Institute and museum of the history of science. A window on the museum - Florence's online museum

The Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (IMSS) is one of the world’s chief institutes dedicated to scientific museography. It organises initiatives to help promote an understanding of science as well as carrying our research and documentation. The museum, specialist library, archives, multimedia, photo and restoration laboratories also help promote scientific knowledge, develop the technical and scientific side of our cultural heritage and are constantly committed to improving research in the field. Established in 1927 by the University of Florence, the institute collects, catalogues and restores historical-scientific equipment and items. The museum itself, which opened in 1930, is housed in Palazzo Castellani, home also to the Institute. The original layout was designed by Andrea Corsini, who ensured it became a modern museum. Special projects are supported both publicly and privately, and it receives constant support from the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.

The experience

Here we concentrate on the multimedia catalogue, available both online and in DVD. The virtual visit is divided by floor number (the first floor houses the Medici collection, the second floor the Lorraine dynasty collection), room number, showcase and, finally, the single instrument. Each item is described with its date of origin, name of inventor, material, size, description and at least one picture. There may be a further image showing a detail or the back of the object. Further links take you to the biographies of the figures related to the instrument and to explanations of little known words or scientific theories, an animated illustration of how the apparatus works and film clips that contextualise the instrument. The same information is available via different indexes: biographies of personages, constructors/inventors with their instruments, in depth information, objects organised by type into some 200 groups, animations, or by theme. The vast online catalogue encompasses some 1,200 instruments; 430 biographies; 760 in depth information sheets; about 4,500 pictures; 109 pieces of film showing the historical and scientific context of the instruments, and 49 animations illustrating how they function. This vast quantity of multimedia information makes it possible to carry out all kinds of in depth studies.

The technology

To develop and manage its dynamic sites, the recently updated IMSS website uses an ARAM frame work developed at the Multimedia lab. Data are generated using a word processor and are imported to the database. They are then extracted in XML format and from here transformed into HTML pages using XSL.

This kind of standardised management is currently used to run the web version of the Multimedia Catalogue and the other applications; new applications will gradually be added to it.

The advantages in comparison to a static version are numerous: among these is the ability to change contents and graphics separately, reuse the contents for different applications and compare texts in different applications. Windows Media Server and Server QuickTime Darwin are employed to stream the many film pieces and animations.

To reach a wide audience, all the video material is available on servers with two distinct characteristics: modem and ADSL (150Kbps). Other multimedia content is available in Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Shockwave format; the latter also uses a 3D graphics engine.