Reading about how museums, galleries, and archives stay connected to their communities even when members are no longer physically on institutional spaces through technology innovations made me realize how much of these aspects I took for granted.
Titlow’s (2016) article about how New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art was informative when they spoke about how their competition was not among other museums or galleries, but rather apps and content people find on their screens, such as Netflix and Candy Crush. Even though this was written 10 years ago, I believe it to still be true. How can these institutions capture people’s attention just long enough for them to be curious about what the institution has to offer? It was a brilliant idea to digitize and upload pieces from their collection to their website to reach a wider audience. Because of our phones, so much of everyone’s attention is based on visual interest. If the MET decided not to digitize their collection, many users would likely decide not to visit the site and explore because most of the population would find browsing through pages an pages of descriptions boring. This ides can also work in reverse. A visitor can be enamoured by a piece and once they leave (whether they are in the same neighborhood or thousands of miles away), and take a deeper dive into the details. The experience continues on.
I was actually curious how their website looked like today and I must say, it really made me want to visit the museum!! I am amazed at the breadth of their collections. There are all sorts of workshops, media content, DIY workshops for kids, adults, and families, etc. Their “Learn With Us” section is full of content to watch, listen, and read. Families with children can find videos of crafting projects at home as well. There is so much to interact with the museum without having to enter the building.
This aspect on linking museums to their communities via technology segways well into Charr’s article about using technology as part of guests’ experience within the exhibitions themselves (2020). This offers users to experience artists’ perspectives in an immersive way that is completely different than standing in front of a painting or sculpture.
I can relate to this aspect of using technology to help bring users into a museum when The Broad museum in Los Angeles featured Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room installation. It may not be a VR experience, but I think having an experiential exhibit for guests makes the visit more unique. They allowed guests to bring phones, take photos, and if I remember correctly, record video as well. This helped spread the word about this exhibit through social media posts. Not only was it a more affordable avenue for the museum to market the limited time exhibit, but also spark curiosity and intrigue from folks seeing their friends post about their experiences online. It easily trended and sparked conversations among previous and potential patrons.
Hi Patricia – You inspired me to also check out the MET’s website. There is so much cool stuff there to look at. I could spend hours exploring their digital collections alone! I agree with your point that digitizing collections is beneficial for museums. For one thing, I think this makes it easier for people to plan their trips to the museum–especially one as big as this one. Also, I found the open access materials in their digital collection. Encouraging others to use your materials will only result in more exposure. Like you said, this allows them to reach a wider audience, some of whom may never get the chance to experience the museum in person.
Hi @rachelll, I’m so glad you decided to check out their website and feel the same way about their digital collections. I can’t imagine all the time and hard work they dedicated to building that foundation to digitize and add so many items online for users to peruse, in addition to all their virtual programming!
@patricia I agree with you regarding encouraging visitors to the museum to post and share into their own networks because that does get the word out, especially if someone has a lot of followers.