Parks

1
Parks Gardens UK projectNew vistas for
historic designed landscape records.

• Rachael Sturgeon
• Project Manager, PGDS
• Janet E. Davis
• Web Manager, PGDS

2
Project aims

• Encouraging volunteers to research record
• Collating information from other sources

• Creating
• database
• web site
• educational resources

3
Specific project aims

• 6,000 records of sites in England Wales
• 1,000 records of sites in Scotland Northern
  Ireland
• References records
• Archives sources
• Associated Person records
• Associated Organisation records
• Digital images digital image records
• 20 themed educational resources

4
Who is involved?

• Parks Gardens Data Services
• not-for-profit company set up by

and

• Volunteers

• Supported by

• IT contractor

• hosting service

5
Who is involved? Stakeholders
Advisory Panel Experts include representatives
from English Heritage RCAMHW Hampshire County
Council Consultative Group Volunteers
organisations - NADFAS, County Gardens Trusts,
NCCPG Universities Culture 24
6
Who is it for?
Experts
Non-experts
General public
Volunteers
Tourists
Site owners/managers
Archaeologists
Historians
Heritage professionals
Planning professionals
Design professionals
HE FE students
Life-long Learners
UK schoolchildren
7
Accessibility issues - physical and technological

• Front end of web site
• Need to allow for
• people with disabilities, especially with visual
  impairments, including colour blindness
• slow dial-up internet access
• older hardware and software

8
Database interface
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Intellectual accessibility - navigation
Building a semantic bridge using navigation

• Providing methods to access the database records
  that do not require
• prior knowledge of historic parks gardens
• knowledge of UK geography or local authority
  areas
• good spelling or high level of literacy.

10
Find records
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Map-based Search
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Intellectual accessibility - images
Building a semantic bridge using description

• People read pictures according to what they
  know.
• Need to describe what is where.
• What is obvious to one expert will not be
  obvious to another from a different discipline.
• Accessibility for visually-impaired.

13
Intellectual accessibility - writing style
Building a semantic bridge using writing style

• Using plain English or providing explanations of
  specialist terms
• Abbreviations and acronyms written in full.
• Friendly but objective style.
• Concise, short sentences.

14
Controlled vocabulary
Example of early controlled vocabulary list for
terms to describe the context or principal
building for historic parks and gardens.
15
The Thesaurus within the database
16
Data entry form - Context
17
Illustrated Glossary
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Illustrated Glossary - Front End
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Back end content editor

• Designed to be used by staff with no or little
  HTML knowledge.
• Incorporates easy entry of basic metadata.

20
Front end content editor

• Next stage - letting volunteers add their own
  articles from the front end.

21
Conclusion
Accessibility Sustainability Delivery of content
www.parksandgardens.ac.uk