The Virtual Museum and how it may be defined - according to the V-Must project

1. ON DEFINING THE
VIRTUAL MUSEUM: A V-MUST
RESEARCH PROJECT
Susan Hazan (PhD)
V-Must, Science and Technology for
Archaeological Research Center, The Cyprus Institute

2. THE
VIRTUAL
MUSEUM

3. Our presentation summarizes initial, theoretical work carried out by
V-Must, a Network of Excellence, funded by the European
Commission in its efforts to rethink the concept of virtual museums
(VM), in light of developing emerging digital technologies.
The Network has been active in identifying, and mapping the tools
and services that define and support VMs in the heritage sector.
http://www.v-must.net/library/publications

4. “LE MUSÉE IMAGINAIRE” BY ANDRÉ MALRAUX
The Museum without Walls
Artist Dennis Adams Remakes Andre Malraux’s “Imaginary Museum” in a New Video

5. The Digital Footprint of the Museum

7. The move from 'old' to 'new' media
Technology rather content
From traditional print distribution and terrestrial television
To webcasting, podcasting and electronic peer to peer communications
The term 'new
museology' is invoked
to suggest changes in
institutional
ideologies.

9. The use of the terms that invoke the illusion of ‘newness’,
therefore, may set up false expectations, especially when
electronic environments are perceived as a solution for
archaic and inefficient systems.

10. Responsive Architecture
The Responsive Museum
What kinds of implications will this have on the visit?

11. Responsive Architecture
The Responsive Museum
What kinds of implications will this have on the visit?

12. Reclaiming - Re-territorising the museum
as a space to be owned by the community.
The Responsive Museum - Ownership

13. Web 2.0 Museum, a term coined
by Nina Simon in her popular
blog and seminal publication
The new museologist now
curates the digital interaction of
museum from the inclusive
perspective of the community.
The Responsive Museum – The Community

14. Web 2.0 Museum, a term coined
by Nina Simon in her popular
blog and seminal publication
The new museologist now
curates the digital interaction of
museum from the inclusive
perspective of the community.
The Responsive Museum – The Community

15. British Museum’s online
collections
As there are currently
2,074,288 objects available in
Endpoint, the British
Museum’s online database
with 766,576 with one or
more images
When objects are associated
with their semantic attribute
this helps us improve our
understanding, and
knowledge of objects and
events even further.
The Responsive Museum – Semantic Web

16. British Museum’s online
collections
As there are currently
2,074,288 objects available in
Endpoint, the British
Museum’s online database
with 766,576 with one or
more images
When objects are associated
with their semantic attribute
this helps us improve our
understanding, and
knowledge of objects and
events even further.
The Responsive Museum – Semantic Web

17. Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Engagement

18. Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Preservation

19. Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Preservation

20. Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Preservation

21. Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Preservation

22. Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Preservation

23. Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Trust

24. Taking over the stewardship of cultural heritage on behalf of society, the museum
then assumes full responsibilities to collect, conserve and display culture, and to make
it available and accessible to the public as exhibitions.
Accessibility is key here, and we argue that the VM is just as committed to intellectual
accessibility as the physical museum is.
Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Accessibility

25. The Immersive experience
Ron Arad, 2012, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Immersion

26. Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Immersion
The Immersive experience
Ron Arad, 2012, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

27. The Immersive experience
The Immersive experience
Second Life
Qualities of
the Virtual
Museum -
Immersion

28. The Immersive experience
The Immersive experience
Second Life
Qualities of
the Virtual
Museum -
Immersion

29. The Immersive experience
The Immersive experience
Second Life
Qualities of
the Virtual
Museum -
Immersion

30. The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) seeks to encourage
the identification, protection
and preservation of cultural
and natural heritage around
the world considered to be of
outstanding value to humanity.
This is embodied in an
international treaty called
the Convention concerning the
Protection of the World
Cultural and Natural Heritage ,
adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
.
Definition – Cultural Heritage

31. Definition – The Museum, ICOM
According to the ICOM Statutes, adopted during the 21st General
Conference in Vienna, Austria, in 2007:
A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of
society and its development, open to the public, which acquires,
conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and
intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes
of education, study and enjoyment.
http://icom.museum/the-vision/museum-definition/

32. Definition – The Museum, ICOM
According to the ICOM Statutes, adopted during the 21st General
Conference in Vienna, Austria, in 2007:
A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of
society and its development, open to the public, which acquires,
conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and
intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes
of education, study and enjoyment.
http://icom.museum/the-vision/museum-definition/

33. Definition – Intangible Heritage
Giovanni Pinna, Chairman of ICOM-Italy, and Member of the ICOM Executive
Council defined the intangible museum as:
Peoples’ learned processes along with the knowledge, skills and creativity that
inform and are developed by them, the products they create, and the resources,
spaces and other aspects of social and natural context necessary to their
sustainability; these processes provide living communities with a sense of
continuity with previous generations and are important to cultural identity, as
well as to the safeguarding of cultural diversity and the creativity of humanity
(Pinna 2003: 3)xvii.

34. Definition – Intangible Heritage
Giovanni Pinna, Chairman of ICOM-Italy, and Member of the ICOM Executive
Council defined the intangible museum as:
Peoples’ learned processes along with the knowledge, skills and creativity that
inform and are developed by them, the products they create, and the resources,
spaces and other aspects of social and natural context necessary to their
sustainability; these processes provide living communities with a sense of
continuity with previous generations and are important to cultural identity, as
well as to the safeguarding of cultural diversity and the creativity of humanity
(Pinna 2003: 3)xvii.

35. Definition - Intangible and Digital Heritage
In the July of 2004, the 20th General Assembly of ICOM association amended
the statutes in Barcelona, Spain, to include in the museum definition:
Cultural centres and other entities that facilitate the preservation,
continuation and management of tangible or intangible heritage resources
(living heritage and digital creative activity).
(ICOM Statutes amended by the 20th General Assembly of ICOM, clause viii).

36. Definition - Intangible and Digital Heritage
In the July of 2004, the 20th General Assembly of ICOM association amended
the statutes in Barcelona, Spain, to include in the museum definition:
Cultural centres and other entities that facilitate the preservation,
continuation and management of tangible or intangible heritage resources
(living heritage and digital creative activity).
(ICOM Statutes amended by the 20th General Assembly of ICOM, clause viii).

37. Definition - Intangible and Digital Heritage
In the July of 2004, the 20th General Assembly of ICOM association amended
the statutes in Barcelona, Spain, to include in the museum definition:
Cultural centres and other entities that facilitate the preservation,
continuation and management of tangible or intangible heritage resources
(living heritage and digital creative activity).
(ICOM Statutes amended by the 20th General Assembly of ICOM, clause viii).

38. Moreover, a virtual museum can refer to the mobile or World Wide Web offerings of
traditional museums (e.g., displaying digital representations of its collections or
exhibits); or can be born digital content such as net art, virtual reality and digital art.
Often, discussed in conjunction with other cultural institutions, a museum by
definition, is essentially separate from its sister institutions such as a library or an
archive.
Virtual museums are usually, but not exclusively delivered electronically when they are
denoted as online museums, hypermuseum, digital museum, cybermuseums or web
museums.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_museum
Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Types

39. Moreover, a virtual museum can refer to the mobile or World Wide Web offerings of
traditional museums (e.g., displaying digital representations of its collections or
exhibits); or can be born digital content such as net art, virtual reality and digital art.
Often, discussed in conjunction with other cultural institutions, a museum by
definition, is essentially separate from its sister institutions such as a library or an
archive.
Virtual museums are usually, but not exclusively delivered electronically when they are
denoted as online museums, hypermuseum, digital museum, cybermuseums or web
museums.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_museum
Qualities of the Virtual Museum - Types

40. A virtual museum is a digital entity that
draws on the characteristics of a
museum, in order to complement,
enhance, or augment the museum
experience through personalization,
interactivity and richness of content.
Virtual museums can perform as the
digital footprint of a physical museum, or
can act independently, while maintaining
the authoritative status as bestowed by
ICOM in its definition of a museum.
In tandem with the ICOM mission of a
physical museum, the virtual museum is
also committed to public access; to both
the knowledge systems imbedded in the
collections and the systematic, and
coherent organization of their display, as
well as to their long-term preservation.
Definitions – The Virtual Museum

41. A virtual museum is a digital entity that
draws on the characteristics of a
museum, in order to complement,
enhance, or augment the museum
experience through personalization,
interactivity and richness of content.
Virtual museums can perform as the
digital footprint of a physical museum, or
can act independently, while maintaining
the authoritative status as bestowed by
ICOM in its definition of a museum.
In tandem with the ICOM mission of a
physical museum, the virtual museum is
also committed to public access; to both
the knowledge systems imbedded in the
collections and the systematic, and
coherent organization of their display, as
well as to their long-term preservation.
Definitions – The Virtual Museum

42. A virtual museum is a digital entity that
draws on the characteristics of a
museum, in order to complement,
enhance, or augment the museum
experience through personalization,
interactivity and richness of content.
Virtual museums can perform as the
digital footprint of a physical museum, or
can act independently, while maintaining
the authoritative status as bestowed by
ICOM in its definition of a museum.
In tandem with the ICOM mission of a
physical museum, the virtual museum is
also committed to public access; to both
the knowledge systems imbedded in the
collections and the systematic, and
coherent organization of their display, as
well as to their long-term preservation.
Definitions – The Virtual Museum

43. VM allows almost anything - and can digitally "materialize" almost everything. It is up
to the curator or perhaps the "digital curator" (a hybrid between a dreamer, a social
scientist, an art historian and a computer expert) to explore and fully benefit from the
new (social, cognitive and cultural) space VM is enabling a voyage into a new, and yet
unexplored world...
Conclusion

44. VM allows almost anything - and can digitally "materialize" almost everything. It is up
to the curator or perhaps the "digital curator" (a hybrid between a dreamer, a social
scientist, an art historian and a computer expert) to explore and fully benefit from the
new (social, cognitive and cultural) space VM is enabling a voyage into a new, and yet
unexplored world...
Conclusion

45. Susan.hazan@gmail.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_museum