Chairman of Resource, Lord Evans, said, 

"The ICT Challenge Fund has made an invaluable contribution to the use of
ICT and the Internet in museums, and has helped define best practice in the
creation of online content. The projects demonstrate how museums, libraries
and archives can develop ICT skills in the community. For instance, over
fifty people took part in 'The Jewels of Milton Keynes' project, which has
developed a community-based website to explore the heritage of the villages
in and around Milton Keynes."

Notes for Editors

1.      The Information and Communication Technology Challenge Fund is a
DCMS-funded initiative managed by Resource: The Council for Museums,
Archives and Libraries. The fund has provided £500,000 over two years to
facilitate projects which demonstrate how Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) can contribute to access, education and innovation in
museums.

2.      The ICT Challenge Fund enables museums to participate in the vision
for ICT services outlined in the 1999 report A Netful of Jewels: New Museums
in the Learning Age, commissioned by the National Museum Directors
Conference in association with the Museums & Galleries Commission and mda.

3.      Funding has been provided for 11 projects, which are listed on the
attached sheets. Each project has been asked to provide, on completion, a
summary evaluation which will serve to guide museums interested in
developing ICT-based services.


































Press enquiries: 020 7211 6266
Public enquiries: (Resource)
Internet: http://www.culture.gov.uk ; http://www.resource.gov.uk

Individual Projects

1.      Cornwall Heritage Access Information Network (CHAIN)
(http://www.chaingang.org.uk)

The CHAIN project has created a portal website to enable access to
collections information for five museums in the Cornwall area. Users can
access information about the Royal Cornwall Museum (lead organisation),
Penlee House Art Gallery & Museum, Falmouth Art Gallery, Wheal Martyn Museum
and North Cornwall Community Heritage Service. 

CHAIN has also arranged to become part of the South West Grid for Learning
through Cornwall County Council, providing vital content for CCC's intranet
and making use of the high speed links that CCC is establishing for schools
and colleges in the county.

2.      Darwin Country - Cradle of Science, Technology and the Better Life!
(http://www.darwincountry.org)

The Darwin Country project has created a database-driven website containing
over 1000 pages of information on scientific, technological and social
developments in the area covered by the Shrewsbury Museums Service in
partnership with the Wedgwood Museum and Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. 

The website makes use of innovative technology to deliver an extraordinary
depth of information. It is among the first museum sites to have been listed
with the National Grid for Learning.

3.      Netting the Bay
(http://www.nettingthebay.org.uk)

Netting the Bay is an interactive, multimedia website which captures the
fishing history, social history, natural history and ecology of Morecambe
Bay, the Irish Sea and beyond. The project is being carried out by Fleetwood
Museum (part of Lancashire County Museums) in partnership with Lancaster
Maritime Museum and the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside. 

4.      North Devon on Disk
(http://www.ex.ac.uk/northdevonondisk) 

North Devon on Disk is a joint project between North Devon District Council,
Torridge District Council, the Beaford Centre, Devon County Council, Pallas
(Humanities Computing), University of Exeter and other groups. The website
enables museums, archives, libraries, schools and community groups to build
up an interactive, computer-based archive of historical and contemporary
information, based around the fascinating collections of Northern Devon's 10
local authority and independent museums.

5.      Planes, Tools and Automobiles
(http://www.virtualgallery.org.uk)

The Planes, Tools and Automobiles project has created an interactive website
which enables users to create their own virtual online exhibitions using
collections information and images from the Midland Air Museum, Hebert Art
Gallery & Museum and the Museum of British Road Transport.


6.      The Jewels of Milton Keynes
(http://www.mkheritage.co.uk)

The Jewels of Milton Keynes project has created a portal website enabling
access to online information about the collections of the Milton Keynes
Museum, Cowper & Newton Museum, the Old Gaol Museum and the other members of
the Milton Keynes Heritage Association. An additional 'Jewels' section has
been created to highlight special features of the collections.

7.      Romans in Sussex
(http://www.romansinsussex.co.uk)

The Romans in Sussex project has created an educational website which
provides an in-depth look into how people may have lived in the Sussex
region during the later Iron Age, the Roman period, and early Anglo-Saxon
times. The website is targeted at three specific groups, 9-11 year-olds,
12-16 year-olds and those in Higher Education and features a
fully-searchable database of information, images and resources.

8.      Three-Cornered Gallery
(http://artgall.scit.wlv.ac.uk/web_page/threecorners.html,
www.3corneredgallery.com)

The Three-Cornered Gallery brings together images and information from
Wolverhampton Art Gallery, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and the
Wallace Collection into a searchable online database. The website also
provides themed 'trails' through the information as well as educational
interactives.

9.      The Victorians
(http://www.victorian-london.org.uk)

The Victorians project has created an extensive online educational resource
focusing on various aspects of the Victorian era in London including
transport, health, commerce and the army. The information has been derived
from existing paper-based resources within a large number of London museums,
and includes downloadable worksheets and activities.

10.     Virtually the Ice Age
(http://creswell-crags.org.uk/virtuallytheiceage)

The Virtually the Ice Age project has created a substainable lifelong
learning resource centred on the Ice Age archeology of the Creswell Heritage
Area. The website provides virtual access to the caves at Creswell Crags and
encourage visitors to explore the Ice Age remains stored within a wide range
of museums across England.

11.     East West Central
(http://www.eastwestcentral.co.uk)

The East West Central project has created an online resource bringing
together the collections of the three London-based partner museums - the
London Transport Museum, the Ragged School Museum and the Grange Museum of
Community History. These museums have very different collections and are
each located in distinct parts of the city, but have been able to
collaborate online to create an extraordinary richness and diversity of
content.