Page 218 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2015218tered and it can be browsed intuitively following the same logic as WordPress. Its content system has been created using standard WordPress technology.The personalised calendar of events is fully incorporated into the whole experience, making it easy to handle. It includes a virtual gallery with excellent photographs and informative texts, to which further objects from the col- lection will gradually be added. The site is also adapted to mobile devices and makes the most of the related advantages.In relation to museum websites, we find other portals with tools that are very useful to both museums and users.A good example is the People Art Factory5 web platform, in itself a tool for building exhibitions in a virtual environment using 3D images. Museums, galleries or anyone interested can use it to curate their own exhibition, simulating a real environment, and can share it with whoever they wish. It is thus an ideal tool for creating and disseminating virtual visits.As it is easy to handle, there is no need for particularly specialised knowledge; all that is necessary is to draw a small plan with the room sizes or use a template that can be personalised as to size, arrangement of the works, colour of the walls, textures, information panels, etc., to simulate a space that actually exists or is only imagined.In 2006 the US educator Salman Khan created the not-for-profit educational platform Khan Academy. It provides many resources and digitaleducational tools (its YouTube channel has more than 4,000 videos6) that can be used by education professionals, parents and students freely and creatively. Its mission is to help create free education available to anyone anywhere in the world.This platform can naturally be used by educators in museums all over the world, who can take advantage of its resources in educational projects applied to the institution. The MET7 in New York is already collaborating with Khan Academy.Europeana8 is a European platform developed using public funds of the European Union. Its aim is to assemble collections, documents and digital archives of European cultural institutions in order to become the major digital library of European heritage. The platform was started up in 2008 and currently has more than 29 million documents and a community of more than 2,300 institutions.The purpose of Europeana is to provide access to European cultural heritage. Therefore, all its content has a Creative Commons Public Domain licence, meaning that it can be used without restrictions.It stems from the need to create a community that makes possible scientific and technological development based on heritage content, sharing knowledge and content among professionals, and facilitating users’ access.One of its missions is to progressively perfect digital software tools, facilitating their use and encouraging workflows between participants, who grow in pace with the project.Focus 2015. Museums and New Technologies