Winning “Best Museum Website”

We were delighted to hear this week that our work developing Conservation Central for Smithsonian’s National Zoo was awarded “Best Overall Museum Website” at Museums and the Web 2004, the prestigious international forum for reviewing the state of the Web in arts, culture, and heritage.

From the judges: “Conservation Central is a middle school science teacher's dream. This is an extremely thorough resource for standards-based learning about conservation and habitats. The activities are well-balanced with both high-tech, extensive Flash interactives and low-tech, simple printout family learning activities.”

And: “thoughtful execution...the next best thing to going to the Zoo.”

Obviously, it feels good to be recognized for work that we have taken to heart, building connections from the Zoo to families and schools. The site is extensive, with eight Flash-based interactives, a downloadable curriculum, and family learning activities. In the end, I think success was largely due to this variety of activities, from high tech to low – each designed to maximize that particular media’s connection to current museum learning theory.