WEB—Museum Forms a Web Site Presence During Rebuilding

0

The Children’s Museum of Los Angeles in downtown has been closed since last August, and the two locations where it will reopen are not going to be ready until 2003 and 2005, respectively. But parents and kids won’t have to wait nearly that long to access the museum’s exhibits.

Culver City-based iWonderStudios has been hired to create a Web site by this summer that will be fully integrated with the exhibits featuring virtual tours, bulletin boards, interactive learning games, e-greetings, advanced animation and monitored chat rooms for kids and parents.

Museum officials claim it eventually will be the first museum in which the physical facilities are totally integrated with an interactive Web site, giving children and parents all over the world access to exhibits 24 hours a day.

Wendy Levy, president of iWonderStudios, said that users can get an early glimpse of what’s to come when phase one of the site becomes operational within the next 30 days.

“Right now we’re considering a lot of ideas and looking for unique ways to customize and enhance the museum experience to make it more accessible and enjoyable for children and their guardians,” Levy said.

The site is part of the Children Museum’s plan to seek global recognition as an educational and cultural institution for children, according to Elissa Glickman, a museum spokeswoman.

The site will act as a resource to parents and educators by providing information about how children learn, as well as suggestions for educational activities.

In addition to iWonderStudio’s contribution to the site, Edwin Schlossberg, a New York-based interactive design expert, has been selected to create exhibits that will give children tools to help them understand their world.

As for the physical museum, one new facility is scheduled to open at Hansen Dam in Lake View Terrace in 2003, and the downtown “Art Park” facility is slated to open in 2005, Glickman said.

No posts to display