MG's suggested aims for the project:

1. breadth: We should not assume that the users - even University students - know anything at all about either (a) British/European maritime history; or (b) the intricacies of maritime art. I would be surprised if even students taking units in British Painting got as much as one lecture dedicated to things maritime - although they might well get the odd Turner marine as part of a survey. In order to provide a rationale for the discussion and explication of works in the NMM collections, the project therefore needs to set the context and the parameters both for the history and for the art history of things maritime. Thus even though the materials are not necessarily part of NMM collections, the background material should include the following in the numbered list in the following section for the sake of coherence.
2. solidity: The overarching aim of the project should be to offer solid, up-to-date information - to teach about the context, importance and beauty of maritime art in the NMM collections, and insights into the pressures, conventions and upsets under whiuch maritime art has changed over the centuries. But to do this, we must cast the net of both text and illustrations much wider, because no single museum can offer (in the majority of areas) other than a partial one-eyed view of any topic. So just as no Art Historian would lecture on - say - Rubens by restricting images to those of works in Antwerp, so no piece on Turner and the Sea could avoid using some of the great Turners not in the NMM.
3. appearance: a sober, classical appearance will help reflect our seriousness of purpose: no clutter, animated GIFs, overloading with images (see contents and structure);
4. no substitute for NMM: Nevertheless, we must be clear about the relationship between this project and the physical NMM. Although many people who use the project over the web may be physically distant from Greenwich, the project is not intended as a substitute for a visit to the NMM; so a constant theme might well be that Britain & the Sea - although rich, extensive and scholarly - can be further enriched by a visit to the NMM itself. That is, digital media are only an inferior substitute for the examination of the real objects. This message can be drilled home the more the authors of the various essays refer to documentary/archive material in the NMM, and of course to printed books;