GOOD PRACTICE IN DIGITISATION
FORM FOR NOMINATION

This is the form for the nomination of a good practice in digitisation.
Please, send a form for each different project.
Each project can be “nominated” for more than one area.

Send the form/forms to the attention of Maria Teresa Natale by e-mail to minerva2@beniculturali.it or by fax to +390667232499.

The form will be submitted to the National representative for approval.

English must be used.

NAME AND ACRONYM OF THE PROJECT:

WorldWideMetaMuseum - WWMM

URL: http://www.wwmm.org

AREAS for nominations of 'good practice' for on-going projects on digitisation:

8)  Publication (Image Processing; 3D and Virtual Reality Issues; Online Publication)

RESPONSIBLE BODY AND/OR ANY SPECIFIC 
CO-ORDINATING BODY/MECHANISM/INSTITUTION

Name of the institution: I-MUSEUM ONLUS
English name of the institution:  I-MUSEUM 
Acronym of the institution: I-MUSEUM 

Mailing address: Via Porpora, 140 – 20131 Milano ITALIA
Country: ITALY

Tel.: +39 02 70636110 / +39 349 8158689
Fax:+39 02 700429057

e-mail: francesco.ghidoli@wwmm.org

URL: http://www.i-museum.it

Type of institution:  National		 Governmental		 Regional
             Other   Specify no-profit association

Sector:  Archive   Library  Museum  Foundation  
            x Other   Specify online museums

Legal status:  Public   Private  x  No profit

Description of the institution (max 200 characters):
Non profit association aimed at the diffusion of the WorldWideMetaMuseum project as a tool that enables museum networks and supports museum-school-university integration for educational and scientific purposes. It operates through geographic and thematic Area Project developed in partnership with museums, educational institutions, local government bodies.

CONTACT PERSON OF THE PROJECT

Name: Francesco Surname: Ghidoli
Gender:   x M		 F
Title: Dr.

Institution: I-MUSEUM ONLUS
Mailing address: Via Porpora, 140 – 20131 Milano ITALIA
Country: ITALY
Tel.: +39 02 70636110 / +39 349 8158689
Fax: +39 02 700429057
e-mail: francesco.ghidoli@wwmm.org

Contact languages: Italian, English

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

Duration: From spring 2003 – no limits

Objectives and priorities  (max 200 characters):
•	Supporting online publishing activities of museums, also as nodes of multiple geographic an thematic interrelated networks
•	Supporting museum-school and school-school network activities based on the knowledge of museum heritage
•	Supporting museum educational role, through a stronger integration with schools
•	Supporting universal access to museum heritage, with a specific attention to multilingual and accessibility for disabled people issues
•	Promoting multilingual and multidisciplinary online cooperative learning activities
•	Promoting the knowledge in specific areas covered by Area Project (scientific, historical, artistic, ethnographical, archaeological, etc. issues)

The main features for what you consider the project a 'good practice' example, with respect to the selected areas (max 200 characters for each area):
•	Full exploitation of technology potential to reach the aim of “getting the far closer”: one can build a history through images with the contribution of museums located in different cities, regions or countries.
•	Provides a very simple, usable, accessible tool to promote online interaction between museum and schools
•	Supports the idea of USING the digitized museum heritage to actively build knowledge, in a pedagogically relevant way
•	Removes technical and economical barriers to a high quality online presence
•	Its software platform is constantly updated to comply with the accessibility requirements
•	Involves museums in collaborative fund raising activities instead of charging them a participation fee

Problems encountered and lessons learned:
•	The project needs to reach a critical mass of visible high quality content to get stronger attention by institutions and to start a virtuous circle (more high quality content, more funding)
•	The project is very innovative, people who have prejudice (or negative experience) towards better known online technologies (“it is difficult, it is expensive, it gives poor results, it can reduce the interest in visiting real museums, etc.”) must be helped in understanding the real nature of the project and the way it can help them reaching their objectives.
•	Even if it is very simple to interact with WWMM online interface it is important to provide full support to museums
•	Many museum directors have very few time to spend in innovating online communication

Comments:

I agree this information may be published on Minerva Knowledge Base: http://www.minervaeurope.org

x Yes  No

Signature: _____________________

Name: Francesco Ghidoli
e-mail: francesco.ghidoli@wwmm.org