The British Museum implemented Alterian Content Manager as part of a number of new web initiatives. The new British Museum website incorporates a full re-design, and allows unprecedented access to the Museum’s collections online, including both data and images. The implementation of Content Manager has helped the Museum build and develop its web presence providing more efficient management and publication facilities. In addition, it allows for a more collaborative and dynamic approach to the web publication process.
Content Manager works alongside a bespoke publication engine and service bus commissioned from Atkins allowing the Museum to display its extensive collections to a wide online audience and integrate information effectively from other information systems. The Museum's collection database incorporates rich terminology resources to support searching using controlled terms. The solution incorporates the Museum’s ISO 2788 thesauri and includes relationships such as synonym, broader/narrower term and related term. So, for example, it is possible to retrieve “cups” and “flagons” by searching for "vessel".
“Alterian's easy to use and intuitive web content management system allows non-technical users to take control of website content” said David Eldridge, CEO of Alterian: “The British Museum now has the tools it needs to keep its site live and dynamic and display its wealth of artifacts in a timely and efficient style.”