This is a subsection of People and Places. One of the nice things about designing this site was the rich imagery that illustrated the content. Each image was clickable and would open a pop-up window with a larger version of the photograph with additional information.

SOUNDSCAPES

     One experiment that I tried during prototyping that turned out to be a real success was to create a series of audio pieces to accompany users as they read through the different parts of the Native Continent. I hired Montreal electroacoustic composer Ned Bouhalassa to write and record short audio pieces inspired by certain chapters of the Native Continent narrative. The results were embedded in the pages and would would begin playing shortly after the page loaded, giving the user time to get into reading the text.

    I saw the music as another way of providing users with a more evocative online experience. For the target audience, typically highly connected to music, it also represents added value by offering them something that they might find "cool" in a Canadian history site.

     Ned was asked to work with three types of audio sources in his compositions:

1. Environmental sounds related to the historic period
   
2. Cultural sounds related to the historic period being treated
   
3. Composed musical sequences.
   

    We agreed that the compositions had to be both emotive and meaningful. Also, they must not overwhelm the content, but rather create an engaging atmosphere for it. Using sound samples from the NFB sound library and his collection of computerized sound equipment, Ned created five pieces for the ECHO prototype. My three favorites are available below; listen to them as you look at the storyboards in this section to get the desired effect. They require any MP3 player to listen.