Museums in Second Life® - The Future of Preserving the Past

Thursday, 04 February 2010 21:00

Visitors of the world's museums and art galleries will tell you, "a connection is made by 'being there', that's why we go". Visiting museums is educational, filling us with a satisfying sense of culture and new perspective, connecting with things we cherish. Although it is enriching, most time in a museum is spent staring at artifacts from the permissible side of the red velvet ropes. Living in the New York metropolitan area, and as a member of local museums and specialized organizations, I have been to my share of exhibits. I have yet to visit certain galleries at least once in my life, but there's only so much global 'museum hopping' a person can realistically do.

Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation established a licensing agreement with a Massachusetts based non-profit organization called, 'Virtual Museums, Inc.' to offer tours, classes, lectures and special events at the 'FLW Virtual Museum in Second Life®' (FLWVM). The FLWVM allows visitors to roam the rooms of well-known buildings and 'experience' the environment of Frank Lloyd Wright's best-known designs, without the need for red velvet ropes. This remarkable 3D interactive museum is located in the Second Life® sim of 'Usonia', a term Mr. Wright used to describe his vision of America as the modern 'New World'. When your avatar arrives at the FLWVM in Usonia, you have the option to wander at will or teleport directly to named locations. The exhibits include Isabel Robert's House, Jacob's Residence l and ll, Falling Water, Meyer May House and even the FLWVM Theatre, each complete with interesting facts and picture-perfect landscapes. You may become a member of the FLWVM and even participate in building contests, like the next 'Usonian Build-Off', scheduled for February 5-7, 2010. Membership to this prestigious museum is free, but you are encouraged to become a sponsor of this non-profit organization for a nominal fee with certain recognition and the privilege of a plaque on the FLWVM grounds.

Although it is sad to say, there are several digitally born exhibits in Second Life that are no longer on the grid. They were as breath taking and educational as any museum I have ever visited in the 'real world'. The one Second Life exhibit that comes forefront to mind is Virtual Starry Night, on the Second Life sim once known as Luctessa. The exhibit was developed as a 3D exercise by a Dutch owned company called Tressis Virtual Worlds. Visitors of 'Virtual Starry Night' could not only see visually rich digital pictures from Vincent Van Gogh's treasured collection, but they were seduced into becoming part of the famous scenery. The custom-created 3D interactive renderings of Vincent Van Gogh's famous paintings included 'Cafe Terrace at Night' and 'The Night Cafe in the Place Lamartine in Arles'. I serendipitously found the diorama of 'Vincent's Bedroom in Arles' and sent a digital postcard to my Mom's email (it is a tragedy that postcard from 2008 was somehow discarded). I looked through the window over the single bed, and even sat in the wooden chair near a smock hanging from a peg on the wall. It was so thrilling to connect with my beloved Vincent this way. Even though it was a digital representation, not oil and canvas, the exhibit surrounded visitors with the same blue, green and gold colors of which Van Gogh is known. This is a prime example of 'the fourth dimension', where the sense of 'existence' is shared in a virtual space. I learned about that during an interview with Grady Booch of IBM®. Without doubt, I felt like I was 'there', in a Vincent Van Gogh painting. The room layout and details from the original masterpieces in the dioramas provided a memorable human enrichment experience. Although recent news of the FLW Virtual Museum is refreshing, it makes me think of the wonderful experimental exhibits that are now archived to the delicate human memory. Perhaps there will be encouragement for exhibits like 'Virtual Starry Night' to make a triumphant return to Second Life. I, for one, certainly hope so.

Museums in Second Life® are not exactly new, I mentioned several in our book when discussing the New Media Consortium (NMC), but having a big name like The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation® officially develop a visitor's center in SL™ is exciting. Wright enthusiasts are notably thrilled. Visiting digital representations of places like, 'Falling Water' is about as close as many will get to visiting the real thing. For those who admire Frank Lloyd Wright or any other artist/designer, 'being there' digitally is better than not at all, and in Second Life, this 3D digital connection is like no other in existence.

There is much to be said about the future of virtual museums. We know for certain that by having an interactive online visitor's center, museums can offer visitors some know-before-you-go tips and special online events while boosting educational awareness. In addition, lighter carbon footprint traffic at delicate real world locations, like Yosemite may help preserve its delicate environment. Museums and National Parks often close for necessary renovations and preservation. Although preservation is necessary, it is often to the great disappointment of weary travelers. During those lengthy times, popular destinations can offer an educational detour to their virtual visitor's center, if they had one. People with disabilities or from far away places would also benefit the online option to visit a museum. I do admit, online digital representations would never replace the real thing, but producing more online traffic and a lighter carbon footprint is part of the importance of raising educational awareness and preserving the physical condition of what we cherish.

Preservation and education are essential missions of museums. Physically getting to a museum shouldn't stop anyone from engaging in the untouchable subjects in a museum. At an interactive museum in Second Life, for instance, it is possible to create a 3D version of the Smithsonian. Albeit an exhibit in SL™ would be an abbreviated version of Smithsonian's actual archives, but it would be as informative as it is innovative. Perhaps visitors would have fun taking a virtual test-flight in the Wright Brother's Plane or on Apollo 11. Exhibits can be shown on a schedule. The Month of February may feature presidential exhibits in honor of 'President's Day' while March celebrates 'Women's History'. The same exciting opportunity is there for cherished historic places, like Thomas Edison's Home and Laboratory or the Henry Ford Museum.

Digital, interactive 3D museums may have a bright future. Though the real exhibits would remain in tact in their permanent museum homes, the potential for preserving our past through interactive learning is virtually endless. Over the past several years, Universities have embraced the digital learning space. Libraries too have turned to digital space, Second Life in particular. I am so please to know that the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, known for inspiration and innovation, is now open for interactive tours in Second Life.

Going to museums to connect with the places and things we cherish will still be a worthy trek, but 'being there', even when it is geographically out of reach, has certainly become far easier to achieve for people around the world, especially new virtual museum enthusiasts, like me.