Dinosaurs

The Dinosaur Exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History can be found here.

There are 3 main components: Dinosaur Information, Dinosaur Collections and Exhibits, and Interactives. It was created by the Smithsonian NMNH.

Collection Principles:
They have gathered their museum exhibits into an overview of dinosaurs: history and fieldwork. I could not find an explicit list of digital collection principles, I can only assume that they are following the Smithsonian principles. They do mention in the FAQ section that new type specimens are determined by an experienced scientist doing comparative research, but that is, of course, for physical objects. 

Object Characteristics: 

NMNH has used a multimedia approach to create their online exhibit. It reflects their physical exhibit, which began in 1859 with dinosaur fossils. The bulk of the information is in the form of essays and descriptions of dinosaur history and information. There are also mock-ups of dinosaur skeletons, graphs with timelines, and digital photographs of the museum exhibits. They have also included three interactive resources. The first two relate to both the museum and the information they have provided on fieldwork. There is a virtual tour of the museum exhibit, and a virtual dinosaur dig. The last interactive resource is The Tree of Life, which is a program patrons can launch and click to see a description of various elements like "lepidosaurus" (which includes snakes and lizards)

Metadata:
The Tree of Life is a fairly complex, if a little boring, resource that is a graph with metadata inside it. So you can see at a glance that certain species lived at certain times and in certain areas, and then you can drag the mouse over them and see more information. Other areas have entire essays on different aspects of dinosaurs in general with examples and a few pictures of specific species. Articles are not networked with hyperlinks, although the information is related in more ways than those created by the menus, so it is probably something that could be done. No administrative data is viewable, and the pictures don't enlarge, or do anything, when clicked on. 

Audience: 

The Web site appears to be geared to serving an educational community. I would even venture to say that people still in elementary, middle, and high school would find themselves most comfortable on the site. For example, most professionals or university students won't be interested in playing a game, but it might be a good tool for parents or teachers to use to get younger people interested in dinosaur information. The site tries to be very informational, but it isn't very clear what they are trying to accomplish, and in my opinion, would not be hurt by more visuals.