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?
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