Frequently asked Questions

There are several distinct section noted below: (click on the links to just to the section you require)

Meet the team members

What's the big idea?

The original idea came out of discussions at meetings of the Chief Executives and Medical Directors of the four UK blood services (the UK Forum). A physical museum was rejected because of cost, access and curating problems (i.e. ownership of the items). Dr Gail Williams, then chief executive of the Welsh Blood Service, suggested an internet based museum. This idea was taken forward by Professor Ian Franklin, National Medical & Scientific Director of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, in collaboration with Jim Devine, Head of Education and Digital Media Resources in the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow.

Why have a Virtual Museum of Transfusion Medicine?

Blood transfusion in man is just over 100 years old, at least as a rational scientific endeavour. Blood services were founded only a little over 50 years ago, although some organised activity pre-dated this. Some of the pioneers, or those who knew the pioneers personally, are still alive but many are now very aged. We must try to capture the memories of some of these crucial people. Many of the previous regional Transfusion Centres / Services throughout the UK hold interesting artefacts relevant to the history of transfusion of blood and transfusion medicine. These are not catalogued in any systematic way, and certainly not nationally. A Virtual Museum of Transfusion Medicine would provide a showcase for objects on-line, and a portal for interested academics or others to access an archive of aural and visual history.

What's been done so far?

Following the original idea of a virtual museum by Gail Williams, Ian Franklin has been leading a project to bring the idea to life. Through the web-site of the annual 'Museums on the Web' meeting, contact was made with Jim Devine. Jim is Head of Education and Digital Media resources at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, also in the University of Glasgow. The museum has an extremely impressive web site with excellent animation and interactive features. Jim and Ian have been working together towards the development and maintenance of a web site for transfusion medicine artefacts and history.

Who is paying for the VMTM?

Funding has been provided by the four UK Blood Services to establish the pilot site. We plan to work out an income stream for the Museum over the next year or so. But you can be sure, it's not for profit.

How is the site being developed?

The Hunterian Museum has state of the art digital image capture and processing that is believed to be future proof for 25 years in terms of image resolution (and is used for cataloguing the Museum artefacts, such as photographing a pair of Egyptian sandals some 4000 years old). So far, Ian Franklin has sourced the items and Jim, with his team including Iona Shepherd and Norman Arnold, have developed the site. A free-lance medical writer and researcher, Andy Hyde, has been developing the text and has provided some additional research.

What is the pilot site trying to achieve?

It is proposed to develop a pilot web site that is intended to show a few themes to the eventual high standard planned for a comprehensive Museum site, rather than using a modest number of randomly collected items. The main topic is the history of Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn and the development of anti-D therapy. This showcases some of the QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) techniques, which make the Hunterian Museum web site so rich in value. There is also an 'art gallery' of historical donor advertising posters from, during and post the World War II era, and an exhibition of blood transfusion artefacts and memorabilia.

What's going to happen in the future?

The British Blood Transfusion Society has recently been considering what to do with its own extensive archive. Current discussions are reviewing ways of developing the management of these historical documents and artefacts in a coherent way. One possibility is that the web-site would be managed in a similar way to a peer reviewed journal, with an editor/curator, an editorial board and, in time, a supporting editorial office. In addition, a Special Interest Group of the British Blood Transfusion Society has been proposed to facilitate study of the history of Transfusion Medicine.

There are some interesting items where I work. Is the VMTM interested?

We are certainly interested. Indeed, senior members of the UK blood transfusion community are asking our colleagues throughout the UK to identify items of interest for possible inclusion. It would also be important to prevent the dismantling or destruction of anything of interest in the interim. If you know of items about to be thrown out, let us know now! (Contact us. Small items might be best transferred to Glasgow University for image capture, but some travel to sites might be needed if kit cannot be moved.

Is the Museum trying to take away our local collection?

Since you ask, this is the beauty of the VMTM. Nobody has to give up anything. We will catalogue, photograph and document your articles and ephemera, and then you get them back. So, no paranoia, no ownership, no insurance, no thieves. And via the Internet, the World has access. When we get more organised, we will need to discuss and agree image rights, but I'm afraid we are not talking David Beckham here. We will just be tying up the loose ends, not making anybody rich.

Can I use the images on the VMTM site in a talk?

We haven't got the intellectual property issue resolved, but the aim of the Museum is to facilitate access. So if you want to use an image in a lecture or other teaching session, then go ahead. We would like to know though, so please tell us. If you want to use an image in an article, poster, publication, chapter or similar then we want to help. But we need to be acknowledged and would like to know before, not after, the event. If we know who is using the resources of the Museum, we can use this information to gain funding from academic and teaching foundations. Think of the Museum as an academic paper that you would cite in an article. The files on the web site look great on screen, but might not be of sufficient resolution for a presentation or chapter. We can provide a high resolution file for you, and reserve the right to charge for this, but probably won't. Hey, we all have to live!