Free and engaging online exhibitions: The Museum of the Macabre model

This post originally published on the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Blog on October 26, 2010.

Cheap is great, free is better! Co-Founders of the online museum, The Museum of the Macabre, Richard Fink and Robert Fink have developed a cost-free internet model that will allow museums to maintain a web presence at the excellent low price of free!

Though creating websites and online collections do take time there are many free sites and applications an institution can utilize in order to cut costs.  The following are the main tools the Museum has used to create their website.

wordpress.org

Open source blog and website publishing application

ehive.com

Catalogue, manage and display your collection online

issuu.com

Interactive publishing for newspapers, magazines and brochures

librarything.com

Catalog, organize and search your book collection

take11.com

Catalog, organize and search your video and DVD collection

cbox.ws

Chat, message and generate feedback with users

maps.google.com

Interactive mapping application and technology

To see a practical application of all these tools visit The Museum of the Macabre online.  Their website is built entirely using these FREE applications.  These tools have the ability to help many museums create an online presence in an easy and effective way.