Creating virtual exhibitions that enhance cultural heritage and lesser-known Italian masterpieces, using digital tools and technologies that encourage interaction. This is the objective of Movio, the new open source kit made available to archives, libraries and museums but also superintendencies, universities, schools and associations to be able to create virtual exhibitions, presented today in Rome at the National Central Library.
Created by the Central Institute for the Single Catalog (ICCU), which has always been committed to spreading the use of digital technologies for cultural heritage, Movio was financed by the Telecom Italia Foundation, thanks to the 2010 tender on "Invisible Assets", where was selected on over 300 projects. The purpose of the Call was precisely to raise awareness on the theme of invisible goods, i.e. the presence in our country of exhibition events and exhibitions, created by cultural subjects, which may never have an effective diffusion through the web.
This innovative tool is therefore designed to promote the accessibility and usability of the digital cultural contents of an exhibition, itinerary or cultural itinerary to be presented as a "virtual exhibition". And, like all projects financed by Telecom Italia, the initiative has a strong technological value as it creates an interaction between new technologies and culture.
Movio consists of an open source software, Cms Movio, with which the virtual exhibition can be created and made usable, and of a Movio App, an application that allows viewing on mobile devices, smartphones, Android and Ios tablets. The kit, available in several languages, also includes the web service, Movio-Hub, which constitutes the catalog of digital exhibitions created with Movio, which is continuously updated. The Movio software is conceived as an open source SCMS (Semantic Content Management System) which allows the creation, management and maintenance of web pages, a mini-site and customized apps on the specifications of temporary, permanent or web-born exhibitions.
Marcella Logli, of the Telecom Italia Foundation, concluded her speech this morning at the National Library, declaring that the foundation has always been guided by "creative intuition and craftsmanship" and that Movio represents an ideal tool for "making business with cultural heritage, which is the most precious asset in Italy”.
