The TAMH Project

The 'virtual museum' appears to offer great opportunities to the visitor to explore topics freely, to answer questions of personal interest, to investigate objects which are connected in his or her eyes rather than those which are placed in close physical proximity by the museum curator. Sadly, though, this is rarely the case. Whether in a standalone touchscreen computer setting or in museums on-line, designers have been seduced by the ease with which hypertext applications can be created. The rigid links imposed by hypertext are as confining as the displays of the Victorian museum: the visitor goes only where the curator allows.

TAMH sets out to make each user a 'virtual curator'. Questions may be posed by asking free text questions, by searching databases (either traditionally or with the help of visual cues) or by taking 'compare and contrast' options. The system is designed to run on standalone or networked computers but we are looking at how some of the techniques may be extended to afford Internet access also.

Funding

The information provided by the project is free and always will be. This leaves us with the problem of how to fund development and research. Please consider making a donation.