|
|
Methodology Phase 2: Conceptual Design.
2.1 Scope.
Simply identifying a historical object, as in Phase 1 above, does not
identify the kind of historical treatment which it will receive in your
multimedia development. A first approach to identifying this treatment
will be to determine the scope of your development. Scope can be broken
down into two components:
- Historical Scope. The 'temporal window' which your development will
open up - the historical periods which you intend to cover. This can
be identified as a section, or sections, of a time line.
- Cultural Scope. An indication of the 'depth' of the development for
each of the periods which it covers, in terms of the cultural and social
connections of your historical object which you intend to pursue.
Neither of these ideas is entirely precise, but it can be clarified with
some examples. If you visit Hatfield Forest, you will find that the interpretation
boards (arranged in historical sequence) cover a historical period from
prehistoric times to the present day (a very long historical scope); but
the interpretation for each period is limited to a pictorical suggestion
of the appearance of the landscape and some of the human activities which
surround the landscape (a narrow cultural scope). In contrast, if you visit
the animatronic display in Tunbridge Wells' 'Pantiles' ('A Day at the Wells'),
you are given an experience of a single day in the 18th Century (a brief
historical scope); but there is an attempt to give an insight into many
aspects of life at this time (a relatively broad cultural scope). This latter
example points up the imprecision of the idea of cultural scope, since from
a critical point of view the presentation of the surface appearance of even
many aspects of life might be thought to be culturally shallow.
It is useful to give an overview of your intended scope with a graphical
representation: a timeline expanded in a second dimension to show cultural
scope in each period.
You will need to perform this scope analysis for both
the group and individual assignments. For the group assignment you will
need to relate what you propose to do to the historical and cultural scope
of the site that you are addressing. For the individual assignment this
is likely to be your most crucial step, and the one that is most difficult
for you, as you are not experienced historians or museum curators.
2.2 Content.
You will need to make an inventory of the materials (text, image, video,
sound, animation) which you will need to cover the scope of your project.
This can be prepared as a descriptive list which can be keyed to points
on your graphical representation of the scope of your development.
For your group assignment, this can be reasonably sketchy
as you are not preparing for a full implementation. For the individual
assignment, you should do this in considerable detail.
|