Technology is being used to “transform museums into more dynamic institutions in the 21st century” (Canos 313). Traditionally, museums have made use of text and labels as a storytelling aid and, while invaluable as a means of conveying background information at once, they are rather static and limited. Technology is now used to augment in-person visits to museums with virtual information designed to enhance the visitor's understanding. With the availability of the public internet and the World Wide Web the amount of people utilizing online resources and the number of resources available as well as contributing providers have increased exponentially. Anyone with internet access can publish information as illustrated by this blog.
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Online vs In-Person visits
Today libraries and museums evoke a great deal of public trust. They rank higher than other information sources including government, commercial, and private websites, with libraries just barely outranking museums for the title of ultimate trustworthiness. There is some concern that the pervasiveness of the internet as a source of information will lead to the demise of museums in their physical form in exchange for their virtual counterparts. Studies suggest, however, that this public trust readily migrates to an online environment (Johnson). In fact, there are data that suggest the internet is not replacing in-person visits and may actually increase them. A 2006 survey found that about 23% of adults who have only visited museums in-person and not online said they have visited more often in the past year than previously. A slightly higher percentage (29%) said they visited both in-person and online and that they too visited more often in the past year. Internet users have been shown to visit museums in-person 2.6 times more often than non-internet users. The data also revealed that a majority of adults continue to visit museums in-person and a slightly smaller percentage visit both in-person and online. Only a very small percentage (5.1%) said they visited exclusively online (Griffiths 12, 14).
Museums + Web 2.0
The Hermitage has done an excellent job of making some of its 3,000,000+ item collection available online but definitely has some room to grow. Many museums are now making use of recent trends in the use of World Wide Web technology, or what is known as Web 2.0. This new use of existing technology is intended to “enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration, and functionality of the web.” Most people are familiar with Web 2.0 in the form of social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, video sharing sites such as YouTube, and blogs. A blog (a portmanteau of the words “web” and “log”) is a website maintained by an individual and regularly updated with entries, or posts, of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as photos or video. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format are an important part of most blogs. Many museums, especially contemporary art museums with a young demographic, have blogs in addition to their websites. The blogs differ from the website in that they use a conversational and personal tone rather than an institutional one and may consist of many contributors' voices. Blogs also evolve with the community that contributes to them and “can create an environment of person to person communication by seeking opinions, ideas, and feedback and by encouraging the visitors to participate and contribute . . . and share experiences” (Beazley). This shows that the museum is listening to its visitors, helps to break barriers, and allows visitors to be more engaged with the museum. Blogs are also an opportunity for smaller museums that may have very little funding to create an online presence for free.
(click image to enlarge)
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