Episode 3: Physical vs VR Museums
This the third episode of our podcast titled ‘Digital Discussions’, in which we discuss topics about the digital, humanities, and digital humanities. Today is a special episode, as we are proud to present a guest host at our table who is a Masters student in history. As the host of this episode, our special guest host, Diederik, introduces a discussion about the possibilities, advantages, disadvantages of museums in Virtual Reality versus the same in the physical realm. In these episodes, we’re going to rotate the role of host that introduces a topic and a discussion around it with the help of an academic article, news article, or something else relevant. We hope you enjoy listening!
This podcast is a shared project between Cosima Stierman, Emma de Rijke and Gijs Mesman.
Great podcast! As an art student myself I have come into contact with the benefits of digitalization when studying art. During quarantine and the resulted influx of digital data from the MET, the Louvre of the Rijksmuseum for example, I realized how much potential it is for museums to expand beyond the traditional infrastructure of 4 falls.
I then immediately thought of what digitalization generally means for culture–> digitalization would make it more accessible, which isn’t the museum’s goal anyway?
But what about the physical experience of being in a gallery, the rush of getting in, wandering around? How could we replace these experiences in an online medium?
I liked how you discussed this side as well, for example by having a VR tour guide, which would make the VR tour more personal.
Additionally, just like you, I am intrigued by the economic aspect as well, as the digitalization can surely also become problematic if the usage of data and who it belongs to is not clearly decided.
As you said yourself, we cannot 100 percent know what the museums will look like in the future, but surely the digital aspect will become a more and more integral part of it.
Thanks for the podcast. You have mentioned some great points!
Thank you for your comment, Domnica! We are very thankful that you enjoyed listening to our podcast.