Bridgeman Art Library Project

I have been involved on the margins of a new project with geographical connections which is being developed by the Bridgeman Art Library.
Here is some further information on the Bridgeman Art Library and the project itself...

The Bridgeman Art Library founded in 1972, is one of the leading sources of cultural heritage imagery, working with museums, private collections and art collections in the UK and internationally. Over a million high quality resolution images cover subjects such as art, archaeology, architecture, history, geography, science and medicine, manuscripts, society, photography, religion and politics. We also have portraits of all the leading personalities throughout history from Archimedes to Obama. These images have traditionally been licensed to educational publishers (in a wide range of materials), fiction/non-fiction publishers, TV/Film companies, electronic producers and the media. We support museums by returning 50% of our fees back to them, enabling them to conserve and exhibit their works.

In 2005, The Bridgeman Art Library introduced an innovative educational image resource (Bridgeman Education –www.bridgemaneducation.com) for scholars, universities and schools. The database is a subscription-based, annually renewable website, drawing from the Bridgeman Art Library’s own archives and permits students and staff to keyword search, download and use over 300,000 images, copyright-cleared for educational use. The emphasis is on simplicity, rapid access and organisation. Bridgeman Education is currently working on several educational programmes and one of them is called the SILVER project.

The project:

SILVER (www.silvereducation.org) is a government-funded research project (Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills - DIUS) that investigates the development of new e-learning technologies for use in education and training. The SILVER project comprises a consortium of three organisations: Bridgeman Education; Lexara (technology partner); and the Knowledge Media Institute, which is part of the Open University.

Prototype 1:

The SILVER team has already developed a first prototype. This prototype is on the topic of Women and the Vote (with a focus on Suffragettes), and is aimed towards KS3 History and Citizenship students and teachers. In order to have a look at this prototype please click on our SILVER website www.silvereducation.org -and register.

A Suffragette selling newspapers to two soldiers, c.1914 © Bridgeman Art Library

Prototype 2:

Currently the SILVER project team is working on the second prototype which is focused on the sustainable development topic (sustainable buildings) a subject relevant to KS3 and KS4 Geography and the Environment and Land-based Studies (sustainability) Diploma.

This prototype is divided in two parts, the first one will explore the topic by tagging and annotating the Bridgeman Art Library sustainable buildings images and the second part will incorporate the use of new technology with a UGC (user generated content) section in which students will upload their own images and comments from their local area.


If you would like to participate on the prototype 2 (sustainable development module), please contact the SILVER E-learning Specialist Susa Rodriguez-Garrido at

susa.rodriguezgarrido@bridgemanart.co.uk

It is this second project which I am involved in....

One to watch as it develops...

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