A Pathfinder
Navigation through the thousands of virtual museums available on the Web varies from site to site. Some sites provide easier access to their online exhibits and collections of works than others. These variations in navigational tools are as different as the individual virtual museums themselves.
Any virtual museum with more than one page of images or information must have some way to navigate, or guide, the user on to the rest of the collection. This navigational tool could be as simple as the “next” button found at the bottom of a page or as complex as a site map outlining exactly what is available and where it can be found.
Navigation is an integral part of every virtual museum though it may often be taken for granted by the user. This pathfinder will attempt to examine a wide variety of virtual museums and the navigational options that they provide. The focus was not on navigating the entire virtual museum site, but rather on the options for viewing the collection of works within the museum.
This pathfinder is intended for use by anyone interested in the navigational options of virtual museums. There are many ways that users can explore collections of virtual museums and examples of this are available here. This site may also be of interest to anyone hoping to construct a virtual museum as the selections of sources offered here are good examples of what can be done. To use this pathfinder, internet access is required as all sources included here are online. Some questions that this pathfinder will answer are: What is a virtual museum? What does navigation have to do with virtual museums? Are there sites available that provide links to virtual museums? What are some virtual museums that provide full access to their collections through various navigational options? What are some other examples of navigation through virtual museums?
I began my search at UTNetCat but did not have any luck in finding monographs relating to the topic. I then turned to Humanities Abstracts to look for articles that would complement the subject. Several good articles are available at UT. The remainder of the information was found online through Google, Excite, Yahoo, by searching for combinations of “virtual museum” “virtual”, “museum”, “navigate”, “navigation”, “online”, and “collection”. Many of the sites found contained links to other sites and this was also very useful.
The sources that follow were chosen specifically to represent a unique way of navigating through a virtual museum. Each virtual museum site should offer a different way of viewing the collection. The Webliographies were selected for their extensive selection of working links to virtual museums.
Virtual Museums: Exhibition Navigation
A Pathfinder
Cathy Christensen
Annotated Bibliography
Style Manual
1. Turabian, Kate L., A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Online Articles
2. McKenzie, Jamie, Virtual Museums: Full of Sound and Fury Signifying…, 1994, http://www.bham.wednet.edu/muse.htm
This online article defines virtual museums and holds valuable information about what they are and how they can be used to their full potential. This article has been included not only because it defines the virtual museum but because anyone interested in how they would will find valuable information here.
3. Refaat, Nahed K., Arab Region Virtual Museum: A country model, http://www.unesco.org/webworld/public_domain/tunis97/com_23/com_23.html
This site has a section dedicated to what virtual museums are, and why they exist. This is a study of how virtual museums have been used by some Arab countries to promote their culture and history. For anyone seeking to further under what goes into making a good virtual museum, this site is a wonderful reference.
4. Spadaccini, Jim, Design and Navigation of Web Sites, http://www.archimuse.com/mw99/abstracts/prg_1131.html
This site is an abstract of a workshop given by Jim Spadaccini at the Museum and the Web conference in 1999. Although this is not a complete article, what text is provided does a good job of expressing how important navigational tools are. There are also links to good examples of what can be accomplished with navigation when used properly.
5. Bowen, Jonathan, Virtual Library Museums Pages, http://www.icom.org/vlmp/
The Virtual Library Museum Pages has extensive list of virtual museums around the world. There are 1,034 are listed in the US alone. Each museum is linked from this page and can be searched for by keyword. There is also the capability to search for virtual museums in specific countries.
6. Virtual Tours, http://www.virtualfreesites.com/museums.museums.html
The Virtual Tours site contains a list of tours offered at virtual museums. While this is not an extensive list, it does contain valid links to virtual museums, some of which may otherwise be difficult to find (virtual museums of promotional pens, mousepads, and other rarely found collections). This site provides an interesting collection of links that are a good place to begin exploring virtual museums.
7. Museum Computer Network: museum sites online, http://www.mcn.edu/sitesonline.htm
This site offers links to about 1,000 museums. However, not all offer virtual tours or any sort of function to see the collection. It remains a good starting place to find museums worldwide. Sites can be located by browsing an alphabetical list.
8. Musee, http://www.musee-online.org/frames2.htm
This site allows users to search for online museums by type of museum, alphabetically, by Musee review score, and by geographical area. Musee, a cultural awareness organization, has reviewed each of the museums included. A unique tool is that users may chose to be directed to the visitor information, educational materials, research, fun, museum shop or visual content from Musee’s page, rather than going to the virtual museum and finding it from there. Musee makes it clear which of these are available at each virtual library and gives each online museum an overall score as well.
9. The National Gallery of Art, http://www.nga.gov/collection/
Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art has a wonderful collection, searchable by artist, title, subject, provenance and accession number. A user may also choose to browse through a particular area of the museum (paintings, sculpture, and so on) and those areas are further broken down into time period where applicable. The site offers in-depth online tours as well, exploring both specific people and specific styles of work.
10. The National Gallery, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/
The National Gallery, London, has its entire permanent collection online. They offer a search of the collection from the main page, and each work is accessible by artist, work title and gallery number. Works can also be searched at the collection page under Collection Explorer, where they are available by time period and subject. Results are displayed with thumbnails for easy recognition. The site index does a good job of breaking down each category and directs users to what they’re looking for.
11. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp
The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers several ways to view their online collection. From their main collection page, links to fifty highlights of each of their 21 departments are featured. They also offer a search by artist, style, time period, and keyword. Other works can be seen on the Director’s Tour, the page of Recent Acquisitions, the Timeline of Art History and the virtual tours of the Period Rooms.
12. The Norman Rockwell Museum, http://www.nrm.org/
The Norman Rockwell Museum has part of its collection online and available for viewing. In order to browse this particular collection, a user must click from one page to the next. There are no search boxes and no way to let the user know what is next. While this may not be the user-friendliest way to view a collection, it is a good example of another type of navigation used by some virtual museums.
13. The Van Gogh Museum, http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/
The Van Gogh Museum has a unique way of letting users navigate through their virtual museum. All of the works are divided into the five time periods of the artist’s painting career. They are displayed as thumbnail images within each of these periods. The list of paintings may also be viewed as an alphabetical list, ordered by title.
14. The Kyoto National Museum, http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/
The Kyoto National Museum has a collection of over 10,000 images available for viewing on their website. Users may view selections of the works by choosing the “Masterworks”. They may also search the catalogue using keyword searches or category searches, which contain a variety of pull down menus to help with selections. Once in the collections, users may switch exhibits using a navigation bar provided or they may use “back” and “next” buttons to move to the next image.
15. Cohen, Kathleen, School of Art and Design, San Jose State University, WorldArt Database, http://worldart.sjsu.edu/
Unlike the other museum sites presented here, WorldArt is a database of art from around the world, a collection containing over 16,000 images. A user must first choose whether to view the “index tree”, which leads to continually narrowed list of choices, or “portfolio”, which leads to a list of time periods. There is also an extensive search feature, which allows for searches by words that describe objects, words in the title, medium or century, and also a search by creation date. This site is an excellent example of navigational capabilities.
16. The Museum of Web Art, http://www.mowa.org/home.html
The Museum of Web Art is a true virtual museum in that it is entirely online; the works found here are not displayed in a physical museum. Although initially overwhelming, the navigation at this site is unique. Users may read over a brochure that instructs them on how to find their way around, they may click on the various exhibits and use “back” and “next” buttons, and they may take a guided tour of the museum.
17. J. Paul Getty Museum, http://www.getty.edu/museum/
The J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection is available in its entirety in this virtual museum. There are several ways of finding works. A user may view an alphabetical list of artists, they may view works by medium and they may also view works by the subject. A search form is available and performs a free-text search to include descriptions of works.
18. The Bowes Museum, http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/
The Bowes Museum provides full access to their collection through both searches and a virtual tour. The main collection site presents a list of the collections as well as an advanced search form. Here, users may search by topic, century or period, origin, material or by keyword that appears in the description. Unlike other virtual tours, the Bowes Museum does not feature a selection of works but instead walks a user through the floor of their choice, covering the entire museum.
19. Ironbridge Gorge Museum, http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/
Ironbridge Gorge Museum offers their full collection online, not only images but full descriptions of the objects as well. A search box is provided throughout the site that searches descriptions. A unique feature is that users are continually made aware of their location within the collection. From any given place, a user may move into other exhibits, forwards or backwards without having to return to any main page.
Virtual Museums: Exhibition Navigation
A Pathfinder
Cathy Christensen
Pathfinder
This pathfinder aims to help a user better understand virtual museums; focusing on the role that navigation plays in this experience. All sources listed here are available on the World Wide Web. An online version of this pathfinder is available at http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~vmuseum/christensen
What is a virtual museum?
A virtual museum is an online collection of images that represent objects. These web sites help to further explain what they are, why they exist, and how they can be created.
http://www.bham.wednet.edu/muse.htm
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/public_domain/tunis97/com_23/com_23.html
What does navigation have to do with virtual museums?
Navigation is what moves people around within a virtual museum. It plays a very important roll in what people see and how they see it. The following article will help to explain navigation.
http://www.archimuse.com/mw99/abstracts/prg_1131.html
Are there sites available that provide links to virtual museums?
There are several sites that provide nothing but links to virtual museums, a wonderful place to start virtual museum exploration.
http://www.mcn.edu/sitesonline.htm
http://www.musee-online.org/frames2.htm
What are some virtual museums that provide full access to their collections through various navigational options?
The following is only a selection of virtual museums that provide extensive access to their collections.
http://www.nga.gov/collection/
http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/
http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/
What are some other examples of navigation through virtual museums?
Virtual museums provide a fun, educational experience online. Enjoy your navigation through the world of online collections!
Virtual Museum: Exhibition Navigation
A Pathfinder
Cathy Christensen
LIS 382L.2
Information Resources in Humanities
10/17/01