MW2006 BoW: Illinois Alive! Early Illinois Heroes and Heroines: A

Thank you for nominating Illinois Alive! Early Illinois Heroes and
Heroines: A Multimedia Memory Montage [http://www.illinoisalive.info]
for the Online Exhibition category.

Institution: Alliance Library System
Designer[s]: Lori Bell, in-house
Explanation:
One of the major goals of this site was to make library archival
photographs accessible to the visually impaired. Most archival
collections and photographs are totally inaccessible to the visually
impaired. To create an accessible experience, staff received
training in how to write audio description for photographs. After
training, staff members wrote audio descriptions for the selected
photographs. The descriptions were put in text on the page with the
photograph and also professionally recorded as an MP3 file. This
provided several options for visually impaired - to listen to the
description with their computer's screen reader, or to listen to
human voice narration by the MP3 file. We had not seen any library
sites like this, and wanted to see what the response to this was from
the visually impaired community. We set the site up so that they
could "browse" through the collection or select photos they were
interested in from a list. One visually impaired librarian who used
the site said, "Not only does the audio description enhance my
enjoyment of the site; but it allows me to have basic access to the
site. The only descriptive narration I have been familiar with is in
regard to videos and I have enjoyed them. I have never visited a
website with described information. Although my library is doing a
digitization project, none of the software they are using is
accessible. Your site seems more accessible and modifiable. When
given a choice of the human voice for audio description or a screen
reader, I would select the human voice. "

Another goal of the project was to use multimedia to make historical
figures in the project come to life to make history more interesting
to children and young adults. Several different multimedia
strategies were used. Reenactments of several of the historical
figures was done and filmed in a movie format. For another person,
we wrote a script, created a Windows Media movie with images, and had
an actor narrate her story as the images are displayed. The other
multimedia option we tried was to create an audio ebook on the
historical figure's life using FlipBook technology. We used images
from the libraries and audio narration about the historical figure in
an online ebook format using a flipbook template with a historical
feel to it.

Even if a visually impaired individual visited a library with the
photos, these would not be accessible unless someone described the
image to the person. By offering access to these collections online,
we are not only providing access, but accessibility, and a choice of
different ways to experience the collection.

We are seeking feedback on this project and creating a model that
other libraries can use if they decide they would like to create
audio description to make their images accessible.

Lori Bell
Director
Mid-Illinois Talking book Center
Alliance Library System
www: http://www.mitbc.org

You can check the Museums and the Web 2006 Best of the Web site
[http://www.archimuse.com/mw2006/best/] for the results anytime
after March 24, 2006.

All sites are reviewed by the Best of the Web judges. Nominating a
site multiple times does NOT improve its chances of winning an award.

Thank you for your interest in Museums and the Web -- we hope to see
you at MW2006!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Trant and David Bearman, Archives & Museum Informatics
MW2006 Conference Co-Chairs