Cabinet

Cabinet is an award-winning online platform that facilitates the use of object and images, designed to specifically encourage the use of museum collections in education.
Cabinet is an LTI tool integrated into Canvas, meaning users can access this tool from Canvas with just a few clicks.
Oxford Internet Institute researchers are using Cabinet to learn more about the ways in which both staff and students interact with museum collections in a digital environment.

 

 

Cabinet functionalities

• Digital resources (including texts, 2D images and 3D models) can be uploaded in one place (behind Single Sign-On),
• Digital materials can be annotated, discussed and linked to other material to aid teaching and learning.
• Canvas can be accessed through the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (WebLearn or Canvas)
• Museum collections become accessible as library materials, available for individual and collaborative study, enhanced tutorial and classroom teaching, and easier revision.
• Images, audio and video from the wider web can be imported into Cabinet to complement existing Oxford teaching materials.
• Cabinet is also IIIF compliant, allowing easy access to millions of high-resolution images from cultural institutions worldwide, including the Digital Bodleian.
• Designed from the beginning to work seamlessly with mobile devices, it can be used to zoom, spin, annotate and discuss sources, increasing the potential for fruitful individual and collective study.
• A major feature of Cabinet is the ability to explore full-colour 3D models of objects, ranging from minute artefacts a few centimetres across to entire monuments from the Oxford landscape.
• Access to artefacts is greatly improved for teaching and research, whilst simultaneously freeing up museum curatorial time and reducing wear on the original objects.

 

As you can see above, Oxford is using Cabinet to produce highly detailed, full colour 3D models of objects from across Oxford's museum collections to use in teaching.  Cabinet allows such 3D models to be accompanied by annotations (as shown by numbers 1-7 above), as well as discussions that occur via the comments feature. 

 

Cabinet allows the user to view, zoom and explore high-resolution images. Where possible, documents, maps and images have been digitalised directly from the original source; the result is an impressive level of detail with minimal loss of quality. 

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Learn how to use Cabinet

• The Canvas integration merely authenticates you into the Cabinet interface using your Canvas login credentials.
• Cabinet is structured in the form of 'papers' and 'units'.
• Learn more about creating and building content in Cabinet