L I THE COMMONWEALTH INFORMATION DATABASE A Cse Study - Multimedi on Shoestring Scott Ewings Reserch & Design Commonwelth Informtion Dtbse Commonwelth lnstitute London The Commonwelth Institute The Commonwelth Institute is by no mens typicl museum. The Institute, housed in its impressive Grde II-listed copper-roofed building in Hollnd Prk, London, is n independent body, estblished by prlimentry sttute nd substntilly funded by the British government. It represents continued commitment to the Commonwelth nd ll other Commonwelth governments, these being represented on the Institute's Bord of Governors. Fig. 1 The Commonwelth lnstitute
The mission of the Institute is to promote knowledge of nd understnding for the Commonwelth, the fifty countries which mke up the ssocition nd the principles for which it stnds. The Institute tkes this messge to over 300,000 children who visit the Institute's Exhibition Glleries in support of their clss work ech yer. We differ from most museums in tht we hve no forml remit to collect, preserve or provide n cdemic or reserch context for rtefcts from pst or present. However, we do shre relince with trditionl museums on exhibitions s our min on-site public medium. The Institute's permnent Exhibition Glleries contin exhibitions on the Commonwelth countries, number of regionl nd themtic exhibitions, full temporry exhibition progrmme focusing on rts nd development issues, nimted by rich clendr of music, dnce, festivls nd events involving rtists nd techers from the Commonwelth itself. The fundmentl eductionl ctivity on the Kensington site is further developed through ntionwide extr-murl progrmme in schools nd the community, through Northern Regionl Centre bsed in Brdford nd through n extensive eductionl resource infrstructure. The resource support bse for the Institute's progrmme includes semi-commercil photogrph librry nd resource centre. Commonwelth Informtion Dtbse (CID) origins nd ims Within this context, the Commonwelth Informtion Dtbse (CID) hd its origins in the need to provide visitors with relible, up-to-dte informtion on ech of the fifty Commonwelth countries. Much of the informtion with which we del is highly voltile, with mny countries, prticulrly in the developing world, displying rpidly chnging economic, politicl nd socil profiles. It cn often seem tht Heds of Stte nd Government come nd go remrkbly quickly. Fig. 2 Sugr cne production in Jmic
Fig. 3 North Se oil production in Britin To mintin the Institute's position s the uthorittive source of Commonwelth informtion, we need to respond to the speed of informtion chnge more effectively nd less expensively thn we re ble to do with trditionl grphic pnel nd publishing techniques. Although the project begn with the ide of plcing tht voltile informtion within text-bsed computer system for esy public ccess nd rpid updting, the project tem quickly relised tht fr more ws possible given the new technology thn simply reflecting chnging fcts nd sttistics, nd tht we could tke the provision of informtion into the sphere of enquiry lerning nd interction. With little experience or knowledge of the technology, the tem hd few preconceptions bout multimedi nd this hs proved to be n enormous dvntge, in tht we decided to let our exhibitions, design nd eduction experience nd knowledge of the trget user drive the project's development. With this pproch we hve voided ny dependence on expensive multimedi experts or consultnts, nd the typicl problem of working to the limittions of prticulr softwre. The originl project brief, reflecting the interests of exhibitions, eduction nd informtion stff contined the following prime objectives: to provide n interctive, eductionl, informtion resource for public use within the Exhibition Glleries. to trget school resource needs within the context of the Ntionl Cumculum. to provide n eductionl resource for future publiction nd distribution beyond the Kensington site. to crete opportunities for prtnership with relevnt orgnistions in pursuit of the overll ims of the Institute.
Development of prototype It ws decided t the outset tht the project could not be funded from existing Institute funds nd tht development costs would hve to be met long-term by sponsorship from outside the Institute. CID ws envisged s n exhibition on-screen with children between the ges of 10 nd 14 s the min trget udience. The proposl clled for vried forms of informtion mteril, including text, photogrphs, moving film nd sound, mking considerble demnds on the cpcity of the softwre. The Institute ws fortunte in being introduced to System Simultion Ltd, softwre compny with bckground in eductionl simultion nd gming, who were invited to become prtners in the project. The fledgling dtbse ws thus bsed on Systems Simultion's proprietry free text dtbse softwre, "Index+". As well s providing fst ccess to lrge volumes of text, Index+ links to other dtbses contining, for our purposes, grphics nd photogrphs, s well s to videodisc, tpe nd CD-ROM, providing the bsis for true multimedi informtion system. Our prtnership with System Simultion llowed us the dditionl freedom to tilor the softwre to our specific needs rther thn work within predefined prmeters of 'off-the-shelf' softwre. The hrdwre requirements were bsed on the open systems philosophy, thus ensuring tht future development ws not restricted to ny one formt. The project tem exmined number of hrdwre mnufcturers, finlly deciding to build reltionship with ICL, with their prominent profile in the eductionl mrket. ICL supplied the Institute with PC to be the development mchine to run the eventul first prototype. Prototyping is vluble nd vitl fist exercise for ny multimedi project. A prototype cn engge the ttention of mngement nd potentil sponsors in wy tht no mount of sketched ides nd rm wving ever cn. Thus the first stge of the project ws to crete working illustrtion of the true potentil of Commonwelth Institute multimedi dtbse. The cretion of the prototype in 1990, covering five countries, ws very much n exercise in begging nd borrowing, with the Institute's own considerble resources providing the bsis for content. Much of the text content relied on existing printed informtion leflets produced by the Institute. The Ntionl Interctive Video Centre kindly loned videodisc originlly developed to support the geogrphy curriculum, which contined number of useful video pssges. Mny projects encounter problems when fced with the prospect of imge genertion. The cretion of CTD's imge bnk ws typicl exmple of lowcost development in ction, s colour slides from COMPIX, the Institute's photogrph librry, were cptured using video processor, digitised nd stored s PCX files on the PC. Obviously, this is firly low qulity of cptured imge; however, it hs never been the intention to exploit these imges beyond the Exhibition Glleries or CD-ROM, thus qulity ws tilored to need. This is consistent with the overll pproch to the dtbse's development nd design. The im of CID hs never been to trumpet the use nd chievement of technology; from the strt, development ws driven by the perceived needs of the user nd our intentions for informtion provision, rther thn the priorities of hrdwre nd softwre designers. We set out to design system which did not require complicted menus or instructions, tht did not even demnd n ffinity with computers, tht would be s nturl to use s turning pge. This dictted tht the user would be guided through the system using non-textul prompts nd symbols wherever possible. Thus combintion of mps nd icons were designed to be the user's guide. The mps form instructive pths to ech of the
fifty countries. The icons represent subject mteril which is then presented s interctive text, photogrphs, nimtions nd other grphics. The mteril is divided into four min hedings - politics, economics, lnd nd people - ll of which re then subdivided by other icons representing subjects specific to tht min heding. In keeping with our pproch to imge genertion ws the cretion of the dtbse's visul identity nd formt. All grphics nd nimtions were creted using firly low-end pint progrm, PC Pintbrush. The results prove tht the chep option does not necessrily produce chep-looking results. The disdvntges of low project budget become pprent in the cse of the dtbse's video content. On the originl 1990 prototype, the loned videodisc provided us with sufficient pssges for five countries. On embrking on the second prototype of 1991, to contin the full complement of fifty countries, it becme rpidly obvious tht generting video imges for ll the countries ws fr too costly n option to contemplte t tht stge. With plns to publish the finished dtbse on CDROM in plce, it ws decided to limit the dtbse to photogrphs, grphics, nimtions nd text. We hope to develop this option on the next genertion of CID systems. CID received funding from Ntionl Council for Eductionl Technology (NCET) in 1992, becoming one of its development projcxts for the CDROM in Schools progrmme, intended to provide high qulity eductionl products for use in the Ntionl Curriculum. In tht context, the dtbse ws thoroughly tested by its trget udience, in four schools over the Autumn Term 92, nd in the Institute's Exhibition Glleries. This will ensure tht the dtbse is n effective eductionl resource nd hs informed development to the present finl version. Fig. 4 Flor nd fun of Botswn
From its conception in 1989, the first prototype in 1990, the second in 1991, to the present version; CID hs become considerbly powerful dtbse contining nerly 4,000 text sections nd over 4,500 imges nd grphics. During tht time CID hs cost the Institute pproximtely 10,000. This does not include stff costs of course, nor the stff costs of System Simultion, who hve operted lrgely on goodwill nd imgintion. In ddition, though most multimedi projects rely on dedicted project tem, contining reserchers, designers, progrmmers nd uthors, the Institute tem hs numbered two throughout; limittion perhps, but proof tht these things re possible. By the time of ICHIM '93, CID should hve been published on CD-ROM for mrketing within the eductionl sector. It hs lso been instlled s permnent feture of the Institute's Exhibition Glleries ever since the prototype of 1991. There re now three CID worksttions in opertion nd lmost permnently in use by visitors. Plns for the future include the issue of series of CID discs on specific themes such s wildlife, industry, rt nd music, nd the introduction of network of CID worksttions to run these dtbses t the Institute. Inevitbly, these plns ll depend on obtining future sponsorship. As the Commonwelth Informtion Dtbse hopefully proves, it is possible to develop such project on severely limited budget nd bring it to fruition, given determined nd dedicted stff, interest from outside prtners nd good ide. However, in common with projects on much lrger budgets, the ide must be sound, hve grounding in relity, nd most importntly, hve the trget udience in view t ll times. Everybody hs seen exmples of pplictions tht look gret, do wonderful things, but tell you nothing nd hve no mrket. The CID system s built remins true to the originl principle of mking informtion held by the Institute or redily vilble to it by virtue of its interntionl connections, more ccessible to our visitors.