A New Digital Partnership between the Google Cultural Institute and the British Museum

Zifei Yin

Abstract：By studying the cooperative project of Google and British Museum， this research intends to explain the pros and cons of visual reality technology in the museum and its impact on the social development.

Keywords： Google， British Museum， virtual reality

A New Digital Partnership between the Google Cultural Institute and the British Museum

On the morning of London 12th November， the British Museum has announced that people from all over the world have access to over 4，500 artworks and historical artifacts from the British Museum due to a new partnership with Googles Cultural Institute. This project is composed of three parts： Google Street View， Google Arts and Culture， and the Museum of the World.

Negotiated Reading Section： The Influence of ScientificTechnology on the Museum

With the continuous reform and the constant change of personal value， the museum has gradually paid more attention to people rather than objects. It has become a social public cultural service organization and the carrier of educational function. The research on the museum has been transferred from superficialcollection andprotection to excavation of profound cultural and historical connotation， which spreads human civilization. The museum itself bears essential social responsibility. That is the base of popularization of science， education， enlightenment， and publication of excellent traditional culture.

In addition to education， museum retains culture and protects human civilization. It is the carrier of collecting， preserving and recording culture. The new antiquities allow excavated findings to share between people from different countriesSome institutions， such as the British Museum， the Louvre and the Hermitage， play a pioneering role in protection of the worlds cultural heritage （Cuno， 2016）. Cultural relics popularize knowledge. It is a symbol of the national spirit and cultural soft power of a nation. The museum as a special cultural heritage protects human civilization.

Oppositional Reading section： The disadvantages of Virtual Museum and the evaluation of virtual reality technology

Realistic feeling and real time interaction aresubjects of VR. It will have a breakthrough in the fidelity of the photo in future museum. People will have the feeling of being in the scene and escaping the noise of the reality in virtual museum. However， browsing virtual museums on the Internet will not give audience a sense of ceremony. When someone wants to visit a museum， he tends to make plans in advance， may well dress up， and take a long time to travel to the museum with some kind of transportation. In the museum， he will be infected by solemn atmosphere. Sohis movements will be as careful as possible and his voice will be as low as possible. He will naturally revere every cultural relic and understand historical sense contained in cultural relics attentively. When he left the museum， he still felt the heavy sense of history firmly in his mind. For the rest of the day， he would remain solemn and feel the death of history and the value of the present. In contrast， if someone visits virtual museum， he may choose a time and place randomly， take a random position， open the computer， log on to the website， click the mouse， and watch cultural relics on screen. There is no other audience beside him， or he is surrounded by noisy environment. His mood may be indifferent or even irritable. In either case， he cannot feel the mystery and beauty of the collection. It can be seen that the virtual museum has weakened the sense of ritual when visiting the museum and serious and respectful attitude towards the museum， which will go against knowledge learning and feelings that the museum wants to convey to the public.

People tend to live in complete isolation from the outside world because of the emergence of virtual museums. In real life， visiting museums is a pretty rewarding activity. Parents take their children to museum， give children the knowledge of history， cultivate their children's artistic talent and enhance relationship between parents and children. Students can go to the museum for spring tour or autumn tour， learn extracurricular knowledge and understand textbook knowledge better. Touristsusually visit the museum to understand a city， history and cultural customs. To sum up， visiting museums is an outdoor activity which is beneficial to people's physical and mental health. People can leave the house to move outside and interact with others. In modern society， with the emergence of computers， smart phones and other electronic products， people are more and more inseparable from electronic products and the sofa at home. Fewer and fewer people will go out in their free time. More and more people are not willing to communicate with others. In other words， the isolation between modern people and the outside world is getting deeper and deeper. Under such circumstances， it is no doubt that visiting the physical museum is a significant activity for modern people to leave the house and mobile phones and go out to the open air. If visiting museums can also be completed by electronic products at home， it will only further reduce the opportunity and motivation of people traveling out.

Virtual museum requires a high degree of accuracy in information. It is composed of digital resources of high definition images， pictures， sounds， video and other collectionswhich are displayed in the physical museums. This means that all information will be completed at the time of editing， and then released to the public at one time. This involves a problem. Ifthere is a wrong information which is not found by editor and staff in time， this error information can be received by a lot of audiences once information spreads out. Error propagation speed is pretty fast， the scope of dissemination is prettywide， and the impact is much greater than the physical museum. In physical museum， if the information of exhibit is wrong， it may be found by the staff who checks the cultural relics every day. It may also be found by the audience who comes to visit. Then it can be timely reported to the relevant departments and the staff will immediately modify it. Due to the limitation of people's traffic， such wrong information will not be received by too many people. On the other hand， virtual museums can be viewed at the same time by many people. Because of the imperfect information feedback mechanism， information error in visual museum is known to the relevant staff more slowly than the physical museum. Therefore， virtual museum requires high accuracy of information during the process of information virtualization.

Audiences in virtual museums will not experienceas much as in physical museums. The perceptual way of the virtual museum is to use the eyes to look at the collection model and listen to the loudspeaker with the ear. Audiencesunderstand the form and the historical background of the collection only through two senses of vision and hearing. But perceptual way of physical museum is not only to see and listen but also to movebody physically. Audience will also mobilize touch and other senses to feel the content of an antique in all directions. In other words， the virtual museum is not spatial， but the physical museum is spatial. In the museum， most of the exhibits are three-dimensional objects. Only calligraphy and painting are not spatial. Therefore， the perception in the virtual museum is still worse than the physical museum.

VRbrings great expressiveness to media content. The full immersive media experience can show all kinds of audio and video works by a more attractive way to users. People can enjoy beautiful scenery， moving plots and pleasant performances at a closer distance. On the other hand， terrorist intimidation can also make use of this technology to increase the degree of injury to users， resulting in more serious scare or psychological trauma. The huge content expressive force of VR makes it more important to prevent others from malicious intrusion and filter negative information. Moreover， portable VR equipment will also store more and more sensitive information， such as personal information. In the future， the problem of how to guard against theft will become more and more serious. For example， Google produced Google Glass Smart Glasses. There will be more and more new anti-theft technology patents for wearable devices.

VR is a double-edged sword and its duality will have different influence on human society. Therefore， how to employ this technology appropriately will be an important subject of research in the future.

References

Cuno， J. （2016）. The Responsibility to Protect the World's Cultural Heritage. Brown Journal of World Affairs， 23（1）， 97-109.

A NEW DIGITAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN GOOGLE AND BRITISH MUSEUM

Running head：ANEW DIGITAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN GOOGLE AND BRITISH MUSEUM