Illustrated Audio Opportunities

(above: Arthur Heming, The Drama of the Forests,1921, Garden City, N. Y. , Toronto, Doubleday, Page & Co., The Library of Congress. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

A recent acquisition

Upon accessioning an art work, a museum can create an illustrated audio presentation for the object. The Web presentation can resemble a live talk by a curator or docent interpreting the object.

The presentation can be assembled using a series of illustrated audio clips on individual web pages. There is a main page which identifies the show and indexes the clips. Included on the main page can be a graphic of the museum logo, a header for the presentation, text explaining how the presentation flows and is accessed, and an image of the speaker. There can be a postage stamp-sized thumbnail image with a brief caption for each illustrated audio clip segment. Each thumbnail image can link to a clip. As an alternative to thumbnails there can be text-only links to clips.

The Los Angeles Times online edition has narrated slide shows in its online multimedia section. Go to to "Multimedia section" and view slide shows such as "Afghanistan: Country at a Crossroads." The Times used thumbnail images on the slide show main page to identify the illustrated audio clips making up the show. The main page can also start a streaming slide show with only one audio track.

A web page for each illustrated audio clip segment can be made. The page can include some or all of these elements:

page header
the illustrated audio clip
caption
transcript

Nebraska Public Television maintains a web page that archives "MONA Moments on Nebraska Public Radio." written and narrated by Ron Roth, the director of the Museum of Nebraska Art. As of September 2004 there were about 80 archived Moments on the NPTV web site. Each Moment has a separate web page containing a link to enable the viewer to replay an audio broadcast, a complete transcript of the audio, plus a small image of the art subject being covered. The thumbnail image is linked to a larger image with a caption on a separate page. Although the MOMA Moments contain audio-only clips instead of illustrated audio clips, the page concept is the same.

Illustrated audio clips can be for:

the speaker (self-introduction and opening remarks)
a map indicating the location of the gallery containing the object with directions
the entire object
close up details
related objects
a donor story if a gift

Individual audio clips should be brief. At a conversational speaking rate of 2.5 words per second here are word counts for varied lengths of clips:

30 seconds = 75 words
45 seconds = 113 words
60 seconds = 150 words

There can be one or more images per clip. TFAO recommends that the time for each image being shown in an individual clip be kept within 15 to 45 seconds.

An alternative to manually selected clips is the use of streaming illustrated audio. The streaming option plays all of the clips automatically in succession.

For production tips see the Technical section of Solutions in the Web lectures study.

(above: William Penhallow Henderson, Pueblo Adobes, 1918, pastel on brown paper, New Mexico Museum of Art. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

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*Tag for expired US copyright of object image:

Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.

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