In this latest report on your usage of our new online collection, I’m going to look at entry points.

One of the main aims of an online collection these days is to move beyond a “view on a database” and deliver some of the affordances of a gallery experience—especially the ability to serendipitously discover new rabbit-holes down which to disappear.

We know that our own online collection is very much still in a primal state, but that it is getting hitherto unprecedented usage for our museum. These users are, by and large, unexpectedly new users.

Many of these users are coming in from new doorways—opened up by Google searches—and others have little or no concept of the depth, breadth, or the particularities of our collection. These new users are the ones that we’re currently most interested in observing: they are our “known unknowns,” and, in aggregate, also represent small glimpses into potential futures for our institution.

Beyond the front page of the collection, November visitors have begun their journeys through our collection with some strange objects. Here’s a few of the objects, people and company pages that operated as rabbit-holes in November.

  1. Armchair: Peacock. Hans J. Wegner, designed 1947, produced 1950s.

 

  1. Chair: Elephant. Bernard Rancillac, 1967.

Elephant chair

 

3. Drawing. 1805.

Drawing

4. Gorham Manufacturing Company

5. Ladislav Sutnar

  1. Citibank cashier’s check design. Dan Friedman, ca. 1975.

Citibank
7. Stick Pin: Pearl scarf pin with snake, 19th century.

Stick pin
8. Tibor Kalman

Why do you think these might be popular start points?

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *