Museum Websites of the First Wave: The rise of the virtual museum

In this paper, we analyse trends of the first wave of museum websites (from the 1990s to the early 2000s) to understand how the characteristics of the Internet (specifically the World Wide Web), of museum staff, and museum audiences shaped the adoption of technology and new forms of participation and what they can tell us about engagement for museums of the future. The early development of online museum resources parallels the development of the EVA conference, which was establishing itself at a similar time.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Giuliano Gaia

Stefania Boiano

Jonathan P Bowen

Ann Borda

Conference

Publication date: July 2020

Publication date (Print): July 2020

Pages: 24-31

Affiliations

[0001]InvisibleStudio Ltd

London, UK

[0002]London South Bank University

London, UK

[0003]University of Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2020.4

SO-VID: 2d0732c6-73ed-4ad3-a9f6-eb14dec278ff

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2020

Conference acronym: EVA 2020

Conference number: 30

Conference location: London

Conference date: 6th July – 9th July 2020

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: AI and the Arts: Artificial Imagination

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2020.4

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

D Bearman 1994 CIDOC/MCN. Archives and Museum Informatics 8 3 227 231 http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/AMInewsletters/AMInewsletter1994_8-3.pdf 6 March 2020
T Berners-Lee 1991a World Wide Web CERN, Switzerland 6 August http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html 24 February 2020
T Berners-Lee 1991b The WWW Virtual Library http://www.vlib.org 1 March 2020
J. P Bowen 1995a Exhibitions in the ether The Times Higher Education Supplement, Multimedia features xii 10 March
J. P Bowen 1995b The Virtual Library of museums G Day Proc. Museum Collections and the Information Superhighway 37 39 Science Museum London 10 May http://web.archive.org/web/19990120003322/www.nmsi.ac.uk/infosh/bowen.htm 20 January 1999
J. P Bowen 1995c The World Wide Web Virtual Library of museums Information Services & Use 15 4 317 324 [Cross Ref] J Hemsley Proc. EVA’95: Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts 105 114 National Gallery London, UK 27 July
J. P Bowen 1995d Collections of collections Museums Journal 95 8 24 25 August
J. P Bowen 1996a The Virtual Library museums pages on ICOM’s World Wide Web site. ICOM News: Bulletin of the International Council of Museums 49 2 10
J. P Bowen 1996b Virtual Museum of Computing web site IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 18 4 67
J. P Bowen 1997a The World Wide Web and the Virtual Library museums pages European Review: Interdisciplinary Journal of the Academia Europaea 5 1 89 104 January
J. P Bowen 1997b The Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp): Whence and whither? MW97: Museums and the Web 1997 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/biblio/the_virtual_library_museums_pages_vlmp_whence_and_whi.html 7 March 2020
J. P Bowen 2000 The virtual museum Museum International 52 1 4 7 [Cross Ref]
J. P Bowen 2002 Weaving the museum web: The Virtual Library museums pages. Program: Electronic Library and Information Systems 36 4 236 252 [Cross Ref]
J. P Bowen 2010 A brief history of early museums online The Rutherford Journal 3 http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/article030103.html 1 March 2020
J. P BowenJ Angus 2006 Museums and Wikipedia. MW2006: Museums and the Web 2006 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2006/papers/bowen/bowen.html 6 March 2020
J. P BowenJ AngusJ BennettA BordaA HodgesS Filippini-FantoniA Beler 2005 The development of science museum Websites: Case Studies (Chapter XVIII) T. W HinR Subramaniam E-learning and Virtual Science Centers Chapter XVIII 366 392 Hershey, USA Idea Group Publishing [Cross Ref]
J. P BowenJ BennettJ Johnson 1998 Virtual visits to virtual museums. MW98: Museums and the Web 1998 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw98/papers/bowen/bowen_paper.html 8 January 2020
J. P BowenT Giannini 2014 Digitalism: The new realism? K NgJ. P BowenS McDaid EVA London 2014: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts BCS, eWiC 324 331 [Cross Ref]
M ForteM Franzoni 1998 Il museo virtuale: comunicazione e metafore., Sistemi Intelligenti, Il Mulino, Bologna, anno X 2 August (In Italian.)
G Gaia 1999 Promoting a museum website on the net. MW99: Museums and the Web 1999 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw99/papers/gaia/gaia.html 6 March 2020
T GianniniJ. P Bowen 2019 Museums and Digital Culture: New perspectives and research Series on Cultural Computing Springer [Cross Ref]
T Gnatek 2006 Taking the rough-and-tumble approach to science The New York Times 29 March https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/arts/artsspecial/taking-the-roughandtumble-approach-to-science.html 9 January 2020
Internet Live Stats 2020 Total number of Websites https://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/ 6 March 2020
InvisibleStudio 2019 How old are those museum domains? Medium 25 August https://medium.com/@invisiblestudio/how-old-are-those-museum-domains-50e344d226be 24 February 2020
K Jones-Garmil 1994 What will the Internet mean to museums, and what will museums mean to the Internet? Museum News 73 4 33 59
K Jones-Garmil 1997 The Wired Museum: Emerging technology and changing paradigms Washington, D.C. American Association of Museum
D Polly 2020 Email with the authors
A QuackenbushR ToomeyE Schroeder 1997 QuickTime Virtual Reality and museums on the Internet. MW97: Museums and the Web 1997 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/biblio/quicktime_virtual_reality_and_museums_on_the_internet.html 6 March 2020
A Renoux 2018 Coordinating digital innovation in museums: The Louvre museum Dedale 19 June http://www.dedale.info/_objets/medias/autres/am-renoux-louvre-berlinheritagesummit-2018-1136.pdf 4 March 2020
P Samis 2020 Personal messages with the authors
R Semper 2020 Personal messages with the authors
D. K Smith 2019 25 years of the UCMP website News & Updates, UC Museum of Paleontology USA https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/2019/02/25-years-ucmp-website/ 1 March 2020
Smithsonian 2020 Web and Social Media Archiving Smithsonian Institution Archives https://siarchives.si.edu/what-we-do/digital-curation/web-and-social-media-archiving 4 March 2020
A Sood 2011 Building a museum of museums on the web Ted Talks https://www.ted.com/talks/amit_sood_building_a_museum_of_museums_on_the_web 4 March 2020
P Walsh 1997 The web and the unassailable voice. MW97: Museums and the Web 1997 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw97/speak/walsh.html 7 March 2020
A Witcomb 1997 The end of the mausoleum: Museums in the age of electronic communication. MW97: Museums and the Web 1997 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw97/speak/witcomb.html 6 March 2020

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] D Bearman 1994 CIDOC/MCN. Archives and Museum Informatics 8 3 227 231 http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/AMInewsletters/AMInewsletter1994_8-3.pdf 6 March 2020

[2] T Berners-Lee 1991a World Wide Web CERN, Switzerland 6 August http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html 24 February 2020

[3] T Berners-Lee 1991b The WWW Virtual Library http://www.vlib.org 1 March 2020

[4] J. P Bowen 1995a Exhibitions in the ether The Times Higher Education Supplement, Multimedia features xii 10 March

[5] J. P Bowen 1995b The Virtual Library of museums G Day Proc. Museum Collections and the Information Superhighway 37 39 Science Museum London 10 May http://web.archive.org/web/19990120003322/www.nmsi.ac.uk/infosh/bowen.htm 20 January 1999

[6] J. P Bowen 1995c The World Wide Web Virtual Library of museums Information Services & Use 15 4 317 324 [Cross Ref] J Hemsley Proc. EVA’95: Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts 105 114 National Gallery London, UK 27 July

[7] J. P Bowen 1995d Collections of collections Museums Journal 95 8 24 25 August

[8] J. P Bowen 1996a The Virtual Library museums pages on ICOM’s World Wide Web site. ICOM News: Bulletin of the International Council of Museums 49 2 10

[9] J. P Bowen 1996b Virtual Museum of Computing web site IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 18 4 67

[10] J. P Bowen 1997a The World Wide Web and the Virtual Library museums pages European Review: Interdisciplinary Journal of the Academia Europaea 5 1 89 104 January

[11] J. P Bowen 1997b The Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp): Whence and whither? MW97: Museums and the Web 1997 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/biblio/the_virtual_library_museums_pages_vlmp_whence_and_whi.html 7 March 2020

[12] J. P Bowen 2000 The virtual museum Museum International 52 1 4 7 [Cross Ref]

[13] J. P Bowen 2002 Weaving the museum web: The Virtual Library museums pages. Program: Electronic Library and Information Systems 36 4 236 252 [Cross Ref]

[14] J. P Bowen 2010 A brief history of early museums online The Rutherford Journal 3 http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/article030103.html 1 March 2020

[15] J. P BowenJ Angus 2006 Museums and Wikipedia. MW2006: Museums and the Web 2006 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2006/papers/bowen/bowen.html 6 March 2020

[16] J. P BowenJ AngusJ BennettA BordaA HodgesS Filippini-FantoniA Beler 2005 The development of science museum Websites: Case Studies (Chapter XVIII) T. W HinR Subramaniam E-learning and Virtual Science Centers Chapter XVIII 366 392 Hershey, USA Idea Group Publishing [Cross Ref]

[17] J. P BowenJ BennettJ Johnson 1998 Virtual visits to virtual museums. MW98: Museums and the Web 1998 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw98/papers/bowen/bowen_paper.html 8 January 2020

[18] J. P BowenT Giannini 2014 Digitalism: The new realism? K NgJ. P BowenS McDaid EVA London 2014: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts BCS, eWiC 324 331 [Cross Ref]

[19] M ForteM Franzoni 1998 Il museo virtuale: comunicazione e metafore., Sistemi Intelligenti, Il Mulino, Bologna, anno X 2 August (In Italian.)

[20] G Gaia 1999 Promoting a museum website on the net. MW99: Museums and the Web 1999 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw99/papers/gaia/gaia.html 6 March 2020

[21] T GianniniJ. P Bowen 2019 Museums and Digital Culture: New perspectives and research Series on Cultural Computing Springer [Cross Ref]

[22] T Gnatek 2006 Taking the rough-and-tumble approach to science The New York Times 29 March https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/arts/artsspecial/taking-the-roughandtumble-approach-to-science.html 9 January 2020

[23] Internet Live Stats 2020 Total number of Websites https://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/ 6 March 2020

[24] InvisibleStudio 2019 How old are those museum domains? Medium 25 August https://medium.com/@invisiblestudio/how-old-are-those-museum-domains-50e344d226be 24 February 2020

[25] K Jones-Garmil 1994 What will the Internet mean to museums, and what will museums mean to the Internet? Museum News 73 4 33 59

[26] K Jones-Garmil 1997 The Wired Museum: Emerging technology and changing paradigms Washington, D.C. American Association of Museum

[27] D Polly 2020 Email with the authors

[28] A QuackenbushR ToomeyE Schroeder 1997 QuickTime Virtual Reality and museums on the Internet. MW97: Museums and the Web 1997 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/biblio/quicktime_virtual_reality_and_museums_on_the_internet.html 6 March 2020

[29] A Renoux 2018 Coordinating digital innovation in museums: The Louvre museum Dedale 19 June http://www.dedale.info/_objets/medias/autres/am-renoux-louvre-berlinheritagesummit-2018-1136.pdf 4 March 2020

[30] P Samis 2020 Personal messages with the authors

[31] R Semper 2020 Personal messages with the authors

[32] D. K Smith 2019 25 years of the UCMP website News & Updates, UC Museum of Paleontology USA https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/2019/02/25-years-ucmp-website/ 1 March 2020

[33] Smithsonian 2020 Web and Social Media Archiving Smithsonian Institution Archives https://siarchives.si.edu/what-we-do/digital-curation/web-and-social-media-archiving 4 March 2020

[34] A Sood 2011 Building a museum of museums on the web Ted Talks https://www.ted.com/talks/amit_sood_building_a_museum_of_museums_on_the_web 4 March 2020

[35] P Walsh 1997 The web and the unassailable voice. MW97: Museums and the Web 1997 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw97/speak/walsh.html 7 March 2020

[36] A Witcomb 1997 The end of the mausoleum: Museums in the age of electronic communication. MW97: Museums and the Web 1997 https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw97/speak/witcomb.html 6 March 2020

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