"I think museums are the soul of a city." Ke Tao, a post-90s girl, said. She is a veteran museum enthusiast and has visited more than 200 museums around the world.
Ke Tao has a unique play of museums: because online museums often display clear details of cultural relics, when visiting offline, she will use online information as a "treasure map" to dig out the knowledge behind the cultural relics according to these details. "For example, the national treasure Changxin Palace lamp, I know online that the lamp has the inscription 'Yangxin House'. When I see the actual cultural relics offline, I will specifically look for this detail, and there is a feeling of 'treasure hunting', as if communicating with the cultural relics. ”
In recent years, museums have used various technological means to break the physical limitations of time and space, allowing the public to "visit" various exquisite exhibitions online. So the question is, when we can visit offline, what is the attraction of online museums? In fact, digital museums, or online exhibitions, are not a special period to replace offline Plan B, but another option to experience museums.
When visiting offline museums, cultural relics are often placed in display cases to have a certain distance from the audience; Online, viewers can "interact" well with the artifacts for personalized visits. "Offline can often only see two or three angles, and there is glass separation, it is difficult to closely observe the details of the artifacts. Some artifacts in the online museum have a 720° viewing angle and can be zoomed in and out. Ke Tao said.
Being able to see artifacts that have not yet been exhibited in online museums is one of the reasons that attracted Ketao, and Yuan Meng, a loyal fan of the Palace Museum, feels the same way. Yuan Meng visits the Forbidden City every month or two on average, "I can even know which artifacts from regular exhibitions are placed where." But there will be many more cultural relics that can be seen online than offline, and the exhibits are very rich." Not only that, visiting the online virtual exhibition hall also brings Yuan Meng a sense of immersion and travel, she sometimes substitutes herself into the role of ancient historical figures to the "cloud tour" museum, with detailed explanations, which is very interesting.
For scholars and professionals, the 24-hour online museum is also an effective tool for acquiring knowledge and information. Mei Liangchen, a post-95 boy, is about to finish his studies in museum education at University College London. In his spare time, he organizes offline museum tours to explain the exhibits and the cultural knowledge behind them to international students from China.
In preparation for the guided tour, Mei Liangchen will collect information from the online museum. "Most of the pictures in the online museum collection are clear, the information is very complete, and there will be some video materials of speeches. For me, I can get to know this museum very intensively, and there is no time and space limit, which is very time-saving. Mei Liangchen said.
The online lectures organized by the museum have also become a convenient way for him to obtain materials. "The content of the museum's official lecture is relatively authoritative, and some documents that have not been found can be obtained from the lecture, and they can be heard at home, which is very convenient." Mei Liangchen said, "I hope that the online museum can be built more comprehensively, and if an immersive museum scene can be restored online, then I can directly conduct online live tours through the virtual space for more audiences who cannot reach the scene." ”
In Mei Liangchen's view, online museums are an expansion space for physical museums, "online museums are digital and can be conveniently presented. Moreover, the online virtual exhibition hall is not limited by time and space, and the museum can develop new interpretations and curatorial themes of collections in line with the current social hot spots, and design new tour routes and tour manuals for offline visits while doing online exhibitions."
Virtual galleries and digital collections are just some of the parts of an online museum, and more and more museums are now exploring more possibilities of online museums. For example, the Palace Museum has designed a youth website and mobile phone software for teenagers, allowing school-age audiences to participate in interaction, learn about history, and even create art through videos, games, quizzes, etc.; The National Gallery uses live streaming and video content to allow the museum's behind-the-scenes staff to come to the camera to share their daily work; The Metropolitan Museum of Art added its collection to popular games loved by young people, allowing audiences to learn more about cultural heritage...
For Ke, these interesting online features entice her to explore more. "For example, the 'Hong Kong Forbidden City', through the small game of food and cooking, popularizes the knowledge of ancient food, which is entertaining and educational, and very interesting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a 'time machine', which can select a certain period, continent and theme, and randomly produce a world cultural relic within the range after selection, and there is a feeling of opening a 'cultural relics blind box'. "The sense of participation of online museums needs to be enhanced through more diversified displays and interactive forms, activating cultural relics and cultural knowledge." It is expected that the online museum can provide sharing and discussion functions to increase communication and interaction in the community. ”
This generation of young people are "digital natives", who grew up in the Internet age, are accustomed to digital life, and are also good at using online resources to find the fun of visiting museums. The rich and diverse online museum, the gameplay is innovative, providing freshness for loyal visitors, and also attracting the attention of more first-time young people, it turns out that the museum can still play like this.
The establishment of a digital museum requires more in-depth digital technical support and financial support. On the occasion of "May 5 International Museum Day", the State Administration of Cultural Heritage launched the "Small and Medium-sized Museums Digital Helping the Stars Program" to help promote the sustainable development of small and medium-sized museums and promote the sharing of digital achievements of Chinese civilization with public welfare and technical resources.
"It is hoped that future online museums will use more advanced technology to allow users to experience the charm of museums more immersively." There is so much historical and cultural knowledge waiting to be explored in the world, and I need to 'see' them through online museum channels everywhere, which will also inspire me to go out and see the bigger world. Ke Tao said.
Intern Wang Jing Source: China Youth Daily