Virtual Paul Cross’s Project is a digital recreation of John Donne’s Gunpowder Day Sermon. It provides virtual models, audio, and historical background information on the Sermon given November 5, 1622 in Paul’s churchyard. It is a historical project that focusses gives a comprehensive understanding of what it would have been like to be present on the day of the sermon.
o Sources (assets) : To create the sight they first used the original manuscript from the sermon given that day, in addition to sketches and paintings that depict the sermon. They also consulted analytical texts on the sermon and the conditions that day. Using different preaching venues like Paul’s cross, they constructed a virtual model of the sermon and texts that give the historical and cultural background.
o Processes (services): The website provides a variety of services tat give the user context and historical background. Users can experience different virtual reproductions of the churchyard. They have provided images and a video to give you an in depth view of the site of the sermon. The website also contains an acoustic model of the sermon with reconstructed audio of what the it may have sounded like from different areas in the churchyard. They have charts and graphs explaining the distance to noise ratio. In addition, the users can find historical paintings and sketches along with the digital recreations.
o Presentations (display): Virtual Paul Cross’s Project is organized into drop-down menus that show the different services of the site. The site links to different youtube clips that give you the ability to fly around the recreation. It has a header that can connect you back to the North Carolina State’s website and below that an image of Paul’s Coss with the Project’s title. You can click on just the designated topic headers for a simple image and description of that service or you can use the drop-down menu to learn more.
Overall I really enjoyed this project. I found it to be innovative and extremely informative. I really enjoyed the audio from various positions in the courtyard as well as the digital recreations that can be looked at against the historical paintings and texts. The website is easy to use and clearly laid out, the “scroll to the top” function on each page makes looking through the site fast and easy. They clearly lay out all of their sources and processes. However, I didn’t like how the video links took you outside of the site and that it was possible to select both the header and drop-down menus, I feel that all of he information should have been in the drop down menu because you may have missed clicking on the header. I think it would have also been nice to move around the digital recreation on the site using your mouse, instead of just watching a video.