[Asis-l] Announcing the MW2005 Best of the Web winners

[J. Trant]

... apologies for any duplication / please forward as appropriate ...


** Museums and the Web 2005 **
** Best of the Web Awards **
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2005/best/

Winners announced in Vancouver, April 15, 2005.

Recognizing achievement in cultural and heritage 
Web site design, a committee of museum 
professionals selects the Best of the Web each 
year. See the conference web site at 
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2005/best/ for full 
details about the competition, the judges, and 
the judging criteria.

Congratulations to the following sites:

_Best Educational Use_

	Making the Modern World Online - Stories about the lives we've made
	http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/learning_modules/maths/06.TU.02/
	Institution: The Science Museum, (London, UK)

    Judges' Comments
	Learning Modules are an exemplary 
illustration of what a museum can do with its
	collections to support specific 
educational usages for the K-12 educational 
systemŠ.
	Two of the most compelling aspects of 
education are the notion of relationships and
	theory/application. This site addresses both in an elegant manner.


_Best On-line Exhibition_

	Cycles: African Life Through Art
	http://www.ima-art.org/cycles/
	Institution: Indianapolis Museum of Art

    Judges' Comments:
	The design of this online exhibit is a 
piece of art itself. Beautiful and fun to
	explore. ... A highly visually appealing 
and thought provoking site which provides
	a rich user experience through 
interactivity, text and images. A particular
	highlight is the 'context' link that a 
user can click on when viewing an object.
	The graphic elements also nicely enhance 
the content and navigational options
	available to the user.

    Honorable Mention

     Raid on Deerfield
     http://www.1704.deerfield.history.museum
     Institution: Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) /
	Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield

    Judges' Comments:
	...raises the bar for historical 
interpretation online. The site models the
	value of the whole that derives from a 
consideration of multiple perspectives.
	The designers have cast a magical spell 
that draws the user into another place,
	another time, another world where one 
finds truth painted in many shades of grey.

_Best E-Services Site_

	Seminars on Science
	http://learn.amnh.org
	Institution: American Museum of Natural History

    Judges' Comments
	The human touch in the interface gives 
nice feeling that the seminar is tutored
	 ... by real humans and that the learner 
is interacting with real people.

_Best Innovative or Experimental Application_

	Eternal Egypt
	http://www.eternalegypt.org
    	Institutions: Egyptian Government: The 
Supreme Council of Antiquities and Center
	for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage, and IBM Corporation

    Judges' Comments
	An arresting site. Visually appealing and 
quite innovative. Good execution of
	multiple pathways towards making 
discoveries about Egypt, including multiple
	languages and collaboration with 
like-minded institutions. Text -to-speech
	feature lends itself nicely to those with 
visual restrictions, and for ESL
	candidates, but computerized voice effect can become monotonous ...

_Best Museum Professional's Site_

	ASTC (Association of Science - Technology Centers)
	http://www.astc.org
	Institution: Association of Science - Technology Centers

    Judges' Comments
	... covers the gamut of basics -- 
references, publications, articles, and such.
	With the addition of the online 
workshops, ASTC shows itself to be responsive to
	the field and willing to be innovative.

_Best Research Site_

	Timeline of Art History
	http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/
	Institution: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Judges' Comments
	... an excellent site for a range of 
audiences, including researchers....
	considerably expanded and geographical and time coverage is much more
	comprehensive than a year ago. Good 
content depth (in a variety of formats,
	e.g. multimedia) and opportunities for 
drilling down, as well as relevant
	interactive features to enrich user 
experience.... a great balance of content
	and visuals and alternative exploratory 
routes for both the serendipitous and
	more serious researcher. Š beautifully 
done, easy to use, visually engaging,
	and intuitive. I didn't even need to read 
any directions -- the user interface
	was easy to grasp and use ...

_Best Overall Museum Web Site_

	Making the Modern World Online - Stories about the lives we've made
	http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/
	Institution: The Science Museum, (London, UK)

    Judges' Comments
  	"Making the Modern World" is a robust 
demonstration of how museum artifacts can be
	offered online to engage audiences in an 
innovative learning experience.

	... a highly interactive site that gives 
the user many options for shaping
	their experience and makes good use of 
new technologies (I especially liked the
	use of rich media). It is deep and 
provides interdisciplinary learning. I was
	fascinated and could have stayed for 
hours just poking around and exploring.

	Great site. Funducational and very 
informative. Something for everyone! The
	whole family will be fighting for computer time!




Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank 
you to all who participated. A full list of sites 
nominated, is available at 
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2005/best/list.html

A call for nominations for the Best of the Web 
2006 will appear in the fall of 2005.

Best wishes,

jennifer

-- 
__________
J. Trant				jtrant at archimuse.com
Partner & Principal Consultant		phone: +1 416 691 2516
Archives & Museum Informatics	fax: +1 416 352 6025
158 Lee Ave, Toronto
Ontario M4E 2P3 Canada		http://www.archimuse.com
__________