For what it's worth...
Positive...
Displays fine in Firefox, so at least one non-IE browser works! The built-in
themes (eg
http://www.ingenious.org.uk/See/Naturalworld/Geologyandgeophysics/) returned
some nice sets of images. Many other impressive objects: eg the melted
Hiroshima rice bowl (try search for atomic force) is a very powerful image.
Negative ...
Sorry to criticize - it seems kind of an easy option to snipe. However with
lavishly-funded projects, involving casts of thousands, such as this one,
it's depressing how similarly unsatisfactory I find them. It's kind of hard
to put my finger on this bit I think mostly there's more hype than the
content merits. As searchable catalogues with images and objects, these are
fine. I'm not sure how much more than this, most of these succeed in being.
Then there are design issues... I found the initial page quite horrific with
the multidirectional moving Flash gizmo. It was confusing, disorienting, and
made me feel physically ill after a short while. I'm not sure it said
anything very helpful either...
I found that none of the "Appears in" links in the Books and Articles
detailed records worked - all gave "Zero sized reply" errors.
It would be nice to be able to get more than 9 thumbnails on a page where
images are returned from a search.
The discussion themes seemed a bit anodyne. The general level of insight and
analysis seemed a bit feeble on the bits I read (eg "Playing monopoly with
the weather forecasts"), and not very sharply written. I obviously haven't
read anything, but generally most newspapers or magazines have more
stimulating writing, and often much more interesting analysis. They're
usually nicer laid out for reading as well.
Ho hum - time to go home...
John
Dr JW Faithfull
Hunterian Museum Annex
University of Glasgow
13 Thurso St
Glasgow
G11 6PE
Tel:0141 330 4213
Fax:0141 330 8001
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Paul Ratcliffe
Sent: 15 June 2004 15:36
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Launch of www.ingenious.org.uk
here we go again... Looks lovely in Internet Explorer 6 for PC but for
starters the 'Create' section looks terrible in Netscape 7 and is completely
unreadable in Opera. I haven't the time to start on the accessibility
issues - why doesn't everyone just read all the e-mails following the launch
of the Take One Picture site again...
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Ellis Mike
Sent: 15 June 2004 15:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Launch of www.ingenious.org.uk
Celebrating human ingenuity - Ingenious has arrived!
Wednesday 9th June marked the launch of www.ingenious.org.uk, a stunning
online resource including over 30,000 objects and pictures taken from the
Science Museum, the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television and
the National Railway Museum.
Celebrating and exploring the many feats of human ingenuity that have shaped
our lives, www.ingenious.org.uk is a fascinating and absorbing insight into
science and culture for everybody interested in human invention.
Ingenious.org.uk offers users:
> Read - In-depth articles across a range of subjects from 'The Nature And
History Of Addiction' to 'Is War The Mother Of Invention?
> Debate - Online discussions, including 'Should the state pay to make ugly
people beautiful?' led by comedian and actor, Mat Fraser.
> See - Access to over 30,000 images from NMSI collections - many are
previously unseen
> Create - Create your own image library and send e-cards
www.ingenious.org.uk is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between
the three museums that together form the National Museum of Science &
Industry (NMSI). The site has been backed with more than £1 million in
lottery good causes money from the New Opportunities Fund.
NMSI invites you to log on and browse the site...enjoy!
Regards
Mike Ellis
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Science Museum
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