Virtual Museums in SL

In September, Jim Spadaccini over at Exhibit Files wrote a review of the Dresden Museum's Old Masters Picture Gallery in Second Life. His review is fantastic, and points out some important things to consider when creating a virtual museum.

The Dresden has done an admirable job of recreating a real life (thats RL) place in a virtual environment. I cannot begin to imagine how much time it must have taken.

Here is the real museum.
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And here is the recreation in SL --->


Beautiful. And not just the outside. The interior is just as amazing, complete with parquet work, moulded ceilings, the works. The big problem is - it takes forever to load on screen.

And, like many grand old museums, its easy to get lost. (Of course, in RL you can't just teleport out)

The idea is great - a virtual recreation of a real space, featuring recreations of the artifacts, in this case art. The chances of my visiting this museum in RL are slim, but I can hop on SL and at least see something, right?

Wrong. The images of the art are far too small to provide any sense of what the real art might be like. Add to that the time it takes to load, and the art becomes secondary. Now, for architecture buffs and those who just love beautiful buildings, the site is well worth the visit. But this is a nice example of how what works in RL doesn't always translate to SL.


Next: An update on the internship, a review of some papers from Museums and the Web, and a visit to Virtual Starry Night.