Access all areas: the theory and practice of development of accessible media for cultural heritage information

Jim Devine, University of Glasgow, UK
Katherine Jones, Harvard Divinity School, USA
Wendy Constantine, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, USA

This paper will explore the issues involved in the development and delivery of accessible media for cultural heritage organisations.

Accessibility in cultural heritage organisations is a broad topic, encompassing many aspects, ranging from access for those physically remote from museum collections to access for those with disabilities. It is important for these organisations to have an awareness of how their resources are being accessed, and how they could be accessed, in order for improvements to be made in this area, and for the full potential of new and emerging technologies to be engaged in the pursuit of the goal of access for all.

Jim Devine will present the paper entitled "Open frontiers: accessing the Antonine Wall through multimedia technologies", concerning a work already undertaken and currently underway at the Hunterian and in partnership with Harvard, to explore the potentials of new technologies for access, and in particular, will focus on the planning and development of access systems for the new Antonine Wall (the Roman frontier in Scotland) Interpretation Centre (AWIC). This project is under development by the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow in support of Historic Scotland’s (Scotland’s National Cultural Heritage Agency) bid to UNESCO for World Heritage Site status for the Antonine Wall as part of the international “Frontiers of the Roman Empire” UNESCO World Heritage Site programme.

Katherine Jones will present the paper entitled "Over a decade behind us - Museum websites and compliance with W3C and section 508 of the U.S. rehabilitation act", concerning a work at Harvard covering issues of access to pre-existing web sites incorporating options for prioritising, retro-fitting, and remaking of sites.

Wendy Constantine will present the paper entitled "Designing for mere mortals: a methodology for developing accessible, educational multimedia", on the importance of planning for the development of accessible, rich-media content and her developments on a workflow for creating mobile educational content as well as recent trends in Flash development for delivering access for all.