Open Forum

Hi Clive.

What a great question! Here is my stab at it:

As technology evolves, so does the way people learn and interpret information...because we evolve based on the environment and stimuli around us. Its truly amazing once you think about it! When I was a kid, I centered my entire behavior and social interactions around doing book reports...i.e going to the library when it was quiet, looking up books via the Dewey Decimal System, reading OLD encyclopedias, etc (wow, I'm really showing my age lol) This is how I learned and became the person I am today.

In the 4th grade, if someone said "Amber, you don't have to go to the library to do a book report, you can get all the information you need from this invisible placed packed with almost unlimited information on ANYTHING you could want called the internet and you don't have to leave your house...and alot of people from the world are there too!" I wouldn't been able to fathom that.

Perhaps in the same way my nieces and nephews couldn't fathom doing what I did for book reports at their age...and if they were somehow forced to go to the library and do research, they wouldn't get much out of it. Their learning and social behaviors have adapted to the world in which we all live in. In order for museums/arts/libraries to engage this new generation of learners and their learning/engagement styles (and older new learners!), they must find ways to meet them where they are. Nothing will and should stay the same forever! Advances in digital technology not only allows us the opportunity to access information more quickly, but it helps conserve fragile cultural objects AND allows us the opportunity to tell our stories in new and innovative ways that takes into account all learning styles.

Because of digital technology, I believe the notion of a museum "visitor" is not just limited to who can be in the museum physically at any particular time. As citizens of a global community, we can gain information in real time from almost any place in the world without leaving our home. There was an amazing exhibition at the Moesgard in Denmark on Terracotta Warriors. At the time, I couldn't make it there to see the exhibit. However, because the process of researching and installing the exhibition was documented and put in a video online, I became even MORE intrigued because I had a window into this world that I wouldn't had if I would've just read a newspaper article about it. When I go back to visit Europe, Denmark is definitely on my list of places to go just so I can go the Moesgard. If I had that kind of experience online, imagine the type of multi sensory experience I can get in person!

The Mogao Dunhuang caves in China are now being photographed and presented in various digital formats so that visitors can immersively explore the architecture and art more thoroughly without disturbing the fragile nature of the caves. The Detroit Historical Museum has put their exhibits in Google Maps so that you can 'walk' through them without actually walking through them. These institutions and countless others all over the globe are not only expanding their mission beyond but engaging 'visitors' that couldn't otherwise be there. 

Hi Clive.

What a great question! Here is my stab at it:

As technology evolves, so does the way people learn and interpret information...because we evolve based on the environment and stimuli around us. Its truly amazing once you think about it! When I was a kid, I centered my entire behavior and social interactions around doing book reports...i.e going to the library when it was quiet, looking up books via the Dewey Decimal System, reading OLD encyclopedias, etc (wow, I'm really showing my age lol) This is how I learned and became the person I am today.

In the 4th grade, if someone said "Amber, you don't have to go to the library to do a book report, you can get all the information you need from this invisible placed packed with almost unlimited information on ANYTHING you could want called the internet and you don't have to leave your house...and alot of people from the world are there too!" I wouldn't been able to fathom that.

Perhaps in the same way my nieces and nephews couldn't fathom doing what I did for book reports at their age...and if they were somehow forced to go to the library and do research, they wouldn't get much out of it. Their learning and social behaviors have adapted to the world in which we all live in. In order for museums/arts/libraries to engage this new generation of learners and their learning/engagement styles (and older new learners!), they must find ways to meet them where they are. Nothing will and should stay the same forever! Advances in digital technology not only allows us the opportunity to access information more quickly, but it helps conserve fragile cultural objects AND allows us the opportunity to tell our stories in new and innovative ways that takes into account all learning styles.

Because of digital technology, I believe the notion of a museum "visitor" is not just limited to who can be in the museum physically at any particular time. As citizens of a global community, we can gain information in real time from almost any place in the world without leaving our home. There was an amazing exhibition at the Moesgard in Denmark on Terracotta Warriors. At the time, I couldn't make it there to see the exhibit. However, because the process of researching and installing the exhibition was documented and put in a video online, I became even MORE intrigued because I had a window into this world that I wouldn't had if I would've just read a newspaper article about it. When I go back to visit Europe, Denmark is definitely on my list of places to go just so I can go the Moesgard. If I had that kind of experience online, imagine the type of multi sensory experience I can get in person!

The Mogao Dunhuang caves in China are now being photographed and presented in various digital formats so that visitors can immersively explore the architecture and art more thoroughly without disturbing the fragile nature of the caves. The Detroit Historical Museum has put their exhibits in Google Maps so that you can 'walk' through them without actually walking through them. These institutions and countless others all over the globe are not only expanding their mission beyond but engaging 'visitors' that couldn't otherwise be there.