A traditional museum exhibit is usually made according to one of two models: either a vehicle for the display of objects or a space for telling a story. Many museums attempt to do both. Museums play a number of interesting roles in society, some intended and some not. The intentional functions museums perform for art and the public are to preserve, teach, restore, exhibit, guard, evaluate, research, and provide access. Some of the unfortunate other functions museums perform are to isolate art from its place in the environment, and to create artificial divisions in societies: the buyers vs. the creators.
Since the advent of electricity, museums have become increasingly enhanced by technology. Simple add-ons such as exhibits with recorded explications available at the press of a button have been joined by science playgrounds, radio-broadcast walking tours, dinosaur robots, and the current flurry of multimedia computers. In some sense this technological enhancement makes these "electronic museums."
Most recently, the term "electronic museum" has come to apply to what could also be called the "virtual museums". The functions of a virtual museum can include and even improve upon those of the traditional
Sculpture has another sensory component that is lost in most museums, that of touch. In traditional museums, visitors are usually not allowed to touch the sculptures, and in virtual museums it is impossible to do so. This loss is extremely important because sculpture is tactile in origin, and many times, in intent.
Since the advent of electricity, museums have become increasingly enhanced by technology. Simple add-ons such as exhibits with recorded explications available at the press of a button have been joined by science playgrounds, radio-broadcast walking tours, dinosaur robots, and the current flurry of multimedia computers. In some sense this technological enhancement makes these "electronic museums."
Another problem area in virtual museums is the difficulty of navigation for the visitor. Some museums attempt to solve the problem by use of a building metaphor. This metaphor tends to break down in the computer environment (for example, hallways, elevators, and even "down" and "up" become very abstract and somewhat useless), but this metaphor may be better than simple topical groupings, especially when the museum actually exists in a similar building, and so the visitor's familiarity with the building may aid in navigating the virtual space. In some cases it can be more pleasant and much easier to visit a museum electronically.
nstruction. A traditional museum exhibit is usually made according to one of two models: either a vehicle for the display of objects or a space for telling a story. Many museums attempt to do both. Museums play a number of interesting roles in society, some intended and some not. The intentional functions museums perform for art and the public are to preserve, teach, restore, exhibit, guard, evaluate, research, and provide access. Some of the unfortunate other functions museums perform are to isolate art from its place in the environment, and to create artificial divisions in societies: the buyers vs. the creators.
Virtual museums can also alleviate some of the current problems of traditional museums. Instead of constructing viewings for artifacts - films, animations, sound, and voice can be used (some museums and television documentaries already exploit these techniques). Virtual museum exhibits can be more inclusive and larger in scope, since they are not limited by enclosed exhibition space. Providing the representations of art objects on th
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