"A great, cinematic experience with the kind of flow that made me want to explore for hours." —juror Kevin Farnham
"Wonderfully dynamic, beautifully designed and smartly organized. Hundreds of artifacts, audio and video, photos and personal effects guide viewers through an interactive exploration of this charismatic world leader." —juror Paula Willard
Overview: This online exhibition from the Library of Congress examines Winston S. Churchill’s lifelong relationship with the United States, a nation he referred to as, "The Great Republic." Interconnected paths offer visitors three ways to experience the story: chronological, thematic, object-related.
• Curator-guided audio tours
• Interactive Flash and accessible HTML versions
• 400MB total file size
• 10-person team, 6-month development time
Comments by Bart Marable:
"Even in a medium as interactive as the Web, sometimes it's nice just to sit back and 'listen' to a story.
"While we were at the Library of Congress for this project's planning meeting, we joined the curator as he led a tour group through the exhibition. As he led the visitors from section to section, the curator pointed out interesting details in many of the documents, photographs and maps on display. His insightful commentary added a wonderful dimension to the experience, focusing our attention on details that we might have otherwise overlooked.
"When it came time to develop the online exhibition, we knew we had to bring a similar experience to the Library's online audience. We wanted online visitors to feel like the curator was sitting right beside them at the computer, pointing out interesting details of letters and photographs.
"Our version of the curator's guided tour is a series of short commentary programs. After identifying the content for each screen we worked with the Library to select each of the dozen or so key screens that would have a program. Then we had the curator do an audio 'tour' for each one.
"Once we edited the audio, we combined it with animation and extra images in the online presentation. While all of the programs have a similar concept, each one is unique: some use a magnifier to show close-up details of photographs; others flip correspondence to show the back side of the page; and some have additional content not available elsewhere in the exhibition.
"Like our experience with the guided tour, we're hoping these 'stories' will encourage visitors to look closer at the unique documents that are part of the collection."
