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An official website of the Velocity Interoperability Network

Exhibitions

Exhibitions present selected records of the National Archive of the Velocity Interoperability Network with commentary from the Archive. Each is drawn from a single record series and is built from the records themselves: what is shown is what the Archive holds, reproduced from the digitised masters, and every item is cited so that it can be requested and read in full.

Exhibitions open online. The first, Founding the Network, opens later in 2026; the remainder of the programme follows as the records on which each depends are conserved and digitised. Opening dates are announced on this site when they are confirmed.

The programme. Six exhibitions are in preparation.

Founding the Network
The decisions of 6 September 2026 that established the Network and its first departments, shown through the founding instruments in series ARC-1. The exhibition follows the papers from the drafts laid before the founders to the signed instruments, and explains what each department was established to do.
Opens later in 2026 · Drawn from series ARC-1
Five Standards
How the first five interoperability standards, VIN-1 to VIN-5, were drafted, adopted and published, with the working papers behind each. Comments received on the drafts are shown beside the changes they produced, so that the reasoning of each standard can be traced through the record.
Planned for 2027 · Drawn from series ARC-2
The First Notices
The three notices with which the Official Register opened, and what each set in motion. The exhibition reproduces each notice as published and pairs it with the records of the department that acted on it.
Planned for 2027 · Drawn from series ARC-3
Mapping the Network
The relay sites, exchange points and data halls of the Network as they were first drawn, from the infrastructure maps in series ARC-4. The exhibition shows how the physical Network was planned, and how the maps were imaged in sections and reassembled for readers.
Planned for 2027 · Drawn from series ARC-4
At the Point of Entry
The work of a point of entry on its opening day, told through entry-point records from which all personal information has been removed. The exhibition also explains why the series is restricted and how the Archive protects the people whose details it contains.
Planned for 2027 · Drawn from series ARC-5
A Year in Releases
The first announcements of the departments of the Network, read side by side. The exhibition draws on the departmental press releases in series ARC-6 to show what each department chose to say first, and to whom.
Planned for 2027 · Drawn from series ARC-6

How an exhibition is made. Every exhibition passes through the same six stages before it is published.

  1. Step 1: Selection

    The Archive chooses a subject that can be told through records it holds, and identifies the items that tell it best. Records are selected for what they show, not for their appearance.

  2. Step 2: Research

    Each selected record is read in full and placed in the context of the series it belongs to. Where a record refers to another, that record is traced so that the exhibition follows the sequence of events as the archive preserves it.

  3. Step 3: Conservation check

    Every item chosen is examined by conservation staff. Items that cannot safely be imaged are treated first or replaced by another record that tells the same part of the story.

  4. Step 4: Digitisation

    Selected items are imaged to the Archive's master standard, and access copies are prepared for publication. Restricted records are shown only after all personal information has been removed from the copy.

  5. Step 5: Commentary

    The Archive writes a short commentary for each record explaining what it is, who created it and why it matters, and a longer introduction to the exhibition as a whole. Commentary states what the record shows and distinguishes it from interpretation.

  6. Step 6: Publication

    The exhibition is published on this site with its records, commentary and a list of the references used, so that any reader may go on to request the originals. Exhibitions remain online after they open and are added to as new records are found.

Visiting an exhibition. Exhibitions are free to view and require no registration. Each record shown is accompanied by its full reference; readers who wish to consult the original, or to see the rest of the series from which it comes, may request it as described under Visiting and Access. Group visits and teaching sessions built around the exhibitions will be offered once the reading room opens.

Suggestions for future exhibitions, and enquiries about the records on which the programme is based, may be sent to contact@archive.gov.vin. The record series themselves are described in the Catalogue; the Archive's educational Games draw on the same records.