In a world where poverty or near poverty is cried regularly (museums do not, in general, have enough money to run their day-to-day and adequately pay their staff appropriately), where sponsorship is inadequate, where technology available to the staff is multiple versions behind the times, is there where the dollars should be going? Are we going to pile onto already burdened museums where there only a handful of employees to do multiple jobs the responsibility of having to create off-campus exhibits (as Second Life would be) simply to sustain them. If the answer is yes, we're in a world of hurt, and you can bend over and kiss the profession goodbye. How long before Viagra, Marlboro, or Budweiser place ads on a site like Second Life because that's where the audience is? Is that the kind of linking you want associated with your institution? It may come to that if donors continue to dry up, but, on a third-party's site, where you have no control of who accesses/sponsors what, where you are just a renter, you may have no control. Now, am I anti-technology? Heck no. Far from it. But we need to think about: What pays the bills to keep the museums open? How will this help to pay those bills? What is the cost to the institution in getting revenue to pay the revenues. Think cost of website rental (and projected increases in website rent--everything is going up), cost of in-house technology to create the site from the home computer, cost in terms hours it takes for the museum to maintain the site, cost in terms of salary for that technologist, etc. Who is the audience? Is this the audience you expect to either visit your intitution (revenue from "ticket sales), purchase your merchandise if any, serve on your board, and/or become a sustaining donor? What kind of an image do you want portrayed when it comes to the esteem of the institutions? How will this help to preserve and protect the collections with which you're charged? Eventually, you're going to have to reach the generation that eats videogames for breakfast. That will be your base. But existing museums aren't going to be able to sustain the cost it would take to keep this kind of a site up and relevant. Yes, there are folks who like to do this kind of a thing as a hobby, but youre pretty much pushing jobs offshore here if that's the way you think this ought to go. You could argue there are too many museums with too specific missions that may wind up consolidated as a result of this technology push, but be careful what you wish for. Folks with technology backgrounds, at least at this time (and I've been involved in technology with one form or another since about 73), are and continue to be expensive. Can museums in the collective really afford this? I doubt it. You have to separate this feels good and it's fun to do from what's practical given the resources that you have on hand. I'd be very wary. If you want to do something like this, why not run it off your own websites and make the revenue go directly to you? --- nicholas burlakoff <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > The point--it's not the techology, s*****--it's the > application. In historical reenactments Second Life, > in whatever format will, become an important element > in entertainment and education. So, we need to > learn, be aware of trend and be ready to exploit it > for our needs. Most important is knowing what is > necessary to know in order to re-create a realistic > experience. Will this eliminate real museums? No, > but it might cut down on the dross. And is that bad? ========================================================= 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).