I have had in mind for a while to write a series of articles exploring ideas, quite freeform, of museums and galleries as sacred spaces. This concept has interested me for a number of years, since I started working in the sector and remember seeing outside a provincial art gallery a sign which went something [...]
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Conservation and communication
Recently Tom blogged about the prospect of the National Trust’s massive investment into digital technologies, including the web. Electric Acorns is a great new blog started by a an NT employee and devoted to peeling back some of the layers of the great institution in an effort to allow the public and fellow professionals a [...]
Why close the Textile Conservation Centre?
Conservation has been high in my thoughts recently. Largely through my current work with ICOMOS-UK (International Council on Monuments and Sites UK) I have been exposed to the vicissitudes that affect the preservation and interpretation of our heritage, whether they are the result of inappropriate development, lack of funds or lack of collective and political [...]
Another theory about how Stonehenge was built
A colleague pointed me at the BBC homepage today, which was featuring a nice slideshow displaying images of Stonehenge. The photos linked through to a story entitled “Stonehenge building riddle tackled“. It’s always fun to suggest how the great sarsen lintels might have been raised on top of the upright stones, and there have been [...]
National Museums Liverpool Blog
A superb example of how blogging can work for a museum (or any heritage organisation), is exemplified by the National Museums Liverpool blog. I visited it a while ago, when it was first set up, hoping that it would be successful. I’m always pleased to see bold experiments with technology in the heritage sector. I [...]
Arun Visualisation image featured by E-On Software
One of the stills I produced as part of the Arun Visualisation has been used by E-On Software to showcase their excellent EcoSystems Generation II instancing feature. Vue was used extensively for the animation, as well as 3ds Max, AutoCAD, XFrog, and numerous GIS and imaging packages. It’s one of my favourite images, and I [...]
Visualising the past
One of the 3D animations I’ve been working on at Wessex Archaeology is now available online with an introduction to the project. It’s been along time in the making, and like any archaeological reconstruction/visualisation, it’ll never be perfect. So click the movie above (hosted on the rather excellent blip.tv) and delve back in time 8000 [...]
Map Mobbing
A group from OpenStreetMap are gathering en-masse (well, 15 of them) to make a map of all roads and footpaths on the Isle of Wight, UK, which they will then make freely available. MAPPING REVOLUTION TARGETS THE ISLE OF WIGHT This weekend, 5th – 7th May, the Isle of Wight becomes the center of a [...]
Visitors and Moving
It looks as if Past Thinking is becoming rather well visited. In January, this site received over 10,000 visits, which to me is rather impressive. Thank you to all who come here to read my occasional missives! Ironically, the rest of this post is really only of interest to people who know us. I haven’t [...]
