1. Characteristics of the
Virtual Museum
Dr. Ofra Keinan
Make-MymuseuM.com

2. Virtual Museum Defenition
 A virtual museum is a museum that houses
collections in digital form and exhibits them
via the Internet. Most virtual museums are
part of physically existing museums that hold
actual collections. A virtual museum refers to
a broad range of websites from a simple
personal website and portal site, a collection
of links to museums and galleries, to a full
scale website which has all functions of a
museum.
05/31/12 Dr. Ofra Keinan www.make-mymuseum.com

3. The Door
 The door to the virtual museum is electronic.
You drive up for a visit on the Information
Highway, but you need no car. A computer
and an Internet account serve as your
entrance ticket and transportation combined.
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4. Based on Computer
 As the third millennium enters, several
institutions responsible for displaying and
interpreting diverse aspects of history found
themselves in a crisis. The society they were
accustomed to serving had undergone a
transformation and was now based on
computer technology..”[1]

[ 1] MacDonald, G. and Alsford, S. (1994), “Towards the Virtual Museum: crisis and change for millennium 3”, Paper delivered to
the American Association of State and Local History 54th Annual Meeting, Omaha, September 1994,
http://www.civilization.ca/academ/articles/macd-alsf1_1e.html (Oct. 27, 2006).
05/31/12 Dr. Ofra Keinan www.make-mymuseum.com

5. Technology & Culture
 The impact of this change was dramatic, and
the importance of linking technological
change with the modes of operation
employed by the institutions became
paramount. As long ago as 1957 Marshall
McLuhan said: “As our culture becomes more
technological, technology becomes more
cultural”
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6. Response to the new Technology
 According to MacDonald and Alsford,
heritage institutions have lagged behind in
this development, and have difficulties in
finding the appropriate response.
 Schools;
 Libraries;
 Museums.
[1] Ibid.
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7. Museum and the Web
 During the last decade extensive literature
has been written about the subject of virtual
museums. For example, "The Museum and
the Web" is one of the most important
international organizations that deal with
issues pertaining to virtual museums.
 http://www.archimuse.com/mw99/papers/teather/teather.html
05/31/12 Dr. Ofra Keinan www.make-mymuseum.com

8. Virtual Museums Establishment
 The establishment of virtual museums was
one of the strategies used by museums for
adjusting themselves to the third millennium.
 The concept of virtual museums has many
interpretations and actually includes a
diversity of presentations on the internet.
[1] McKeown, Roy, "Accessing the virtual museum: bringing museum information into cyberspace" , The
New Review of Information Networking 2003, pp. 40-53.
Building a Virtual Museum Community,. 1997McKenzie, Jamie [2] 
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9. New possibilities to present more
information
 Visitors, in most cases, accept this specific
approach as the absolute truth. With digital
technology, however, it is possible to present
much more – even most – of the information
online, leaving it to the visitors to choose the
materials most suitable to their needs.
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10. Dual representation
 Museums exist solely in a  Virtual Museum as a
virtual representation of Physical
museum
 During time more and  Most of the physical
more section build virtual museums has its own
museums as a tool for virtual museum
heritage conservation
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11. Virtual Museum as a representation of
Physical museum
 Most virtual museums are part of physically
existing museums that hold actual collections.
 http://icom.museum/vlmp/
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12. Museums exist solely in a virtual
 Some virtual museums exist solely in a virtual
environment. The Museum of Computer Art
(MOCA) (Museum of Computer Art) is an
example of this type. MOCA's collections
include digital art created by computer
graphic technologies .
 Some individuals such as artists and
photographers also create personal virtual
museums to exhibit his or her collections
online.
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13. Dual aims of the virtual Museum
 Marketing museums  Learning museums
 Museums have moved from  The virtual museum: the next
a product to a marketing step on from the learning
focus within the last ten museum is to provide not
years. only information about the
institution’s collection but to
link to digital collections of
others.
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14. A learning museum has the following
characteristics
 The online collection is substantial.
 The content offerings are rich .
 The "lobby" or entrance is both inviting and user-
friendly.
 It would take dozens of visits to explore the contents.
 The museum offers many different kinds of learning
activities suited to different age levels and learning
styles.
 The virtual visit increases desire for a "real time" visit
to the original museum building.
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15. Creating links
 Furthermore, the virtual museum offers the
option of creating links to a variety of
institutions of knowledge, such as libraries, research
institutes, and of course other museums on similar subjects.
 Nor are visitors limited only to the information
and documents on display in the museum
they entered online; they can be linked to any
place in the world offering material that suits
their interests.
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16. Examples
 The online collection is substantial.
 The content offerings are rich
 http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/search/citi/
category%3A111
 The "lobby" or entrance is both inviting and user-friendly.
 http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/English/
index_flashFT.html
 The museum offers many different kinds of learning activities suited to
different age levels and learning styles.
 http://www.metmuseum.org/
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17. Cooperative Learning by means of
Internet Hypermedia Systems
 easiness of access for teachers working in different
schools, allowing them to prepare common teaching
programs for their different student groups;
 easiness of access for students of different schools,
allowing them to cooperate independently of the their
institution;
 easiness of access for scientists and experts working
in museums, allowing them to cooperate with the
establishment of cooperative teaching programs for
groups of students of different schools.
 http://www.archimuse.com/mw99/papers/bertoletti/bertoletti.html
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18. A Marketing museum has the
following characteristics
 Web sites which are mainly intended as marketing
vehicles and communication media
 to increase the number of visitors to the original
physical museum.
 by making more people aware of museum's
collections and special events.
 Such sites may also have museum shop sales as a
major goal
 The virtual museum as a marketing museum is characterized by
technical information.

[1] Ibid., ibid.
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19. The Dual owner
 Unprofessional owner  Professional owner
 Private person who create his  Museum which create it’s
own museum: own virtual museum:
 Example:
 Example: http://www.
artgallery.nsw.gov.au/  http://icom.museum/vlmp/
ed/myvirtualgallery
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20. Digitisation of culture
“The idea of becoming virtual might not be a
pleasant one for some museums, but this
development is inevitable because of the
increasing digitisation of cultural heritage
and the demand to make collections more
accessible.”
by We r n e r S c h w e i b e n z
http://cool-palimpsest.stanford.edu/icom/pdf/E_news2004/p3_2004-3.pdf
05/31/12 Dr. Ofra Keinan www.make-mymuseum.com

21. What about our museums
?virtualization
Be grateful for you
Dr. Ofra Keinan
Make-mymuseum Team