Hi Laney:
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the direct papers about increased or negligible attendance changes from having collections online, though I can relate just how thoroughly that concept was booed during the closing question/answer session (yes, literally booed) at the Museums and the Web Conference last year. Many of the MW papers online do deal with this topic somewhat, but I'm not sure if there have been direct quantitative studies about attendance and web presence.
But here are some of the major points about having collections online:
1) many public and private grants are either targeted towards getting collections online or require increased public access through digital means.
2) there has been no issue about decreased attendance
3) in some respects, not having online collections makes the institution publically irrelevant (since researchers and the general public won't be as interested in the institution)
4) A digital object, or a physical replica, will *never* have the same qualitative "aura" as the original. In fact, digital representations increase the likelihood that someone will want to see the real thing.
This last point is the most important, I think.
For some related reading, I recommend the following:
L.A. Art Online report on digitization and access: http://www.getty.edu/grants/pdfs/LA_Art_Online_Report.pdf
"'Less Clicking, More Watching'. Results from the User-Centered Design of a Multi-Institutional Web Site for Art and Culture", 2001: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2001/papers/vergo/vergo.html
Good luck!
Perian Sully
Collection Information and New Media Coordinator
Judah L. Magnes Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list on behalf of Laney McAdow
Sent: Tue 2/26/2008 8:26 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] On-line collections
Hello everyone,
I am forwarding this query from a friend of mine. I was hoping to get some
feedback to share with her:
"I am looking for any data about whether content-rich museum web sites
result in increased onsite visitorship, or whether they have the opposite
effect?"
"I am running into some folks who seem to think that sharing lots of content
online will cause people to NOT come to the museum itself, and was wondering
if any research had been done about this. I, on the other hand, would guess
that the opposite might be true."
If anyone has any thoughts/experiences with this, or any data regarding
attendance trends, please contact me. Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Laney McAdow
Registrar
The Heritage Society
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
