Tom,

You hit the nail on the head.  A virtual experience absolutely cannot
replace the power of the artifact, particularly when placed in context,
such as at a living history site or a historic house museum.  Furthermore,
I believe you made a good point regarding home-bound visitors - something
I hadn't even considered.

The other thing that occurs to me regarding
exhibits on-line is, this affords the museum to tell the story from
another perspective, and to provide a more educational twist to it than is
sometimes afforded during a regular visit, for whatever reason.  (Huge
crowds comes to mind.  One of the museums I worked for frequently saw
multiple thousands of school children per day.  And this figure does not
account for ticket purchases at the gate.  I do not exaggerate.)
Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village provide us with two good examples
of this:  I recommend the Living Under Enslavement Link and the
Colonial Family experience on their SmartFun OnLine page
<http://www.hfmgv.org/education/smartfun/index.html>.  This doesn't make
the on-site exhibit obsolete in any way.  Its educational function is
complete in and of itself, but it also serves as an orientation and a
springboard for a better in-person visit.  I'd be interested to hear what
others think of this online experience.


Cheers,

Rob

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