The readings this week take on the essential topic that we have been talking about for many weeks now in class.\u00a0 The article \u201cMuseums see different virtues in virtual worlds\u201d looks at how the Met and The Brooklyn Museum have had two different approaches to their digital efforts.\u00a0 The Met reflecting its encyclopedic perspective reflected in its online presence, the Brooklyn Museum, by comparison, is a more local museum by nature, its online presence attempts to engage its local community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Museum Interface\u201d is a direct conversation with two museum site designers who discuss the complications with the museums and their content online.\u00a0 A large part of their conversation centers on Kara Walker\u2019s installation of, A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, a mega installation.\u00a0 The problem presented but the conversation was that many people were deterred from going and experiencing the work in person because of the installation\u2019s proliferation in social media.<\/p>\n
This removal or distancing from the object is one that I personally, am most concerned about.\u00a0 Images and other online engagement would preferably incite wonder and a desire to see the works in person.\u00a0 I think we forget that we miss part of the experience of the object when we only see it on a 2D screen.\u00a0 With the Walker exhibit, we are missing a personal sense of scale since we cannot be in the same room with it; in addition to missing the we miss things like our sense of smell.\u00a0 With the Walker show we miss the scent and atmosphere of the sugar factory of her works are installed in.<\/p>\n
I had the opposite reaction that the commentator\u2019s friends had to the proliferation of the exhibit on social media.\u00a0 Instead of seeing images or video and being satisfied, I would love to see it that much more.<\/p>\n