Client: Scottish Borders Council, March 2015
The refurbished Park Gallery looks out onto the extensive parkland from Hawick Museum, which is housed in the stunning Wilton Lodge building. The room contains several interactive displays that use a combination of the latest tablet touch screen technology and high quality audio playback systems.
Tablets present to visitors: wildlife that can be found in the park (images and calls); old films that were created to attract tourists to the area; archive footage of boy scouts working in the park during wartime; nostalgic photo albums; a rewarding game that highlights the very different park user bye-laws that were in place one hundred years ago.
Users can also listen to former Hawick High School pupils reminisce about activities in the park from their youth and the great community spirit that such precious green spaces can evoke. An additional alternative access program was also produced for visitors that are unable to visit the upper floor galleries. As well as the interactive displays mentioned above, this program includes 360° tours of two galleries with hotspots that provide additional data on key objects in the collection.
We really enjoyed working with CMC Associates and Abound Design. They were so helpful in guiding us through the whole interpretation process, something completely new to us. CMC made sure they understood the messages we were trying to communicate, bringing together natural andCMC provided digital content for Hawick Museum’s ‘Park Gallery’. They did a fantastic job, working to our brief but adding much more, making suggestions based on their extensive skills and knowledge. The public love the games, audio recording and films which give the gallery ‘depth’. Our birdcall identification application is very popular, particularly with younger visitors. I am happy to recommend the CMC team to any museum or visitor centre looking to develop digital content. cultural heritage in unique ways. Visitors love our stop-motion animation, touchscreen maps and quizzes, and our immersive “wood wide web” wall! Their work helps bring the whole visitor experience together, inspiring visitors to explore the landscape and find out more.
Shona Sinclair, Area Curator, Hawick Museum
