I’d forgotten that several months ago I’d requested an invite to test Google’s Open Gallery service. It’s the software that powers Google’s Art Project,  Historic Moments and World Wonders projects.  As of December 2013 it is being made available to anyone, though you do still have to apply for an invitation.
The software lets you build a collection of images and add text descriptions and metadata.  Your collections are displayed on a website with your own culturalspot.org URL or a custom URL. Individual items can be gathered into exhibits of related materials. Akin to software like ContendDM and Omeka. (I have no experience with these tools, so can’t compare features.)
The service is quite simple to use and I had a small test collection and an exhibit up and running in about 15 minutes. It’s the pollyalida collection of flowers – of course!
To really get a sense of what you can do with this, take a look at these collections.
- Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
- Daniel Boone Regional Library
- Trinity College Library Dublin
- Public Art in Public Places
What an easy way to get a small collection of historic photos, archival materials, art images and more online quickly and easily. And free.
