"Virtual" has no strict definition, and all of your
          possible digital exhibits would apply. The word virtual, in
          computer lingo, seems to work as follows: a "virtual X"
          is, to the computer, functionally the same as "X" though it
          works in a different medium. So, virtual memory usually
          refers to disk memory that acts identically and
          interchangeably with RAM, if that helps at all.
 
          When I first read about Jaron Lanier and other Virtual
          Reality gurus, they were talking about computer driven
          experiences that acted like real experiences. So, from the
          point of view of an audience, a virtual exhibit would be an
          exhibit in which a visit "felt" like a visit to a real
          exhibit. That could mean that you had to don goggles and
          gloves and as you turned your head, you saw different parts
          of rooms, and as you walked, you went into different rooms,
          etc. Or, it could simply mean the more modest digital
          exhibit formats that you propose.
 
         You are now either less confused, or much more confused by
          our virtual conversation.
 
          Eric Siegel
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