Multimedia 4 All Project

Several years ago, following extensive research into the needs of the museum community, an economical and simple-to-use multimedia authoring system was released called 'Conveyor'.

Designed by museum people, for museum people, Conveyor v.1 enabled an organization's staff to take images, texts, sounds, animations and videos and simply insert them into the framework of a pre-formatted interactive presentation. Best of all, there was no programming involved.

Now the Conveyor system is being upgraded as a part of a EC funded Culture 2000 project called Multimedia 4 All. In 2008 the upgraded Conveyor system will be tested in a number of European countries before being made widely available to cultural organizations.

Project Activities

Activity 1

Representatives of the main ‘project partners’ (applicant and co-organisers) meet to review the current Conveyor software system, explore development options for the project and agree requirements analysis protocols.

Following the requirements analyses, a research and development plan is formulated. Additional work includes setting the technical standards and equipment required for the project, etc.

Activity 2

The required hardware and software to enable the project partners to develop and present the Conveyor system is purchased.

Activities 3 & 4

The new Conveyor application and help system is evolved in accordance with the previously established protocols.

Activity 5

The translated versions of the Conveyor system are produced.

Activity 6

The project partners collaborate to provide digital assets and demonstration Conveyor presentations, based on materials relating to their geographical area and work interests (or those of their collaborators. These will be used in later training workshops, for general project promotion and as an asset-base for educational purposes.

Activity 7

Training workshops are staged in all project partner countries to introduce the software to users. Thereafter, Conveyor authored presentations are built by those trained in the workshops and by others working under their supervision

Activity 8

Exhibitions are staged in museums and other cultural locations in all of the project partner countries introducing the Conveyor presentations built in Actions 6 and 7. These exhibitions will also be used to introduce the entire Conveyor authoring system to visitors.

Activity 9

The progress of the project will be reported at EVA/ICHIM/MGC or similar conferences and Conveyor workshops will be held during these gatherings. The partners will aim to encourage awareness of the initiative across Europe and beyond.