TO DIGITIZE OR NOT TO DIGITIZE, (WHY) THAT IS A QUESTION!

 Museum Innovation | Sara Fontes

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Our daily lives are morphing into something increasingly digital. My new normal day consists of interactions mostly through digital devices. I work on my laptop; I have school through the camera, and I entertain myself with my phone or the TV. Even my books are stored in my kindle. At the end of the day, my eyes are stinging, and I see lines when I close my eyes. I have realized that in this new normal, when so much of the world is digital, it is becoming important to find ways to engage in non-digital fun and education, while also staying safe.

New Digital Normal | Source

For many years, museums have digitized their collections and gallery spaces (like the ROM, Uffizi, the British Museum) almost as if in preparation for the pandemic. Digital elements can be useful to complement education and to share more objects than are on display.

In recent months, some museums have called to the Ontario government to help them digitize in order to survive the pandemic, and some museums have taken a different approach. The children’s discovery museum of Normal, Illinois (yes that’s a real place) has given out STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) kits at a local free lunch service. I think this is a truly amazing initiative during a pandemic. Presumably they are one-use kits, but other kits might be able to be sanitized and reused safely. I think this program is key during this time because of how much we are using and relying on technology.

Technology | Pixabay

When we cannot physically go out to a museum, it is important to be able to bring the museum home to keep us from going bored out of our minds or from concentrating too heavily on the crisis. Even so, we need to be careful how we bring the museum home. The pandemic has highlighted and increased the inequalities that exist within our society. So while having the online exhibits are useful for some, it can disadvantage others who may not have the same access to the internet or technology.  Not only can it disadvantage some people, especially children, digital screens can harm our vision. Time away from computers and other screens is increasingly important when so much of our lives depend on digital. Museum kits offer different strengths from digitization, and both are important. These kits might currently better suit our educational and recreational needs during this pandemic.