Well, you managed to step into it while answering. Your comment about
"WEB SITES SHOULD ATTRACT ACTUAL VISITORS TO THE MUSEUM" - are you sure
about that? I will give you another chance to change your mind..

It appears to me, that people who think that way, may not have any real
visitors left at their museums in another 20 years. People may or may
not find what they want there, but clearly, by their numbers, and low
cost and 24 hours a day service - will be getting what they want and
need ONLINE instead.  Growth rates on my Museum's web site ran 555% last
year, and this year appears to be 177% up over last. Actual visitation
figures - if they were accurately reported, monthly, would suggest quite
an opposite figure - down from prior year, and about steady or so from
years before last.

Last year, virtual visitors outnumbered actual by 2:1, the largest
actual attendance figure in the last 20 for my museum.

In another 5 years, Virtual Visitors will outnumber actual visitors by a
factor of more than 10:1, with a fraction of the budget, and many times
less effort and manpower. I just wonder if the Museum could accomplish
it's mission better, by making ONLINE a higher priority, with better
funding and staffing etc.


Mark
=============
Olivia S. Anastasiadis, Curator
Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
Yorba Linda, CA  92886
(714) 993-5075 ext. 224; fax (714) 528-0544; e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
wrote:

>And that may be the reason why online exhibits
>are seen as a way to increase revenue as opposed to "educate," not at all
>a mistaken goal, and not a bunch of crap as you put it.  Seeing online
>exhibitions as a way to promote museum education concerns is valid,
>however, the main goal is to bring in the actual person, physically, to
>the museum.

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