7th Floor Media and Royal BC Museum provide gateway to BC treasures with on-line exhibit: First web resource to give thorough look at BC history
VANCOUVER November 30, 2004
The Royal BC Museum has unveiled the first web resource that presents an integrated view of British Columbia's human and natural history. Entitled Journeys & Transformations: British Columbia Landscapes, the on-line exhibition is part of the ongoing Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) project.
The Museum's Journeys & Transformations Web site highlights BC's unique landscapes: mountains, forests, waters, grasslands, and cities. Each section includes topics relating to the geography, natural history, and historical development of British Columbia, focussing on transformations that have affected its people, land, flora and fauna. The site also includes accounts provided by First Nations.
"Journeys & Transformations provides BC and the world access to the stories and treasures that have been entrusted to the Royal BC Museum," said Museum CEO Pauline Rafferty. "With one click, the public can delve into BC's natural and cultural heritage, gaining knowledge from our extensive collections and experts."
The site also fulfils needs in the school curriculum. Journeys & Transformations allows students in First Nations Studies, Geography, and History courses to further their education through wide-ranging resources from the RBCM collection, which can be used to support classroom learning. Links to supplementary lesson plans based on the site's content enhance the ability of teachers to integrate the site into their classrooms. Students are also encouraged to contribute to the site by submitting their own thoughts about journeys and transformations in British Columbia.
The Journeys & Transformations Web site was designed and produced in collaboration with SFU's 7th Floor Media. "One of the pleasures of designing this site was working with the variety of images and information provided to us by the museum," said Julie Zilber, 7th Floor Media Co-Director. "The gorgeous photographs invite students into the landscapes of British Columbia and will provoke their curiosity about the province's rich history and the complex relationships that exist between the people and places of BC."
The site was produced with the financial funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Virtual Museum of Canada. The Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) is a unique gateway featuring innumerable stories and treasures from Canadian museums. The VMC was created by the Department of Canadian Heritage, in collaboration with other governmental agencies, educational institutions, the private sector, and more than 1000 museums. The VMC is part of a strategy to promote Canadian cultural content on the Internet.
The Royal BC Museum's Virtual Museum of Canada project, Journeys & Transformations: British Columbia Landscapes can be visited at: www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/exhibits/journeys/english/index.html.