The future of digital history By Matthew MacArthur, March 18, 2009. This is an exciting time to be a museum Web practitioner. Since its inception, the Web has been a great way for us and other museums to reach out beyond our walls. We posted information to our sites and hoped that online visitors would come. And come they did—long ago the number of “virtual” visitors surpassed the number of visitors to our physical museum, and the gap continues to widen each year. But online interactions often felt a little less personal than face-to-face contact with visitors—even somewhat mysterious. It has been di!cult to know exactly who is visiting our Web site, why they come, and what their reactions are. Museums have tried a number of methods to overcome this disconnect over the years, but with limited success. Now, the proliferation of simple tools for online expression and interaction are changing the ways that we relate to our audiences and vice versa. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and the like are new venues where you are sharing your thoughts on the museum, its collections and exhibitions, and the visitor experience. We are using some of these same methods to reach out and engage the public in new ways. Things move so fast in the world of technology, it’s easy sometimes to forget how new these more participatory and instantaneous modes of communication are. As with any new medium, it takes time to "gure out the real impact on society at large as well as speci"c business practices at, say, a museum (and other traditional types of knowledge repositories). Some worry that our stature as an institution will be diminished in this brave new world, while others predict that our role will become all the more vital. As “your” national history museum, we’d love to have your help as we continue to adapt to the digital age. Please participate in the survey below, which we hope will be the "rst of a series that facilitate an ongoing dialogue on our blog about these issues. If you have additional thoughts, please add a comment!
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Matthew MacArthur is Director of New Media at the National Museum of American History
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Thomas Shaw
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• 4 years ago
3D is a great gimmick, but that is all it is. People will always want to visit a museum in the flesh. Just like people would much prefer to see a game of football in a stadium. -Regards
△ ▽ Paul
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• 4 years ago
Museumswill also have to distribute 3d documentaries, pictures and movies. Otherwise, nobody will return to musuems ever again...
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Anonymous
• 4 years ago
With the advent of 3d television in the home, museums who want to bring a close and personal touch should be developing and distributing 3d media for home use. Although there is no equivalent experience for actually being there, it should be a museum's obligation to actively try to reach and compel its audience while they are at home. This would encourage visits and, importantly, open up additional potential revenue streams.
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archivist
• 6 years ago
Another tool that could be used by the NMAH archives center would be Flickr. Library of Congress and other archives have posted collections. It is a great way to get your collections out to the general public and possibly learn something new from the user posted comments.
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Rebecca Zimmerman
• 6 years ago
As a museum educator for a Teaching American History grant, Essex LINCs, I am charged with locating, transcribing & digitizing if possible local primary source materials for use in elementary classrooms sometimes items I find exciting & relevant have been lingering in museum archives for years, other times I am unable to bring the materials I think can tell an important story onto my website - it is a paradox of control of use of a museum's holdings, which is akin to much of the info out on the web. I think it calls upon us to educate the public to be careful in how they view web resources and mindful that nothing can replace the experience of seeing exhibits in person...
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Megan
• 6 years ago
A very valid discussion - and one taking place in lots of of arenas. But I think part of your poll question is missing.
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