Virtual Museum (Lauren Guida)
This article directly corrolates to chapter 1 and the new uses and importance of technology. The article stated that The Smithsonian Institution’s museum dedicated to black history and culture launched an interactive Web site. The museum is not set to open until 2015. The goal is to take advantage of the social-networking craze(e.g. myspace and facebook) by making the museum website interactive. Anyone can post comments or stories in relation to black history, but the site will be heavily monitored. An example of a posting is an article from Michael Lomax, president of the United Negro College Fund and a member of the museum’s board, whose mother had written for Nation magazine covering the Civil rights movement. The museum also announced a similar partnership with Public Broadcasting with aspirations of recording 2,000 oral histories.
I find this to be interesting because the museum hasn’t even opened but it exist. There is such a high expectation for this virtual museum but it makes me question if the site will just force the museum to earn revenue primarily through fund raising and not admission sales. Or once the museum opens, will they charge a fee to access the website. I do think it’s a good idea because people won’t have to travel so the information is more accessible to the public no matter what financial standing.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMITHSONIAN_BLACK_HISTORY?SITE=NJCAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-09-26-00-18-44“>http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMITHSONIAN_BLACK_HISTORY?SITE=NJCAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-09-26-00-18-44