Migration of Museums to the Web

May 6, 2007

On Saturday morning we visited the Wisconsin Historical Museum. This was on our short list of things to do in Madison over the weekend. We went straight to the second floor, dedicated to Native American history. The exhibits were informative.. but they did not tell me much that I had not already encountered in my reading. It was nice to see genuine artifacts and models.. but these were not accompanied by deep information about the topics.

My disappointment at the experience of a museum has become habitual, and is not limited to the Wisconsin Historical Museum. I can think of two related reasons for my disappointment in natural history/science museums. First, they are aimed at a different audience than me. That may sound obvious.. but I walk into every museum believing it will speak to my own interests. The primary audience for this museum is school age children (arriving either with a school group or a family). Second, much of the fascinating material owned by museums is now turning up on the web. If you visit the Wisconsin Historical Society website, you will find plenty of eccentric paths to trace out. Before writing this blog I got sidetracked looking at a series of watercolors painted by Winifred Ford in 1938-9 (and I started imagining how I could do something similar for Appleton's buildings).

These two reasons are related because the migration of material to the web has re-oriented the purpose of museums more strongly toward children. The apparent flourishing of "children's museums" is another indication of the current in physical museum design. I might as well admit that this trend irks me.. and it leads to a particularly unimaginative use of space. The alternative would be to let the strengths of the internet inform the design of the museum.. virtual models, image galleries, and even original interviews become suddenly possible. But this would mean acknowledging that museum space has special properties and constitutes a unique opportunity for the communication of information. As it is we have to settle for taking children to the museum..

I have offered a mild critique of the Wisconsin Historical Museum, but I have nothing but praise for the website of the Wisconsin Historical Society. The web format offers a wealth of images and maps, plus copies of articles and books. I think an argument could be made that much of the creativity of museum design has migrated to the design of web pages. Somebody remind me next time I am thinking about going to a museum that instead I ought to just plop myself down in front of my computer and browse all these galleries and texts.