The Wellcome Trust tropical diseases videodisc project

This presentation sets out the aims and methodology involved in creating a sophisticated teaching archive in tropical medicine based on the Wellcome Museum of Medical Science. This visual archive will take the form of a videodisc database containing 30,000 video stills combined with a limited amount of moving material. While authoring tools will ensure the continuing production of interactive learning material from the archive, users will have access to several hundred hours of ready made tutorials, and an expert system to teach clinical skills. They will also be able to browse through any part of the archive. Successful management strategies have involved a close and supportive relationship with the project sponsors, the formation of expert groups to solve specific problems, and a process of continuous formative evaluation.