Trail-blazers!

The blog post for this week has been written by regular contributor Sam Powell. Sam is an Egypt Centre volunteer and the Director of Abaset Collections Ltd, which hosts the museum’s online catalogue. 

As some of you may be aware, the Egypt Centre’s online catalogue had a massive overhaul in 2020. The new online catalogue (usually referred to as Abaset) was designed specifically with the Egypt Centre in mind. As a volunteer at the Egypt Centre, I used my experience of working with the collection to design a new bespoke platform that would allow it to be better appreciated virtually. Through working closely with the Egypt Centre staff, the catalogue has been honed to ensure that the user experience is as intuitive as possible and meets the needs of a diverse collection. 

One of the features that I felt was really important to include was trails. This feature can be used to group together related objects with additional descriptions specific to the theme (fig. 1). Additionally, audio recordings can be added to function as an audio tour. 

Fig. 1: A selection of some of the fantastic trails available on Abaset!

Over the last few years, we have built up a diverse range of trails, including highlights of each gallery, trails focusing on specific collectors, a selection of objects researched by Swansea University students, and thematic trails focusing on specific object types.

In addition to those aimed at the general public, trails have been created for younger audiences in in mind (‘Junior trails’). These have specific descriptions designed to be more accessible and importantly have audios recorded by children to feel more relatable. As well as the topics of animals, gods and goddesses, and others, there is a trail designed by my son Max (who was just 6 when he made the trail!), focusing on materials that are found in the game Minecraft that can also be found in the EC galleries! A big thank you to Matilda Barton, Noah Barton, Youssef Amro Hassan (and his dog Cooper!), and Max Powell for providing audios for our Junior Egyptologist trails.

Fig. 2: Max following his Minecraft trail in the galleries!

Many of the trails have been translated into a wide range of additional languages. For example, the Harrogate trail Causing Their Names to Live, is now available in twelve languages (English, Welsh, Arabic, French, Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin Chinese, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Italian, and Ukrainian). I would like to thank everyone who has helped with the translations:

• Nassim Aarab (Dutch)
• Bérénice Bruckert (Mandarin Chinese)
• Morgane Delepeleere (Dutch)
• Dulcie Engel (French)
• Fatima Farkas (Hungarian)
• Ihab Samir Francis (Arabic)
• Kexin Fu (Mandarin Chinese)
• Ingrid Inkindi (Dutch)
• Asmae Maataoui (Dutch)
• Carla San Miguel (Spanish)
• K. Post (Dutch)
• Julia Rachfalik (Polish)
• Noura Seada (Arabic)
• Abby Richards-Williams (Welsh)
• Daniel Salava (Czech)
• Marzia Sartori (Italian)
• Shreya Shailesh Ranade (Mandarin Chinese)
• Mengjia Shi (Mandarin Chinese)
• Sophie Smith (Welsh)
• I. Vasse (Dutch)
• Olga Zapletniuk (Ukrainian)
• Zihan Zhang (Mandarin Chinese)

We are always looking for more translations for our growing collection of trails, so if you’re able to help, do please get in touch. 

Did you know that the Abaset software has the capabilities to allow you to create your own trails?

As well as the publicly available trails, you can use the online collection to curate your own selection of objects on any theme you like! Whether you want to make a list of your favourite objects, group together some objects you are researching, or just want to make a grouping of objects that are your favourite colour, the option is there! Instructions on creating your own trail can be found here.

Please check out the existing trails and enjoy creating your own, we’d love to see them!