Producing Online Heritage Projects

2. Project Development

2.2 Story Line and Materials

Story Development

Always focus on your goals and target audience(s) when selecting material, developing the story and writing the accompanying text.

Think about the key messages you want to communicate to your online audience(s). If you are developing a virtual exhibition for your existing museum Web site, or to be accessed through the Virtual Museum of Canada or another portal, you can opt to tell the story in relation to the main themes featured in the portal.

Multimedia allows for story development using many different types of media: images, graphics, videos, audio clips, text and interactive elements. Refer back to section 2.1, Production Process, for ideas on how to develop interactive features.

Research

First determine what materials already developed by the museum are available. They may need to be re-worked and copyright issues may need to be addressed, but such materials are valuable resources that might save you time and money.

In addition, consider how your institution can initiate primary research and documentation on the project's theme. These new sources of information and knowledge can then be added to the collections and made available online. The resulting online heritage product thus becomes a valuable new resource that can serve people well into the future.

In section 1.1, at the start of this handbook, the topic What Is Already Available? was discussed. It recommended visiting Web sites that cover similar subjects to help you define your concept. Those same sites may also be able to help you decide how to present your story, without necessarily duplicating treatments rendered elsewhere on the Web.

When you begin research using primary materials (collections, archival material, interviews) and secondary sources (books and online information), themes emerge that can be used to build the story and online presentation. Think of the subject areas as doorways that invite a user to pass through and explore. What will they see? How will they interact? What will they be able to read?

Expert Advice

The ease with which users can find the page they want is one of the two most important determinants of Web usability. The other is content!

Themes also help to drive the architecture and the navigation design and development. When you develop the Web architecture and navigational plan, you are mapping out the structure of your story.

There are many stages in a project when it can be valuable to gather information from your target audience(s). Now that you have fleshed out your themes and story line, and charted them on a navigational plan, do some research with representatives of your target audience groups before writing and selecting materials. Handbook section 2.5, Evaluating Your Product in Development, provides details on how to conduct surveys and focus group research.

Technical Considerations for Content Selection

A variety of factors need to be considered when selecting content that will most effectively present your themes and messages online. Keeping in mind the audience(s), the project goals and your museum's mandate, the content should weave your messages and story together in a compelling way. Selections can also be affected, at least in part, by practical considerations.

Questions to ask when selecting content:

• Have you secured the rights to the content or set the process in motion?
• Will you be creating original text and illustrations?
• Do you have access to existing audio and video, or will you produce it?
• If you are presenting artefacts or works of art, how many objects will you use?
• Do you have material in digital format or do visuals have to be converted to digital format?
• How will your content choices affect your budget and schedule?

If you are working with partners, they may be involved in selecting content. If your partner is another museum, work closely and consult each other during the selection process, especially when working with two or more collections. Choosing materials for interpretation on the Web raises a number of issues. Consideration also needs to be given to how to present content on the Web page. Working with the opportunities, stay within the limitations of the medium and let your content drive the layout.

Expert Advice

The Web is an attention economy, where the ultimate currency is the users' time. Online content must give the users something they want or they will quickly go to another location.

Screen settings

Users set their own so you cannot control their selection. However, you can do research to determine the most common setting used. In May 2002, more than half of Web users set their screens at 800 x 600 pixels ¹⁶.

Display colours

Use only Web-friendly colours, and remember that many users have less than perfect vision. For example, when you choose your colour palette, avoid red-green combinations and red type, both of which can be difficult to see ¹⁷.

Screen real estate is limited

Always remember to leave a little space when designing Web pages for a specific screen size. Don't set margins at 0. For example, a page viewed at a screen resolution of 800x600 should have a width of 750 pixels. The white space this creates can set off your content effectively.

Expert Advice

Select your content judiciously! Excessive use of animation or audio and video clips might detract from your messages and communication goals.

Creating a Storyboard

Creating a storyboard for your project can be extremely helpful, although it is not necessary for every project. If you decide to create storyboards, make sure that each team member has copies or ready access to them.

An informative storyboard can be created in basic HTML, so that it can be transferred easily among team members. The storyboard will also be helpful for focus group studies and online testing.

Storyboarding is used in various types of productions: cartoon animation, motion pictures, virtual exhibitions and interactive game development. A storyboard can be useful when planning a Flash presentation because it allows a designer and creative director to create the design and the flow of screen changes, before the complex work of full design and programming begins.

A storyboard can also be a detailed description of all elements in the final product, such as information on graphics, video, sound, text, interactivity, colour, font, and navigation buttons. A storyboard details each and every occurrence on each screen throughout the Web product.

Details included on a storyboard:

• a sketch of the screen
• colour and graphics
• text
• narration
• animation
• video and audio
• other interactive features
• hyperlinks
• button placement (back, forward, home, contact us)

Interpretation and Writing for the Web

Because people use the Web differently than physical exhibitions, books or magazines, effective online communication requires specialized interpretive and writing skills unlike those employed in other media.

Although Web-based interpretive approaches must adapt to the limitations of the online environment, they can also take advantage of the opportunities available there. For instance, virtual visitors may not be able to walk around and touch an object, but they can explore the object by interacting with its image in various ways. You can create interactivity by allowing visitors to "rotate" an image, or to zoom in on it to magnify details invisible to the unaided eye.

When it comes to writing for the Web, knowing how language works online is also essential. The following style and format guidelines are useful for writing text that effectively communicates your messages and themes to Web users.

Tell me, quick!

Do you remember speed-reading? "Double your reading speed! Increase your comprehension!" Those courses were designed to turbo-charge your reading rate. Web users today may not have taken speed-reading lessons, but they practise some of the techniques. Looking for content clues in titles and headings, reading the opening line of each paragraph and zeroing in on key words and phrases are all part of the process that Web users have adopted to sift quickly through the countless sites and pages on the Web.

Reading and scanning

Web writers need to know that Web users often scan until they find something of interest. Their eyes sweep quickly down the page, picking up a heading here, a keyword there, a prominent block of text or an eye-catching caption, until they land and linger on content that captures their attention.

The graphic style of many Web pages, combining text with images, borders and boxes, makes it even easier for Web users to practise this glance-and-scan technique. Some Web sites even make effective use of poetry and prose that is sparse and evocative, both of which can work effectively with well-chosen images or graphics. The key is to use language that is appropriate to your topic and audience, and whose immediacy captures the reader's mind and heart.

Writing Great Web Content

• Put the most important information at the top. Give those speedy scanners the information they need, right from the start. Use the first few lines on your page to make your most important points and summarize your content.
• Use headings to tell your story. Communicate the essence of your content in titles, headings and sub-headings. Craft your titles with meaningful and precise keywords that provide strong clues to the full text of the paragraphs that follow.
• Use bulleted lists to communicate a series of related items or ideas. Use bulleted words, phrases or sentences to instantly communicate reasons, examples, questions or any content that can reasonably be presented in a series. Bulleted lists make it easier to search for specific information.
• Summarize each paragraph in the opening line. Lead page content and keyword headings provide the skeleton of your material. Now start adding some flesh, but pay careful attention to the first line of each paragraph, because if you don't, the reader may not get any further. Follow the example of news writers who use the "inverted pyramid" style. Present conclusions first, followed by details and background information.
• Convey one idea per paragraph. A good rule of thumb is to make the word count of an online topic about half the word count used when writing for print. Limit each paragraph to an average of two or three sentences, and limit sentences to an average of fifteen words. Take the time to do further research into how users read on the Web ¹⁸.
• Be bold. Make strategic use of bolding, emphasis and other typeface variations to direct attention and emphasize key points. Enlist the help of your graphic designer to give your text some added zip and directional capacity.
• Consider putting key ideas in captions, boxes, and graphics. Extract a quote, highlight a tip or put a frame around a fact.
• Use hypertext links to expand your ideas and support your credibility. You can even hyperlink to deeper content in your museum collections. Or reference your text with carefully selected, reliable hypertext links to Web sites that support what you say or provide additional relevant information. Keep in mind, however, that more hyperlinks can lead to more maintenance responsibility. Links need to be checked frequently to ensure their validity.
• Adopt a simple, friendly tone. The Web is an intimate, one-to-one communications tool. Avoid formal, jargon-heavy language. Maintain a natural flow of information and ideas in a logical and sensible sequence.
• Shorter is not always better. Web users may scan quickly, but they still want solid information. Once you've covered all your bases—keyword headings, summary sentences, highlighted facts and bulleted lists—take the space you need to convey your content.

Copyright Clearance and Intellectual Property

Copyright clearance of any and all material placed on the Web is crucial. Canada and several other nations have copyright and intellectual property laws that you need to understand and follow.

Unless all of the content to be used in your online project is originally created by the production team, you need appropriate copyright clearances. And regardless of whether you are dealing with content created by others or your own project team, the new intellectual property you are creating also needs to be protected.

Copyright law protects intellectual property. Intellectual property can be literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, and sound recordings. It even extends to the underlying programming code of your online product. Photographs are classified as artistic works under the Copyright Act. In the case of audio or music, the rights of the performer, record producer, and copyright holder, have to be cleared.

Copyright also includes moral rights. Moral rights belong solely to the author of a work and exist independently of copyright. The purpose of moral rights is to protect the honour and reputation of an author. Even after copyright has been assigned in a work, moral rights remain with the author. Moral rights cannot be assigned in Canada, but they can be waived.

Copyright and intellectual property are complex subjects that require further reading. Check the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) Web site for information on intellectual property. CHIN has developed Protecting Your Interests ¹⁹, Capture Your Collections ²⁰, and Licensing Images: Checklist for Museums and Other Cultural Organizations ²¹ for your assistance. Artefacts Canada ²² also provides a useful copyright issues section, with information on moral rights.

It is important to allow sufficient time and to budget for the necessary copyright clearances.

Copyright notice

A copyright notice should be included on all Web pages, reflecting the year in which the content was created, such as on the CHIN Web site: © 2002 Canadian Heritage Information Network.

Opportunities and Limitations: Technology Choices

New options and technology choices constantly surface on the World Wide Web (WWW). And, while a new development may enable you to communicate more effectively with your audience(s), or interact with them in new ways, it may also introduce a new set of limitations that will have to be assessed.

Some questions to ask when considering technology options:

• Do you plan to sell merchandise on the Web or use it for fundraising?
• Is a database an effective way to store and present the content online, rather than static pages?
• Are you using Flash programming, which may require a plug-in, but will add movement and sound to your Web presentation?
• Does your target audience have trouble with larger multimedia files?
• How can you create multimedia content that is accessible?

Bandwidth

The growing availability and plummeting cost of bandwidth means that more and more Canadians are able to access the Internet at higher data delivery rates. This makes it more viable to include certain types of content (data files with images, audio, video, animation) today than it would have been two or three years ago. In this rapidly-evolving medium, you may soon have even greater freedom to include larger and possibly more varied data files. Even so, bandwidth availability remains a prime consideration that affects your choice of content and delivery methods.

Figure 12: Bandwidth

Data rates and bandwidth

Computers store all information as binary numbers. The binary number system uses two binary digits, 0 and 1, which are called bits. The amount of data that a computer network can transfer in a certain amount of time is called the bandwidth of the network and is measured in kilobits per second (kbps) or megabits per second (mbps). A kilobit is one thousand bits; a megabit is one million bits. A dial-up telephone modem can transfer data at rates up to 56 kbps; DSL (high-speed telephone) and cable modem connections are much faster and can transfer at several mbps. The Internet connections used by businesses often operate at 155 mbps, and connections between routers in the heart of the Internet may operate at rates from 2,488 to 9,953 mbps (9.953 gigabits per second). The terms wideband or broadband are used to characterize networks with high capacity, and to distinguish them from narrowband networks, which have low capacity ²³.