Images on the path to the digital museum

Abstract

At first glance, a museum may appear to be a nice place to visit a painting or some dinosaur bones. However, museums are much more than warehouses of valuables. Museums create presentations of their holdings, supported by descriptive narratives, in aesthetically pleasing environments. Indeed, it is the presentation of museum holdings that provides us with the museum experience. To support the creation of presentations, museums engage in the creation, gathering, and organization of information about their holdings. In this paper, I will discuss how imaging technology has been used, primarily in IBM-related projects, to help museums research, organize and present their holdings. Can the digital museum be far away? The companion talk will feature example images that have served museums in variety of ways.