Today we continue our adventures in online museums! See my recent list of some favorites, paean to Google Arts & Culture, and pre-#MuseumFromHome list of online exhibitions.
In the current surge of online museum offerings, “virtual tours” and the like are being touted by ever more institutions. But what does that mean? It turns out that everyone has a slightly different idea of what a virtual tour is. My last couple of blog posts show that I’m a sucker for one specific kind of “virtual tour,” that found on Google Arts & Culture: a combination of “street view” navigation through the actual museum galleries, along with object-specific detail photos and information. To me, this represents just what I like about museum visits in person, in a pretty great digital approximation: you experience some of the museum atmosphere, see how the objects are displayed (a longtime obsession of mine!), AND you can get up close to the objects and read their labels, just like you would in real life.
But there are other ideas of what a “virtual tour” can be. Some institutions offer “tours” that are just 360º walk-throughs of the building. The Smithsonian, for instance, has several dozen of these, which I was excited about until finding out what they actually are. On these tours, you may get an all-around view of the galleries, but you can only get as close to an object as the “street view” image allows, and generally this feels like you’re standing at least 8 feet away from the object. (The Smithsonian website notes that you can click on a camera icon to zoom in on an object, but throughout numerous galleries I didn’t find such an icon.) So you can’t really see any object beyond its most prominent features, and you definitely can’t read any label that might be next to it! It’s also frustrating to try to navigate closer to a display that’s caught your eye: the 360º image just doesn’t allow fine enough movements to steer effectively. There’s one single line you can “walk,” and you can look around as you go. In summary, this model frustrates me because it omits the one thing that I would say museums are primarily here for: the objects. This is why I find it so crucial that Google Arts & Culture combines Google’s revolutionary Street View imagery with incredible high-resolution photos of and essays about certain objects. Because why would I want to stroll through a museum without being able to see and learn about the exponents?
The National Museum of Computing offers virtual tours somewhat along the street-view-plus-objects lines, and should definitely get props for that! In this version, there is one additional benefit and one additional drawback. The benefit is a super cool “dollhouse” of the museum that shows you all the rooms in miniature, complete with their objects! This is an awesome way to get an overview of the museum, and to see where you’re standing in the virtual tour. The downside I discovered is that generally there is only little information on offer; certain objects are marked with a YouTube link to a relevant video, which is really neat, but even basic object information isn’t included. Or the link goes to a website that can’t be found. Or just the object name appears (what are Dekatron Valves?).
Yet another model is totally different and, in my opinion, mind-blowing! The British Museum teamed up with Google to make a beautifully designed, 3D graphic timeline called The Museum of the World (a title that aligns with the BM’s controversial aspirations to be a universal museum). You can zoom along the timeline from today into the past, on a foreshortened path like a road receding to the horizon. Each continent has its own color and position on the timeline, so you can compare across cultures or select just one. It’s a very effective, attractive design. Colored points on the timeline represent objects you can click on to get more information. And this too is superbly done: clicking on the object pops up a window with a photo, short essay, Google map of its location of origin, “related objects” section, and an audio file of a staff member talking about it! This is a truly fun and fabulous mode of discovery.
Then there are the tours that require technology I don’t have. The Louvre lists a number, but they require some kind of Flash that none of the various devices and OSes in my home has.
Finally, there are tours led by real people in museum galleries and posted online as a video or streamed on a communication platform like Zoom. I took part in a tour offered by the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt – it was tremendous. Personable, knowledgeable guide Sonja took us around the galleries of the exhibition “Fantastic Women” just like on an in-person tour, using her smartphone to record herself as she was talking and the objects she was talking about. I was astounded how much it was like being in person at this beautiful exhibition on women surrealist artists. I hope many more museums offer this version of a virtual tour, even after the museums reopen!
There are some amazing things happening in the land of online museum experiences! To help it progress, I’m in favor of using the word “tour” to describe something more than just a 360º image. Tours, as well as the museums that offer them, are so much more than just a building you can photograph from inside.
Please share your own favorite online museum experiences on the Forum or the Contact page!