Responding to msg by [log in to unmask] ("R. Murphy")
who writes that
 
>The Whitney is just beginning to explore the possibilities of
what it
>can offer online to the public and is taking the position,
>a smart one, that the public will want to do more than search
databases
>and download images to make screen savers. By growing their
project
>out of the ECHO BBS the director, David Ross, is learning a
thing
>or two about building communities online.
 
Ok, I was too critical of the Whitney Museum access data. I
never, ever, thought that people downloaded images from museum
on-line systems just to make screen-savers.  Innocent me, I
always assumed that there was some sound use envisioned for
these images: a student needs one for a paper--something like
that.  Of course, screen savers are not a bad idea too.
 
Thinking on it further I must note that the presence of the
historical summaries found on echonyc was indeed unusual.  Of
course, there may be political purpose in presenting a museum's
 
"pedigree" but, that issue notwithstanding, I want to note
exception to one of your comments:
 
>A museum has two collections: the objects on view and
>in storage; and the knowledge and interpretation gained
because of
>those objects and the people, inside and out of the
institution, who
>take those objects under consideration.
 
In fact museums tend to have three collections (following your
thought): the one on view (including those rotated into view),
the one in permanent storage, and lastly a virtual collection
made up of those items that have been on view.
 
Museum exist through time, and the sum of
their presence is not just made up of the here and now, but of
what they have done in the past.  This is one reason why many
museums assiduously collect the history of their holdings, of
their exhibits, and other public programs. For in a very
real way, concerning museums "time present and time past are
both
perhaps present in time future," and one would like to think
that "time future is contained in time past."  And if this were
NOT true, then why do we sometimes hear from radical and
revolutionary artists the battlecry of "burn all the museums!"?
=============================================
Robert A. Baron, Museum Computer Consultant
P.O. Box 93, Larchmont, NY 10538
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