Little but Good: The Great North of Scotland Railway

My seventh blog documents the collection at the Aberdeen, Scotland museum entitled: Little but Good: The Great North of Scotland Railway.
http://www.aagm.co.uk/code/emuseum.asp?action=collection&collection
name=Little%20But%20Good%3A%20The%20Great%20North%20of%20Scotland%20
Railway&collection=1295

Selection Procedure: 36 images reflecting myriad aspects of the Great North Scotland Railway were chosen. The images range from a porter's badge, to a model of a steam locomotive, to photographs of construction projects on the railway. There are many fascinating images among the 36, likely because the museum wanted to pick the best of them to enhance its online presence.

Object Characteristics: When a user clicks on an image he or she is taken to another page with a slightly larger version of that image and an extensive paragraph describing the content of the image. However, some images do not have extensive descriptions (the porter's badge description just says its made of brass and leather). This page allows the user to further enlarge the image by clicking on it. The page also includes an accession number (Acc. No. ABDMS050006 for the image I selected showing Denburn, or Den creek, exposed before an extension to the railway line was completed) and dimensions of the image in the collection (Overall: Height: 10 cm, Width: 7.9 cm in this case). When the image is clicked on, a new window opens with only the image and a close link.

Metadata: The images on the thumbnail page have caption links that briefly describe them (mine says Culverting over Denburn). When clicked on the user sees the page with a more extensive description, accession number, and dimensions. On both the thumbnail and extended description pages, the user also has the option to view six images at a time, text only and not the images, or to continue to view the images one at a time. On the detailed description page, there is also a sidebar with the title see also which has links to many other images related to the one the user is currently viewing.

Intended Audience: I believe the intended audience of the collection of the Great North of Scotland Railway is those people interested in Scottish history, industry, or railroads. However, unlike some of the other digital collections I have visited, there are no discernible links that allow the user to purchase prints of the image for display, meaning that the Aberdeen Museum is not relying on online sales of the images for revenue. Nevertheless, I like the interface that the Aberdeen Museum has provided because it gives extensive descriptions of images once the user indicates his or her interest by clicking on them. The interface also includes the see also feature to further educate the user about both the image they have chosen to view and the Great North of Scotland Railway in general.