HM Tower of London

Project description C07

 

Web page: http://www.royalarmouries.org/extsite/view.jsp?sectionId=82

 

            The Tower of London is the famous icon that draws many first-time visitors to the city, not to mention many residents, including school children.  The Royal Armouries’ Education Service at HM Tower of London serves that last group.  It has sponsored projects for many years; see

http://www.wpi.edu/cgi-bin/Interactions/search.cgi?s=full&sponsor=Royal%20Armouries%20at%20HM%20Tower%20of%20London and

http://www.wpi.edu/cgi-bin/Interactions/search.cgi?s=full&sponsor=Royal%20Armouries%20at%20HM%20Tower .  (Unfortunately, there is not a single list, and these two overlap.)

 

Organisation name and address

Royal Armouries

HM Tower of London

London

EC3N 4AB

UK

 

Proposer's name and contact information

Ian Coles

Tower Education Officer

ian.coles@armouries.org.uk

 

Background

WPI students have undertaken a wide range of valuable projects at the Tower of London since 1990.  A re-display of the Royal Armouries’ galleries in the White Tower is planned.  Armouries staff would like to develop an interactive planning tool to assist with consultation on and simulation of new displays. 

 

Problem statement and objectives

  • The White Tower is a popular and busy building.  Visitor numbers, the nature of the 900 year-old building combine with many other factors to present museum staff with major challenges, for example, managing visitor flow and safeguarding artefacts.
  • As a world heritage site, the Tower attracts a wide range of visitors with diverse needs and expectations.  Re-displaying the armour collections to enhance the visitor-experience of such a range of audiences presents significant challenges for the museum.
  • We would like to develop an interactive tool that meets the following criteria:
    • It is easily usable in a range of formats e.g. on-line, stand-alone PC, paper-based.
    • It includes a 3D representation of the White Tower to allow users to understand the layout of the White Tower.
    • It includes 2D floor-plans which can be annotated with text and images and which can be edited and saved as multiple versions (e.g. to record several alternative gallery layouts.)
    • It includes a record of the current armour displays in the White Tower.
    • It can be used to record and display the responses of a range of visitors to the current displays, and also suggestions for changes to displays.
  • This project will require project team members to research relevant previous WPI projects; to identify and employ appropriate methods of visitor research in the galleries; to use a high level of ICT knowledge and skills in order to produce a complex computer simulation.