There is an exhibition showing at National Museum Cardiff called: I-Spy…Nature (until April 2015). One of the touch screens (picture 1) focuses on a selection of diverse, interesting and beautiful biological and geological slides from the Museum’s Natural History Collections. This blog is about the small aspects of the touch screen that I was involved with; plain and simple. 

Resources & Outlines

• One general overview image of 36 slides
• 12 very high resolution images of some of those slides
• 27 inch touch screen
• Complement an actual Micrarium, which would be displayed neatly above the touch screen
• Incorporate a Victoriana style
• Target audience: young folk

Flourishes

The high resolution slide images were always the prize, therefore it seemed obvious to sort out the zoom features first. Using the Javascript version of Zoomify (other javascript frameworks are available) gave us a good foundation to work on. We just needed to tap into their Zoomify Javascript code a little, then add our own layer of Javascript and graphical flourishes to make the design fit in with the exhibition outlines.   

All the controls were laid out in plain sight, hopefully to reduce any learning curve when approaching the interactive; and since the touch screen is quite large (27 inches) we had the space.

Five additional features were added to the zoom screen (picture 4):

• Zoom controls
• Navigation controls
• Home button
• Information button
• Change language (English/Welsh) 

n.b. where possible I tried to avoid using words to describe button functions, hence why the home button is only an image, but this idea fell down a little when it became clear you couldn’t avoid a word or two to help the visitor work out what specimen they were observing.

Into the Arms of a Microscope

Once or twice someone may have caught me saying things like: “Plagioclase Feldspar” or “Olivine”. Anyhow, part of the fun with looking at slides is the process of selecting a new slide, I thought so anyway - you were never sure what would be on the other side of the glass.

I wanted to avoid the conventional method of changing between images, which is usually to include a ‘next’ and ‘previous’ button; so tried to incorporate some of my vague science memories with a quick reconnaissance mission (picture 5) to see the microscope that was being prepped for the exhibition.

Since there were 36 lower resolution images on the home screen, but twelve high resolution images on the slide selection screen, it gave some space to move a simple microscope stand into view, which provided the excuse to animate the microscope arms and float the slides back and forth. The iris transition between the microscope slide view and the zoom view is loosely based on the idea of looking down a microscope eyepiece.   

Intermittent Contact

The interactive was built on HTML and Javascript with animations mainly driven by CSS. Due to the amount of images used in this interactive (up to 120MB), the project was exported from Amgueddfacms CMS into a standalone ZIP file then installed onto the exhibition PC - this improves the interactive response times, since it doesn’t have to wait for any image files to download over a network connection.

We’ve been using Firefox for a while as its platform independent and has neat little add-ons (R-Kiosk and Block Site). In this case, the operating system is Windows 7, with a locked down user account which only has access to Firefox and the touch screen drivers.

Usually we use Google Analytics to record button events, to give us an indication of how much the interactives are being used, but Google Analytics is designed to work with regular domain websites, which is not the case when running locally from simple hard drive files - therefore the button events are recorded by the web server listening to AJAX calls from the kiosk.

Video Demo:

I've included a short demo video for posterity:

Mae partneriaeth rhwng Amgueddfa Stori Caerdydd, Amgueddfa Cymru a Cronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri yn ceisio creu fflach amgueddfa wedi eu llywio’n gyfan gwbl gan aelodau’r cyhoedd sydd gyda rhywbeth i’w ddweud am Gaerdydd.

Bydd y themâu, y cynnwys a’r modd y mae’n cael ei arddangos yn cael eu penderfynu gan y cyhoedd a bydd yn cael ei greu a’i arddangos yng Nghanolfan y Mileniwm, Caerdydd, o 9 - 12 Hydref. Gall unrhyw un ymweld, ac un ai helpu i’w greu neu ei weld, a hefyd cael y cyfle i roi ei gwrthrych a’u stori hwy fel rhan o’r arddangosfa!

Dros y ddau fis nesaf byddwn yn cynnal nifer o weithdai fel bod pobl yn cael y cyfle i glywed sut y gallant for yn rhan o’r fenter hon, a darganfod mwy ynglŷn â sut y gall fflach amgueddfa weithio.

Bydd y gweithdai yn cael eu cynnal yn Amgueddfa Stori Caerdydd fel a ganlyn:

• Sadwrn 30ain Awst, 11yb-1yh
• Iau 11eg o Fedi, 6yh-8yh
• Sadwrn 27ain o Fedi, 11yb-1yh

Byddwn yn cadw blog ac yn trydar drwy gydol y cyfnod hwn, felly bydd gyfle i bawb lle bynnag eich bod yn byw fod yn rhan o hyn, a sicrhau eich bod yn gweld sut mae’r cyfan yn datblygu a pha straeon mae pobl yn eu rhannu ynglŷn â Chaerdydd. #fflachamgueddfa

Croesawyd amrywiaeth o gaffaeliadau newydd i’r casgliadau Diwydiant a Thrafnidiaeth ym mis Gorffennaf eleni eto. Ymhlith yr eitemau newydd mae -  

Offer mesur danheddog a ddefnyddiwyd yn chwarel Dinorwig i farcio/mesur llechi to cyn eu torri. Safonwyd enwau a maint llechi to ym 1738 pan ddyfeisiodd y Cadfridog Hugh Warburton (cydberchennog Ystâd y Penrhyn ar y pryd) system enwi llechi o wahanol faint. Gan eu mesur mewn modfeddi, rhoddwyd enwau ‘menywod bonheddig’ i’r llechi fel Empresses, Duchesses Mawr, Viscountesses, a Ladis Llydan. Buan y daeth y rhain yn dermau safonol y diwydiant, er bod y meintiau yn amrywio o dro i dro ac o ardal i ardal. Mae cyfanswm o ddau ddeg tri ‘dant’ ar y ffon fesur sy’n 26 modfedd o hyd. Ar y pen mae tri ‘dant’ ddwy fodfedd ar wahân (yn y pen agosaf at yr hoelen) tra bod y dau ddeg saith ‘dant’ arall un fodfedd ar wahân.

Ffon fesur hir allai gael ei defnyddio i farcio a mesur llechi mawr maint ‘Queens’. Y llechen leiaf allai gael ei marcio gan y ffon hon yw'r ‘Narrow Ladies’ (16 modfedd o hyd neu fyw). 

 Ar y fforch dostio hon mae llun o löwr ac arysgrif 'BIG PIT BLAENAVON'. Byddai’r fforch yn cael ei gwerthu yn siop Amgueddfa Big Pit yn niwedd y 1980au/dechrau’r 1990au. Bellach mae Big Pit yn un o wyth amgueddfa genedlaethol Amgueddfa Cymru.

 Potel wag o chwisgi un brag ‘Madeira’ Penderyn yn ei bapur gwreiddiol. Lansiwyd y cwmni yn 2000 fel y Welsh Whisky Company, cyn newid yr enw’n ddiweddarach i Penderyn Distillery gan fod y cwmni wedi’i leoli ym mhentref Penderyn, y tu fewn i ffin ddeheuol Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog. Lansiwyd chwisgi un brag Penderyn gan Dywysog Cymru ar 1 Mawrth 2004 yn Neuadd Dewi Sant Caerdydd. Caiff ei aeddfedu i ddechrau mewn casgenni bourbon cyn ei aeddfedu ymhellach mewn barriques Madeira arbennig.

Cwmni rheilffordd Neath and Brecon a gynhyrchodd y dystysgrif cyfranddaliad hon gwerth £10. Awdurdodwyd y rheilffordd gan Ddeddf Seneddol ym 1862 a dechreuwyd cludo glo i Gastell Nedd dan yr enw Dulais Valley Mineral Railway. Gwnaed y gwaith hyrwyddo ac adeiladu gan y contractiwr John Dickson ac ef dderbyniodd y dystysgrif hon. Wedi cael caniatâd i ymestyn y rheilffordd i Aberhonddu newidiwyd yr enw i’r Neath and Brecon Railway.  

Dau DVD yw’r eitem olaf. Ffilm am drychineb Glofa Albion ym 1894 wedi’i chreu gan staff a disgybl yn Ysgol Uwchradd Pontypridd yw’r cyntaf. Teitl yr ail yw ‘Memories of Old Clydach’ ac mae’n gasgliad o ffotograffau, dogfennau ac atgofion gan drigolion yr ardal yn y 1940au a’r 1950au. Mae un adran yn trafod Glofa Clydach Merthyr a gweithfeydd tunplat Players. 

Mark Etheridge

Curadur: Diwydiant a Thrafnidiaeth

Dilynwch ni ar twitter - @IndustryACNMW

For this year’s Art Carbootique at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, 'Made in Roath' were lucky enough to be able to work with Annette and Jules, the natural science conservators at the Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales in Cathays Park.

The National Museum of Wales has a vast collection of approximately 2000 taxidermy specimens most of which are not on display, and some of which present interesting curatorial challenges because of their history and the stories they tell. Having long been fascinated by the stuffed animal collection on display in the Natural History gallery at the museum, we felt really privileged to be invited behind the scenes and view the specimens in storage.

This was an amazing experience; the conservator’s stores are wonderful -  heartbreaking and fascinating in equal measure. We decided that our mission would be to make a ‘museum’ in our caravan of a selection of these unseen animals, allowing them to temporarily escape the museum archive and be seen by the public. In this context, the specimen is not just being viewed as a singular object but as part of a wider culture, referencing human practices such as hunting, shipping and collecting happening in the Victorian period, but which are still practiced today. Furthermore, a consideration of the specimen’s history within the museum itself, with its changing site,  politics and attitudes, exposes how wider socio-political forces have shaped the specimen’s display, reception and curation at the local level of the museum. Jules and Annette were really helpful and accommodating when we told them what we wanted to do, they went up to Nantgarw to the stores there and selected some more specimens to add to the collection, many of which had not been displayed for many years.

We installed the work, with a lot of help from Jules, and drove over to Chapter – there is something very surreal about towing a caravan full of stuffed animals through central Cardiff on a rainy Sunday Morning, but it was worth it. The response from the public was great, both adults and children have such a fascination for taxidermy, the exhibition was a big success, we’d also photographed the animals and made masks to give to visitors, so the animals had another opportunity to ‘escape’. Although the emphasis was on fun, we had expected to get some criticism with people possibly disapproving of the museums stuffed animals, but apart from some healthy and thought provoking discussion about the way human beings treat animals, it was a hugely enjoyable day. Thanks to AC-NMW, especially Annette and Jules, for making it happen.

The 'Made in Roath' Team!

Find out more about the work of 'Made in Roath' at http://madeinroath.com/