Items and botanical items

An item can give interpretation about a specific object, like a work of art or a room in a historic home. It can also give information, like details about your social media, how to plan a visit, or on-site accessibility. A botanical item can represent a flower, plant, or other botanical specimen.

Item fields

At least one image and a title are required for all items. However, you can add as much or as little information as your content requires. Fields that you leave blank in the CMS will not appear in the app.

• Hero Images: Add up to 25 images from your content library.

  If you don't have any images to select, click the + sign to add images from your computer. We add these images to the drop-down menu, so you can select them again later. If you add images this way, remember to edit how each image appears and add alt text.

• Title: The item's title.
• Secondary title: This is an optional field for items that require additional information in the title.
• Creator or maker: Add one or more creators to the item. For more, see Creators.
• Creation date, period, or era
• Materials or medium
• Description: Interpretive text that adds context to the item. Consider whether you can answer questions like, "Who made this thing? How did they make it? Why did they make it?"
• Additional Information:
  • Dimensions
  • Credit
  • Accession number

• Audio: Add one or more audio files. For more, see Audio.

  Tip: To offer your audio content in multiple languages, upload all language versions to the same audio record. After you attach the audio to an item, the app plays the version in each visitor's language. For more, see Add audio in multiple languages.

• Video: Add one or more video files. For more, see Videos.
• Add to exhibition or tour: Add this item to an exhibition or tour so visitors can experience it with other items in a collection, show, or other grouping. For more, see Exhibitions and Tours.
• Lookup number: To associate the item with posted signage in your physical space, select or enter a lookup number. For more, see Lookup numbers and QR codes.
• Related: To help visitors find similar content, update the Related section. For more, see Related content and links.

Botanical item fields

Botanical items include many of the same fields as standard items, but there are a few extra fields so you can add details appropriate for plants and botanical specimens.

These specific fields include:

• Name: Add one or both names to identify the botanical item.
  • Common Name
  • Scientific Name
• Bloom season: Enter the season in which the plant blooms (for example, Spring).
• Additional Information:
  • Family
  • Origin
  • Range or geographic region
  • Flowers
  • Leaves
  • Fruit
  • Bark
  • Attributes

Content recommendations

• Items should always have interpretive information, whether text, audio, video or some combination.
• Artwork Items should contain explanatory information about a piece, like the title and description. They should also contain assets that show, support, or explain the piece.
• Try not to repeat content that your exhibitions already cover.
• For individual artworks, item text, audio, and video often give information about the artist's broader practice and how the object was made. They also give any cultural context that visitors need to understand the subject matter. Who is the person in the painting? What event is shown in this photograph?
• For historical, anthropological, or archaeological works, item text, audio, and video often give information on how the object was made and how it was used in its culture. What material is this mask made from? What group of people created this drum? When is this outfit worn?
• Do not use items to describe more than one physical object at a time, unless the objects are considered one artwork or collection item (for example, a pair of candlesticks). As a general rule, follow your organization’s accession numbers. If an artwork is a diptych numbered 12345.a and 12345.b, you can keep it in one item. But two paintings that only hang next to each other should be separate items.
• When you add audio or video to an item, make sure that it's about that specific object, instead of several objects or a whole exhibition. If audio or video pertains to more than one object, it often will make more sense to add it to an exhibition. 
• Consider adding text that tells visitors how to best experience the Item. For example: “To see the detailed cracks around the base of the sculpture, pinch and zoom around the image above,” “Scroll through the images above to see how Henry Moore's Seated Figure evolved over time,” or “Watch the video below to hear the artist tell the story behind this painting.”