The Gloves are Coming Off!

Bruce Thomson, New Brunswick Museum, Canada
http://www.nbm-mnb.ca

Demonstration: Demonstrations - Session 2

Have you sat in a museum meeting when the words virtual and exhibition are mentioned in the same sentence? Eyes can either glaze over or look to the floor. Sighs are heard, arms get folded. But if the main purpose of our museums is to preserve and interpret objects, the virtual medium is an exciting and invaluable tool and we shouldn't be dissuaded!

As a recipient of a Canadian Professional Scholarship, I would like to throw some light on the fears and questions some museums have when discussing do we or don’t we make our collections accesible to the public through online exhibition experiences. This demonstration will feature virtual exhibition examples produced by the New Brunswick Museum and will highlight the benefits and challenges involved with such projects.

Museums are only limited by their imaginations and in the 21st century, the white cotton gloves are coming off!