I browsed the online component of two museums in the Baltimore area- The Walters Art Gallery and the American Visionary Art Museum- to see how they handled their collections and presented their material.
The main links are as follows
For the Walters-
http://www.thewalters.org/
with their collection link
http://www.thewalters.org/works_of_art/worksofart_overview.aspx
For the American Visionary Art Museum
http://www.avam.org/
I was struck by how accurately the websites represented the atmosphere of their Museum.
The Walters seems a hybrid of the expected and maybe more "traditional" layout of a Museum webstie and newer forms of communication-such as the seemingly successful addition of a "Directors Blog" to their main page.
The way they handle their "online" collections is extremely accessible and user-friendly.
Their main collections section is marked clearly marked with full-color thumbnails tied to each.
In each section, there is a text description with internal links to items of note, as well as the option to "view the online gallery"
Once the online gallery is opened, not only is there an active link that makes each image full-screen, the user can also click on the image to access a larger image
You can even zoom in to see very detailed aspects of each image, with a navigator bar inset in the corner.
Instead of using their collections page to simply outline what the museum would offer if you were to visit, they are encouraging a wider type of participation in the museum experience. Before visiting you could spent time browsing each collection, enlarging the images, zooming and an familarizing yourself with the object and plan your visit to the Museum based upon the desire to see those items in person rather than an excitement at seeing them for the first time.
Of course, they are in a sense creating "new objects" by providing such interactive and individualized images (an act which we have discussed, and I am sure will continue to, in class).
In a completely different vein, the American Visionary Art Museum's site is just as interactive, but with a different purpose.
American Visionary Art Museum
The main page is certainly an accurate reflection of the type of work shown and the overall philosophy of the Museum-
"Visionary art as defined for the purposes of the American Visionary Art Museum refers to art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself."
The Museum's success then rests then on concept rather than specific collections, therefore most of their site is dedicated to provoking thought about the nature of art and museums in general.
For example, one part of the "Brain Food" section addresses the issue of "validation" in museum collections.
Unlike the Walters, to experience the American Visionary Art Museum is tied to viewing those objects for the first time in the setting the Museum creates. There is no online catalogue, though they have a permanent collection.