FlashICT.net

avatar full movie Far Cry buy The UK’s National Archives have just released a great new exhibition about the English Civil War. As explained below:

download dvd Visit our brand new exhibition on the Civil War and discover some exciting new documents, images, video clips and interactive features. Find out more about how to use archival sources and investigate the conflict involving King Charles I, Parliament, the people and Oliver Cromwell. Each document has an audio version, a first for the Learning Curve! The exhibition has been written by Ben Walsh.

http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/civilwar/

Thanks

Tom O’Leary
Head of Online Services and Education
The National Archives

Sex and the City: The Movie trailer What I am most impressed about is how the National Archives are now using Flash effectively for their delivery method. This is exactly the sort of thing I wish more educational providers would do. Use standard .html pages, but introduce Flash elements to bring the pages alive. Here the source material is read out loud (via a Flash audio player) and there are online Flash videos where actors have been used to portray contemporary individuals.

However, they should go further – the Flash videos should be integrated into the main text. If they are paused to begin with it wouldn’t affect those on slower downloads. If activated it could either somehow detect the download speed or provide alternative options.

Finally, there is a nice little Flash notation tool where students can type their thoughts and ideas and even draw over them using the mouse, making it appear like a contemporary document. All really impressive stuff – and avaiable for everyone to make use of.

I know that as a government website, the National Archives do have difficulties pushing to use the latest technologies when bound with official, often outdated webdesign standards. However, they are clearly pushing things in the right direction.

[N.B. Just as a note, the National Archives pay for an advert on my www.SchoolHistory.co.uk website, but all the above thoughts are my own ]