Take That Internet!

Abstract

“Kilmainham Gaol: Confinement Of Independence” will look at the history of the most infamous penitentiary in Irish history. From its construction in 1796 until its decommission as a penal institution in 1924 the titular institution played host to virtually every significant member of the Irish independence movement. The project will serve as the official website of Kilmainham Gaol, which today is a museum, art gallery, and one of Dublin’s leading tourist attractions.

Why is this project needed?

A cursory Google search yields no results for an official website of the Kilmainham Gaol, which therefore makes this project a vital necessity for anyone visiting the Dublin area. Also, the story of Kilmainham Gaol is an important one, the Irish independence movement is not widely known in America. It is understood by many that there is a tradition of animosity among the Irish people toward the British government, and many adults today remember acts of terrorism perpetrated by Irish organizations in Northern Ireland and London, but the details of this strained relationship goes untold in a land where there are more than thirty six million people of Irish descent. The story is one of a nationalist movement that many Americans can relate to, comparing the acts of the founding fathers of the United States to those of men like Robert Emmet, Charles Stewart Parnell, and Eamon de Valera. By putting this information online, people from all over the world can learn about what happened at Kilmainham Gaol.

Main Features

As well as providing basic visitor services information that would be needed to visit Kilmainham in Dublin, the website will also provide historical content in the form of an online exhibition, tracing the history of the building from its origins to its present day function as a museum. This exhibit will be divided into three sections. The first will focus on the building itself; the design, construction and layout, including the deplorable conditions in which the prisoners (including women and children) were kept. The second section will concentrate on the narratives of prominent prisoners Robert Emmet, Thomas Francis Meagher, Charles Stewart Parnell, and the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, especially Padraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, Constance Markiewicz, and Eamon de Valera. The third section will show the life of the building after ceased to be used as a jail; its renovation, the founding of a museum, as well as its popular use as a film location.

Audience

The target audience for this exhibit will naturally be everyone, as stated above, specifically people in the Dublin area who wish to visit the Gaol itself. Visiting the website of a museum before going adds to the overall experience and can help the visitor grasp a lot more than he or she maybe would have otherwise. The content at times may be slightly controversial, as it includes executions, so parental guidance is suggested. Anyone interested in learning about an independence movement in the twentieth century will find “Kilmainham Gaol: Confinement Of Independence” fascinating.

Technology

The main emphasis of this website will be to serve the museum itself in the best way possible. A Google map of Dublin immediately surrounding Kilmainham will be provided as well as links to other attractions in Dublin related to the Gaol. Audio files of speeches given at the trials of the incarcerated, the so called “speech from the dock” was a point of honor for any person that found themselves facing a British judge will be posted for download. Also 360 degree tours of several important spaces of the building will be available. These spaces include a typical jail cell in which low-profile prisoners were kept, the East Wing or “Victorian” Wing of the Gaol, and the courtyard where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed.

User Contributed/Interactive Elements

There will be a comment section, where visitors can leave notes, memories, and other comments. This space will have to be closely monitored, as the subject matter is still somewhat controversial.