Research on ‘Quality’ in Online Experiences for Museum Users

Introduction

About the Virtual Museum of Canada

The Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) is a strong online presence for Canadian museums. The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) is constantly striving for high quality of content in creating and producing all VMC products. In 2001, the VMC Investment Program was established to help heritage institutions across Canada produce content for the Web and make it available to all Canadians.

As described in Producing Online Heritage Projects, CHIN focuses on skills development for the creation, management, and presentation of digital content, targeted specifically at building the capacity of the heritage community. CHIN also actively helps smaller museums get involved in the production process, and encourages all heritage institutions to work together while staying abreast of new technological developments and their implications for heritage and the Web.

What is a Virtual Museum?

Werner Schweibenz, of the School of Information Science, University of Saarland in Germany has defined a ‘virtual museum’ as a logically related collection of digital objects composed in a variety of media. Because of its capacity to provide connectedness and various points of access, it lends itself to transcending traditional methods of communicating and being flexible toward the needs and interests of visitors who are interacting with it.A virtual museum has no real place or space, and its objects and related information can be disseminated all over the world. Schweibenz argues that a virtual museum is essentially a museum without walls. It “opens itself to an interactive dialogue with visitors offering them connected digital objects and information that is readily accessible from outside the museum” (Schweibenz, 1998, p. 5).

Virtual Exhibits

How is a Virtual Exhibit Different from an Exhibit in a Museum?

Different than visiting a physical exhibit of objects (e.g., collected artifacts, live specimens, or cientific phenomena), individuals browsing a Virtual Exhibit find their own meanings by using state of the art animation, sound, and search capabilities. They may experience a range of emotions in response to beauty, an evocative atmosphere, new learning, and interactivity. A Virtual Exhibit provides an online entrance hall for a global audience in a presentation that brings to life the potential dynamism of objects and their stories.