The Imperial War Museum

The Imperial War Museum in London, which is my all-time favorite, has online exhibitions covering many of the themes of the physical exhibits. Like many of the other digital collections we've looked at, the online collections (here) are searchable--and the IWM's are also organized into topics of interest. Each record has metadata that includes the date of creation, the copyright restrictions, the location of the object within the IWM system, and a description of the object. You can also add items to a personal list, which can then be manipulated. The images themselves are watermarked, although at least in the ones I viewed was not too distracting. Unfortunately the images cannot be enlarged, leading to a significant absence of detail in some of them, and there is no metadata available on the digitization process, standards, etc. However, the breadth of the collections, especially on the IWM's strengths such as trench warfare, and the ease of both browsing and searching make the online archives a powerful resource. In addition, like the museum itself, there are represntations of many physical objects such as weapons. Here is a WWI pistol, for example, with excellent description for nonexperts to contextualize it. The database contains 150,00 objects so far. The national importance of the museum, and its governmental support, suggests sustainability will not be a problem going forward. The IWM also has collaborative projects, such as the inventory of UK war memorials, which speak to the cohesiveness of the British historical narrative.

While the database is thorough and usable, as with many of the digital collections we have examined the IWM is less successful in taking advantage of the unique properties of the digital medium. I am interested in WWI and as such chose the online exhibition of the Battle of the Somme, which is covered quite extensively in the London museum. One of the problems I at least have with reading military history is having to flip back and forth from the text to the map in order to follow troop movements: I hoped the online Battle of the Somme would address this. It was disappointing. The exhibition covers three main areas: the battle, the personal stories of participants, and current historical interpretations and suggestions on visiting the site. I had hoped to be able to see an interactive map, maybe one that would integrate narratives, and instead each section stands alone. The sole exception to this lack of integration is The Battlefield Today which suggests tours that integrate elements from the personal stories. However, they are not interactive, which seems to waste an ideal opportunity to move around: from the site today, the battle, the stories, and back again, or follow the battle as it progresses through time. Hopefully this kind of functionality will follow, to enhance the usability of an excellent archival collection.