2 characteristics of the virtual museum correct080309

Characteristics of the Virtual Museum

Dr. Ofra Keinan

Make-MymuseuM.com

04/08/23 Dr. Ofra Keinan www.make-mymuseum.com

Virtual Museum Defenition

A virtual museum is a museum that houses collections in digital form and exhibits them via the Internet. Most virtual museums are part of physically existing museums that hold actual collections. A virtual museum refers to a broad range of websites from a simple personal website and portal site, a collection of links to museums and galleries, to a full scale website which has all functions of a museum.

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http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Info:Main_Page


The Door

The door to the virtual museum is electronic. You drive up for a visit on the Information Highway, but you need no car. A computer and an Internet account serve as your entrance ticket and transportation combined.


Based on Computer

As the third millennium enters, several institutions responsible for displaying and interpreting diverse aspects of history found themselves in a crisis. The society they were accustomed to serving had undergone a transformation and was now based on computer technology..”[1]

[1] MacDonald, G. and Alsford, S. (1994), “Towards the Virtual Museum: crisis and change for millennium 3”, Paper delivered to

the American Association of State and Local History 54th Annual Meeting, Omaha, September 1994, http://www.civilization.ca/academ/articles/macd-alsf1_1e.html (Oct. 27, 2006).


Technology & Culture

The impact of this change was dramatic, and the importance of linking technological change with the modes of operation employed by the institutions became paramount. As long ago as 1957 Marshall McLuhan said: “As our culture becomes more technological, technology becomes more cultural”


Response to the new Technology

According to MacDonald and Alsford, heritage institutions have lagged behind in this development, and have difficulties in finding the appropriate response.

Schools; Libraries; Museums.

[1] Ibid.


Museum and the Web

During the last decade extensive literature has been written about the subject of virtual museums. For example, "The Museum and the Web" is one of the most important international organizations that deal with issues pertaining to virtual museums.

http://www.archimuse.com/mw99/papers/teather/teather.html


Virtual Museums Establishment

The establishment of virtual museums was one of the strategies used by museums for adjusting themselves to the third millennium.

The concept of virtual museums has many interpretations and actually includes a diversity of presentations on the internet. [1] McKeown, Roy, "Accessing the virtual museum: bringing museum information into cyberspace" , The New Review of Information Networking 2003, pp. 40-53.

]2 [McKenzie, Jamie Building a Virtual Museum Community, 1997.


New possibilities to present more information

Visitors, in most cases, accept this specific approach as the absolute truth. With digital technology, however, it is possible to present much more – even most – of the information online, leaving it to the visitors to choose the materials most suitable to their needs.


Dual representation

Museums exist solely in a virtual

During time more and more section build virtual museums as a tool for heritage conservation

Virtual Museum as a representation of Physical museum

Most of the physical museums has its own virtual museum


Virtual Museum as a representation of Physical museum

Most virtual museums are part of physically existing museums that hold actual collections.

http://icom.museum/vlmp/


Museums exist solely in a virtual

Some virtual museums exist solely in a virtual environment. The Museum of Computer Art (MOCA) (Museum of Computer Art) is an example of this type. MOCA's collections include digital art created by computer graphic technologies .

Some individuals such as artists and photographers also create personal virtual museums to exhibit his or her collections online.


Dual aims of the virtual Museum

Marketing museums

Museums have moved from a product to a marketing focus within the last ten

years.

Learning museums

The virtual museum: the next step on from the learning museum is to provide not only information about the institution’s collection but to link to digital collections of others.


A learning museum has the following characteristics

The online collection is substantial. The content offerings are rich . The "lobby" or entrance is both inviting and user-

friendly. It would take dozens of visits to explore the contents. The museum offers many different kinds of learning

activities suited to different age levels and learning styles.

The virtual visit increases desire for a "real time" visit to the original museum building.


Creating links

Furthermore, the virtual museum offers the option of creating links to a variety of institutions of knowledge, such as libraries, research

institutes, and of course other museums on similar subjects. Nor are visitors limited only to the information

and documents on display in the museum they entered online; they can be linked to any place in the world offering material that suits their interests.


Examples

The online collection is substantial. The content offerings are rich

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/search/citi/category%3A111

The "lobby" or entrance is both inviting and user-friendly.

http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/English/index_flashFT.html

The museum offers many different kinds of learning activities suited to different age levels and learning styles.

http://www.metmuseum.org/


Cooperative Learning by means of Internet Hypermedia Systems easiness of access for teachers working in different

schools, allowing them to prepare common teaching programs for their different student groups;

easiness of access for students of different schools, allowing them to cooperate independently of the their institution;

easiness of access for scientists and experts working in museums, allowing them to cooperate with the establishment of cooperative teaching programs for groups of students of different schools.

http://www.archimuse.com/mw99/papers/bertoletti/bertoletti.html


A Marketing museum has the following characteristics

Web sites which are mainly intended as marketing vehicles and communication media

to increase the number of visitors to the original physical museum.

by making more people aware of museum's collections and special events.

Such sites may also have museum shop sales as a major goal

The virtual museum as a marketing museum is characterized by technical information.

[1] Ibid., ibid.


The Dual owner

Unprofessional owner Private person who create his

own museum: Example:

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/ed/myvirtualgallery

Professional owner Museum which create it’s

own virtual museum: Example:

http://icom.museum/vlmp/


Digitisation of culture

“The idea of becoming virtual might not be a

pleasant one for some museums, but this development is inevitable because of the increasing digitisation of cultural heritage and the demand to make collections more

accessible.”by We r n e r S c h w e i b e n z

http://cool-palimpsest.stanford.edu/icom/pdf/E_news2004/p3_2004-3.pdf

What about our museums virtualization?

Be grateful for you

Dr. Ofra Keinan

Make-mymuseum Team

2 characteristics of the virtual museum correct080309

Education

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