Dear Robert,

I am sorry that I have appeared to `bore' you but the issue is new to me
because I am reasonably new to the web. So thankyou for taking the time
to reply.

You wrote: "Musueums do not just store physical objects and what you see
at a museum is not often the real thing.  At natural history museums,
the specimens on display are often casts of the real objects".

Yes. Please do not think I am tying the physical experience of visiting a
museum just to the object. In fact I happen to think that the ideas a
museum presents, challenges or enshrines are often more valuable and
infinitely more interesting than many of the objects themselves. A lot of
these ideas are distilled in the exhibition spaces, casual conversations
with guides, the building's architecture and even the cafe just to name a
few.

"Why should you look for the same information on a web site as in a real
museum".
I was not implying that a `postcard'(ie. Who's Who and What's On) was an
invalid use but that if this was the predominant use of museum websites
then I do think they have underutilised their potential. What I'd like is
similar access to the museum (the documentary information, the
intellectual ideas connected to and surrounding the objects held in their
collection that stimulate my curiosity and are a source of knowledge
etc)that I would normally only get by going there. I would have thought
that the web offered an opportunity to provide access to people who
cannot get there, at least so readily,through a creative but obviously
different medium.

I am sure that many people have spent a lot of time on their web sites
which I imagine would have included some kind of investigation into their
target audience. Since I have not had any experience with this I would
like people to let me know what people access museum websites and what is
it they are looking for. This is why I asked 'if they could do more' and
'if they wanted to do more' than send a `postcard'.

Thankyou for including the address. I did check it out.

Best wishes
Jennifer
--
Jennifer Nuske
Email: [log in to unmask]
Deakin University
Melbourne, Australia.