Place-Royale from Today to Yesterday
Jules Morissette, Musée de la Civilisation, Canada
http://www.mcq.org/place-royale/
The project is a cyber-exhibition that uses 12 themes to present the highlights of the history of Québec City’s Place-Royale, as well as its historic figures, society, and architectural evolution through the various periods of its history. Drawing on Musée de la civilisation archives and collections and other sources, the project tells the four-century history of Place-Royale.
On the website, visitors can explore the main sectors of Place-Royal through five 360° panoramic views photographed in October 2009. Visitors can click on points of interest in the pictures to get more information. The points of interest give visitors access to the historic themes and figures associated with them, showcasing the still visible traces left by major events in history.
Smartphone users who wander around Place-Royale can also take advantage of the cyber-exhibition. An adapted version gives them a guided tour of the sites and access to the texts and images from the website. The guided tour is also available as a podcast for users with MP3 players.
All these users will have access to a rich variety of multimedia content, including narrations, photos, illustrations, animations, and maps. The 360° panoramic views make the virtual tour of Place-Royale a truly immersive experience. Since these panoramic images were produced using Flash, we can incorporate various types of content to make them highly interactive.
Users can navigate the site in different ways:
- By physical location
- By chronology
- By historic themes
- By historic figures
These options allow users to gradually increase their knowledge of the site based on their personal interests.
The exhibition also includes an educational "rally", which presents visitors with challenges to encourage them to explore the site. To spur interest and motivate visitors, those who correctly answer the questions in the rally will be able to send virtual postcards of Place-Royale.
Secondary 3 and 4 students are one of the target audiences for the rally. There is also a lesson plan to make site navigation easier for teachers who want to use it the classroom or as part of an actual class trip to Place-Royale.
The project website is scheduled to go online on March 31, 2010.
Demonstration: Demonstrations II [Close Up]
Keywords: Smartphones, podcast, visit, game, educational, cyber-exhibition
