>OK, so assuming you're right and I'm ignorant--a certainty in the latter
>case--how do I go about lightening my darkness?

I'm not sure, really.  We're talking 21st century here, and the
technologies driving this vision are not yet fully developed or in common
use.

You can search for VRML on the WWW in Yahoo! and find listings of companies
working with it, but there are severe bandwidth issues preventing a
compelling demonstration of its power over the internet.  These problems
will likely be solved in the next few years and museums could begin
presenting virtual exhibitions online that could be used as marketing to
draw visitors into the actual exhibition or as ends in themselves --
extending the museum's mission into cyberspace.

There is QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality) and LivePicture's RealSpace VR,
that provide photo-based VR experiences -- you can move through actual
galleries in an actual museum exhibition, select works on display, and spin
them around, while text relating to the selected object appears nearby.
These are constructed of files small enough to be reasonalby accessible
over dial-up internet connections.  Problem is, you currently have to
download a plug-in for your web browser in order to see these -- it's easy,
but a lot of people just won't bother. One of the best examples is the
"Cultural Crosscurrents" exhibition at the de Young  Museum in San
Francisco.  Point your browser to
http://www.thinker.org/deyoung/exhibitions/crosscurrents/virtual/index.html


From this integration of image, text, and interactivity you can begin to
get an idea of what museums could do in their physical spaces.  I've heard
of a couple of museums that have used VRML to give visitors the experience
of walking through historic spaces.  I don't have their info, but maybe
someone else on the list does.

My own experience comes from offline demos by software companies developing
VRML and designers at my institution who create digital environments.  I've
been around this stuff for awhile and am not so easily impressed any more,
but a recent VRML demo left my jaw hanging.  The possibilities are
staggering.



>-----Original Message-----
>From: Stephen Nowlin <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Museums and the 21st Century
>
>
>
>>I agree, absolutely.  And for a thread that has yielded many "issues" but
>>not many "tools," as was originally requested, I would again offer VRML
>>(virtual reality modeling language) as one of the most important tools with
>>which museums will compete and raise the standard of content over
>>info-tainment theme parks.
>>
>>What was once a matter of linear wall labels and "text panels" that
>>explained the context of a displayed object, will in the future become
>>whole VR worlds that educate, elaborate, and surround the spectator with
>>layers of knowledge.  There are great stories and drama embedded in the
>>real objects of a museum's collection that will make Disneyworld seem
>>boring by comparison, if museums are willing to find the tools and
>>imagination to reveal them.
>
>

Stephen Nowlin
Vice President
Director, Williamson Gallery
Producer, Art Center Online
Art Center College of Design
http://www.artcenter.edu