We are currently somewhere in the middle of a protracted program to renew the interpretative signs around the 80 or so Guernsey historic sites under our department's care. We took the decision to just put the website home page address on the signs, as indeed we do with all of our printed marketing materials. At the time there was no further historic site information available on the site (and indeed that is still currently the case!) but we knew that there would be as soon as we could make it so. We hope to have a new content managed site online in January which will have a historic sites section but therein lies the rub - CMS page addresses are often not very user friendly or memorable. So, my gut feeling is that one probably wouldn't want to go there on printed materials unless one could plan for it in advance - using a short and memorable URL.
Alan Howell
Senior Curator
Guernsey Museums & Galleries
www.museums.gov.gg
DDI +44 (0) 1481 706964
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Morley
Sent: 08 December 2008 11:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Putting web addresses on interpretation
Hi all
Does anyone have any evaluation, advice or just gut feelings about putting URLs on printed signage and in leaflets etc? I ask this specifically in the context of when you have a lot of in depth information online that people could use to follow up after their visit.
Certainly my instinct, and anecdotal experience, is that specific URLs just don't work (they tend not to be memorable, and who ever has a pen and paper to bother writing them down?)
On the other hand if you just put your home page then people are potentially going to find it hard to reach a specific resource.
Would be very interested to hear how others handle this and what success they feel they have.
Thanks, James
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James Morley [log in to unmask]
Website Manager Tel. +44 (0)20 8332 5759
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew www.kew.org
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