BCS Edinburgh Branch

Visit to Multimedia Facilities
Museum of Scotland

Mike Spearman,

Managing Director The Multimedia Team

Tuesday, 8th February, 2000 at 6.30pm


This visit is for members only, and tickets should be requested from Mike Hurst, the Branch Secretary.

1. A wide range of multimedia is now on view within the MOS. This work has had the support of the Heritage and Millennium Lottery Funds. In addition to the multimedia within the building there are also multimedia programmes about the country's collections accessible on WWW and CD-ROMs.

2. Multimedia within the exhibition galleries includes more than twenty interactive programmes to compliment and enhance the objects and themes on display. Programmes cover elements of Prehistoric Housing, the Romans, the Vikings, Music, Religion, Engineering, Inventors, Railways, Emigration and of course, Whisky. These programmes are viewed on a range of the latest gas-plasma and flat screen technologies.

3. Multimedia is also be available in specialist rooms within the building:

3.1 ExhibIT - a study room where the content of the museum can be investigated in detail, including their location within the museum and origin across the country. The room will have WWW access to SCRAN and other relevant web sites.

3.2 Memory Bank - a study room where the public's thoughts, written, visual and audio, behind the 20th Century Collections on display in the Museum can be viewed and added to.

3.3 Discovery Centre - an education room where children can investigate the collections. The study displays include appropriate multimedia programmes which will change with the work of the Centre.

4. The Multimedia Team of the National Museums is also working closely with the Millennium Lottery funded project SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network) to improve educational access across the country to the national collections using web and multimedia technology.

The Multimedia Team (TMT) was established in 1992 by the National Museums of Scotland (NMS) as a revenue earning department. A key function of the Team was the development of MOSAICS - the Museum of Scotland Advanced Interactive Computer Systems, and the Millennium Lottery Project SCRAN - Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network. Since its formation, the Team has undertaken contract work from a variety of educational and cultural tourism work for public service and commercial organisations. On the 1st April 1999 this successful department was established by the museum as an NMS Enterprise Company, specialising in the production of educational and cultural multimedia programmes.

The Multimedia Team is currently housed in the Royal Museum, Edinburgh and its own offices in Dingwall. The Multimedia Team consists of 16 with a full range of multimedia production skills. Since its inception, considerable investment in terms of training and management has produced a highly motivated team committed to quality multimedia products. The Multimedia Team is now internationally recognised as one of the leaders in educational and cultural multimedia.