Regarding recent discussions about museums and their WWW sites and whether or
not one can be a substitute for the other, I say no MUSEUM should, will, or
CAN EVER be a substitute for a good Web site!  In fact, I don't see why all
museums don't pack up their musty, dusty, old collections and concentrate all
their resources on developing Web pages.  It's niftier, neater, cleaner, more
fun, better in every way--

---NOT!!!

Folks, let's try to get a grip on reality.  I'm surprised (to put it mildly)
that there is any sort of discussion among museum professionals about whether
or not a Web site can substitute for a real-life museum.  Pardon my
curmudgeonliness, but this is a real no-brainer.  A museum Web site is no
more an alternative for the museum than a Paris map (even an interactive map)
is for a visit to Paris itself.  Everything I have seen on the Web or any
computer program has simply been an alternative to some other form of verbal
or pictorial experience.  Even if we achieve true "virtual reality" on the
Web so that volumetric, high-resolution, holographic imagery with
surround-sound and motion can fool us into thinking we're encountering real
museum "objects," this isn't a "real" issue.  We can simulate a museum
exhibition tour on a CD-ROM or the Web, but there is INFORMATION imbedded in
an original museum artifact which no representation can ever replace.  That's
why museums exist--to preserve access to unique historic information.

WWW sites for museums and other organizations simply provide access to a PART
of this historic information in a nifty format.  Thus far, the way the Web is
being used by museums is as a substitute for brochures, catalogs, phone
books, and phone calls.  Period.  Museums will continue as sites for tourists
to visit and places for serious scholars, students, and true "amateurs" who
appreciate and understand original objects--be they art works or cultural,
geological, biological, etc., artifacts.  A limited amount of information
about a limited number of these artifacts will be found conveniently on the
Web--with links to other objects and other sites--by those who need it for
specific purposes and for casual encounters through surfing, but I think
whether or not museum Web sites increase or decrease visitorship to the
actual museums remains to be seen.  It may have no discernible impact at all.

I don't see that the inability or unwillingness of some people to travel to
museums is a reason to develop a Web site.  This reminds me of the "armchair
travel" sales pitch of companies that sold stereograph sets at the turn of
the century--buy this set of 100 3-D pictures of Egypt and you won't have to
go there!  Guess what happened?  People stopped buying stereograph "tours"
and are doing more traveling than ever!  When people do travel, what's on
their itineraries?  Theme parks, famous natural wonders, famous buildings,
and cultural institutions such as museums!  Will they skip museums just
because they've already "visited" them on their computers?  I doubt it.  What
seems more plausible to me is that they may stop buying exhibition and
collection catalogs in the museums' gift shops if they know they can see the
same things free on the Web.  My advice to museums is to consider what impact
Internet freebies will have on educational and souvenir products that they're
trying to sell to support collections and programs.

In my own museum, the Web site development team is under no illusion that our
pictures and text on the Web will substitute for a museum exhibit.  We're
viewing it largely as a supplement to the museum-going experience, and in
fact want it to help the visitor navigate while IN the museum.  Certainly it
will do a lot of other things as well.  But consider this: probably the most
popular artifacts currently on display are "Dorothy's" ruby slippers from
"The Wizard of Oz": do you think people would rather see a picture of them on
the Web than to view the real objects?  (I think it's kind of sad that
they're more popular than, say, George Washington's tent, but that's another
story.)

I sincerely hope that some of the hype and hysteria about the WWW will
subside before museum people get their perspectives too warped out of shape.
 The Web is nothing more than a fancy tool for providing and accessing
information; for a museum, it helps disseminate information about collection
objects and museum-type activities (which are driven by collections and
associated scholarship).  It won't surprise me if Web sites become a
permanent and universal adjunct to museums--nor would it surprise me if they
end up as this year's hula hoop (or this year's equivalent of the
stereoscopic armchair tour).  The Web may be the greatest thing since sliced
bread--but it will never BECOME sliced bread...or a museum.

Just my opinion, of course, but possibly a damned good one (modest blush).

  --David Haberstich, National Museum of American History