From Now On
The Educational Technology Journal
Vol 5 . . . No 5 . . . January/February, 1996
Virtual Galleries vs. Virtual Museums
What's the Difference?
Should our school build a virtual gallery?
Or should we construct a virtual museum instead?
What's the difference?
Once schools get over the honeymoon phase of Web page development, during which most seem satisfied with self-description, promotion and display, some move on to ask questions of purpose.
Why are we doing this?
One of the best reasons to build a Web site is the opportunity it provides to engage students in making and sharing meaning. Young people gather, display and interpret artifacts and information around some topic such as local history, acid rain, forestry or fishing. This article explores and contrasts the potential of virtual galleries and virtual museums to involve students in such constructivist learning.
For more on constructivist learning.Go by Web to Columbia Simply stated, galleries focus on display. Explanation is relatively limited. "What you see is what you get."
Museums, on the other hand, place a greater emphasis upon theme, interpretation and explanation.
Galleries on the WWW provide schools with a fine opportunity to display and publish student writing and art. Museums can take us much farther, offering a chance for students to plan, develop and publish a multimedia collection around some question, topic or era which deserves exploration and illumination. Students act as curators and designers.
Virtual museums surpass galleries in their capacity to support constructivist learning.
In some respects, galleries are the "end of the road" for student work. Museums are the student work.
Examples of Virtual Galleries
To develop a clear sense of what a virtual gallery might offer a school, it pays to visit a dozen sites, some of which are adult galleries intended to display and market the work of professional artists and some of which are school Web sites proudly sharing the art and writing of students.
By now you have probably begun to notice that Web Galleries are often created by small Web-businesses with the intent of helping artists market their work. They may have more in common with small art galleries than they do with the impressive stone mansions we sometimes associate with museums.
You may also select from sketchbooks, traditional media and electronic media. This is an exciting spot which seriously exploits the power of the technology.
Modeling and Rendering
When I visited Student Folios, I was presented with a list of student names, each of whom would offer pages showing their work. It turned out that my first choice, Tina Soo Hoo, displayed "knock your socks off" graphic design and architectural work, but I wanted more information built into the menu to inform my choices.
The quality of images here is superior. They are dramatic, fresh and well worth the visit.
Explore these school galleries.
Bellingham Schools Student Art Gallery
This site offers colorful computer-generated art from elementary students.
Blackburn High School Student Art and Writing
This high school in Blackburn, Australia, offers a fine display of student art, music and writing.
Kennedy Student Art Gallery
This elementary school in Mankato, Minnesota offers a huge scrolling list of bright, colorful, dynamic student art with great little thumb nails to help you decide which to open more fully.
Student Art Gallery/Art From Crotched Mountain Students
Art is an integral part of life at Crotched Mountain, a special school for children on a mountain site in New Hampshire.
Gallery of Art/All the Arts for All the Kids Art Gallery
The Fullerton (CA)School District welcomes the visitor to the "All the Arts for All the Kids" Art Gallery! In this gallery you will find a number of virtual rooms in which to explore the art work of resident and visiting student artists. While much of this site is under construction, the vision is clear and impressive.
To be considered a "virtual museum," a site should be much more than a promotional gimmick designed to sell items from the museum gift shop or to tempt physical visitors into the halls of the "real" museum. It should offer artifacts, text and information which supports serious investigation. It should honor the electronic visitor as a real visitor.
Unfortunately, many of the sites which advertise as virtual museums offer little more than marketing and schedules of exhibits in their buildings.
Some segments of the traditional museum community fail to appreciate the dynamic possibilities for virtual museum versions of their real-time, real-space museums to prepare nearby students for real-time visits and to engage others who might never, otherwise, visit in any way.
Many students who live far from the marble buildings would love to visit a virtual version of a museum as opposed to a textbook or encyclopedia "speaking" to the same subject. The medium has its limitations, yet there is much potential if we would entertain open-minded exploration.
The museums listed below are a small sample which offer a real learning opportunity independent of a "physical" visit.
As you visit, keep an eye on the balance between information and display. To what extent do these virtual museums devote more attention to theme, interpretation and meaning than the virtual galleries?
Schools virtual museums are so new that it is difficult to find mature, fully developed examples. The sudden increase of school Web sites from dozens to thousands has happened within the last 24 month time period, according to statistics from Steven Collins at Web 66.
The most important issue for schools to address when considering either virtual galleries or virtual museums is the roles students might play in the design, development and ongoing management of those sites.
Virtual museums offer greater opportunities and more challenge than galleries as students may play a variety of roles (with staff supervision) analogous to those who work in traditional museums. They may wear the hats of curators, archivists, researchers, artists, educators and permissions specialists, among others.
Virtual museums are "high maintenance" compared to galleries. Once a gallery is designed and established, it requires little more than additive installations.
Because museums may be organized around themes and topics which are complex and difficult to embrace, the development process may extend over more years than any of the students will stay in the building. One can keep opening new "wings" and providing alternative paths for the virtual visitor to explore and experience the exhibit.
The development of virtual museums is an excellent introduction to the workplace realities of the Information Age, as teams and committees will be required to manage the work flow and collaborate on a creative, yet efficient process.
For an extended, step-by-step description of how school museums are constructed, Go to the article on Museum Building at Oldies & Goodies.
The best argument for selecting museums over galleries is their superior value as constructivist ventures.
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