Australian Museum Turns ‘Inside Out’ To Share Virtual Content
Sydney, 15 April, 2020: Through the new portal ‘Australian Museum Inside Out’, the nation’s first museum, the Australian Museum (AM) has opened its ‘virtual doors’ to ensure science and culture remain accessible by curating virtual tours, online exhibitions, school resources, podcasts from scientists and other experts and even more for curious visitors: australian.museum/insideout
Through a broad spectrum of content, the AM’s new award-winning website offers an extraordinary world of virtual tours, online exhibitions, citizen science initiatives like FrogID, and educational activities to engage and inspire people of all ages.
“We’re thrilled to be able to share our content, developed against a backdrop of 193 years of collecting, in a new virtual way through ‘Australian Museum Inside Out’, hosted on our popular website,” Kim McKay, director & CEO of the AM said.
“While people are learning from home or working remotely, ‘Australian Museum Inside Out’ provides a free window into the behind-the-scenes experiences that only the AM can offer,” she said.
Curated to stimulate curiosity in all visitors, the AM’s new portal, is supported with detailed information and fact sheets to complement teachers and parents wanting to utilise more resources, becoming a one-stop-website for learning requirements.
Teachers, and home-schooling and supervising parents, will be able to engage with a variety of 3D- images of priceless collections; witness birds-eye footage of daring expeditions; experience the very latest in scientific research and view online exhibitions, events and podcasts.
“Our digital team has turned the AM website and archives literally ‘Inside Out’ over the past couple of weeks ensuring access to content is easy and that each click allows you to go deeper into our resources,” McKay said. “And, it will be updated and added to on a regular basis,” she said.
While the Australian Museum closed its doors in August last year for the $57.5m Project Discover renovation, it’s 250+ staff only moved to remote working from home three weeks ago when the impacts of COVID-19 hit Australia. The AM plans to reopen to the public in Spring this year once the public are able to once again visit the State’s cultural institutions and construction is completed.
The AM’s newly launched website recently won the Museums Australasia Multimedia Publication Design Award, (MAPDA) for Best Website.
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AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM INSIDE OUT HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights for at home and complementary online learning resources at the AM include;
Be inspired by our expeditions and the Australian Museum’s long history of research and discovery over the decades.
Discover our fun and informative online resources for teaching curious kids about science, nature and culture.
See some of our rare and unique specimens and cultural objects using 3D photogrammetry capture
A huge variety of student and teacher friendly fact sheets for discovering more about fossils, bugs, minerals, culture, habitats, animal lifecycles and science.
Come behind the scenes and onto the floors of our galleries and listen in to some of the most incredible stories and histories in these fascinating 45minute podcasts.
The AM has a large number of Citizen Science projects, where everyone is invited to be a part of important scientific research.
- Digivol – our world leading crowdsourcing online platform invites volunteers to transcribe data from natural history collections and archives so it is discoverable for anyone in the world to see.
- FrogID – the award winning first national frog count and scientific rescue mission which uses smartphone technology to enable citizen scientists to record frogs for identification by AM scientists
Online Exhibitions:
- #CapturingClimateChange – an arresting, dynamic online photographic exhibition where the public are invited to submit photos that symbolise the impacts of climate change in their environments – and the solutions they see
Media Contact
Claire Vince,
Media Advisor
0468 726 910
claire.vince@austmus.gov.au
