Collections Online & Online Cenotaph
Development Roadmap
In 2015 Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira launched both Online Cenotaph and Collections Online, introducing a single search across the Museum’s collections and implementing linked open data standards and a publicly accessible API. They are both now well-established online platforms with a wide audience and reach. Last financial year (2019-2020) saw more than 500,000 combined users, with just over two million pageviews. There were over 4000 items of user generated content uploaded to Online Cenotaph and 23 million interactions with collections records and images on external partner websites.
Our vision is to transform Collections Online and Online Cenotaph from search platforms into knowledge platforms. This will be achieved by developing enhancements driven by user research and sector best practice, guided by values from Museum frameworks: He Korahi Māori (manaakitanga & kaitiakitanga), Teu Le Vā (meaningful engagement & valuing diversity) and the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996 (continuous improvement).
We aim to build on the foundations of Collections Online and Online Cenotaph, as well as collection cataloguing and imaging work undertaken during the Collection Readiness Project, Pacific Collection Access Project and Te Awe, with incremental technical and front-end changes as well as pilot projects that push the boundaries of digital museum practice. We seek impactful features which engage, educate and delight a broad range of users, making it easy to access, re-use and interact with the Museum’s online collections.