Culture Index exists to catalog cultural institutions online, and highlight the best practices that inspire us.
Launching with a focus on museums and building from there, we are a resource for both research and discovery. Browse information about online communications, and discover ideas with examples of what’s possible for cultural institutions in the digital space.
As a community project facilitated by Base, we invite you to use and contribute to this growing resource.
Smart Museum of Art
As the fine arts museum of the University of Chicago, the Smart Museum of Art is a site for rigorous inquiry and exchange that encourages the examination of complex issues through the lens of art objects and artistic practice. Through strong scholarly and community collaborations and a welcoming approach to its exhibitions, collections, publications, research and teaching, and public programs, the Smart Museum plays a dynamic role in expanding artistic canons, rethinking received histories, introducing new perspectives, and engaging diverse communities—locally, nationally, and internationally. The Smart Museum will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024.
Tech Specs
Tech Specs
Performance
Accessibility
Best Practices
SEO
Performance
Accessibility
Best Practices
SEO
MailChimp
used by 149 institutionsMailchimp is a widely-used marketing platform that helps businesses manage and automate email campaigns. It offers tools for creating, sending, and analyzing emails, as well as managing subscriber lists. Read more
Google Analytics (GA4)
used by 285 institutionsGoogle's analytics platform that offers advanced tracking and analysis capabilities across web and app data for enhanced user behavior insights. Read more
Apache HTTP Server
used by 208 institutionsA widely-used open-source web server that provides powerful features and extensive customization options.
Bootstrap
used by 135 institutionsBootstrap is a widely-used, open-source front-end framework for developing responsive web designs. Created by Twitter, it offers a collection of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript tools and components, making it easy to create mobile-first websites. Bootstrap is popular for its ease of use, extensive documentation, and ability to streamline web development processes.
MailChimp
used by 141 institutionsMailchimp is a widely-used marketing platform that helps businesses manage and automate email campaigns. It offers tools for creating, sending, and analyzing emails, as well as managing subscriber lists. Read more
Cloudflare
used by 178 institutionsA global network service that provides content delivery network (CDN), DDoS mitigation, internet security, and distributed domain name server services.
Google Hosted Libraries
used by 79 institutionsA content delivery network provided by Google that hosts popular JavaScript libraries for faster and more reliable delivery.
cdnjs
used by 89 institutionsA free and open-source content delivery network for JavaScript libraries, enabling faster loading of web pages by serving files from distributed servers.
jQuery
used by 485 institutionsA fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library that simplifies HTML document traversal, event handling, and animation.
Modernizr
used by 92 institutionsA JavaScript library that detects HTML5 and CSS3 features in the user’s browser, allowing for graceful degradation.