Virtual viewing: Museum-going in the time of COVID-19

By Nori Quist, Staff Writer

Students who are stuck at home and bored out of their minds, otherwise known as everyone, should try some enriching activities after they’ve watched every movie and beat every video game. Many museums have moved online to fulfill this need. Here are a few engaging virtual tours that are definitely worth checking out.

British Museum

The virtual tour for the British Museum is functional and engaging because it embraces the online format instead of trying to simulate an in-person experience. The various objects on display are laid out on a timeline and further separated by their continents of origin. The website also lets visitors toggle on and off themes like art and design or power and identity. From the timeline, clicking on an object twice brings up its description, which includes a few paragraphs about it, an audio explanation similar to a short podcast, a Google map showing where it came from, and a few links to related objects. Well organized and packed with content, the British Museum’s virtual tour is a must-see for history and art buffs alike.

Link: Museum of the World

Courtesy of The British Museum -- An example of their virtual museum's layout.

Henry Ford Museum

The Henry Ford Museum is a great place to visit for people who are interested in American history or engineering. Unfortunately, those interested in engineering are unlikely to appreciate how the virtual tour is set up. It’s a Google Maps tour without anything else added on, meaning visitors have to zoom in to read descriptions of displays, and many things aren’t readable at all. Still, the Henry Ford museum boasts a variety of interesting exhibits, from the evolution of planes to the chair Abraham Lincoln was shot in, making it a worthwhile place to visit, at least until the formatting gives you a headache.

Link: A Virtual Visit to Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation - The Henry Ford

Citizen DJ

Citizen DJ is an archive of sound bites from the Library of Congress’s audio collections. The website lets visitors listen through free-to-use samples, play with remixing them, and download the clips for later use. Interested in making music? Try the intuitive remix function on the various collections. Interested in music history? Check out the Joe Smith collection, which features hundreds of old interviews with people from the music industry. Interested in cacophony? Explore the American English Dialect Recordings collection and drag your mouse around really fast. Perhaps you’ll realize you’ve missed the sound of a huge group of people all talking at once in close proximity.

Link: Citizen DJ / Homepage

Exploratorium

The exhibits page of the Exploratorium website utilizes a function most webcomics figured out a long time ago: the random button. This button takes viewers to a random webpage description of one of the Exploratorium’s many wholesome science activities. Two of the best exhibits are “Probably Chelsea”, where 24 different faces were generated from one woman’s genome, and “Sip or Squirt”, a two-person drinking fountain based on the prisoner’s dilemma paradox. Try randomizing until one of these comes up. You’ll probably come across quite a few pages with single photographs and little to no information, but the other pages introduce interesting concepts and a bit of explanation, leaving intrigued visitors with a jumping-off point for further research. The random exhibit function of the Exploratorium website brings back the unique museum experience of being presented with knowledge you didn’t expect and leaving with knowledge you won’t remember.

Link: Exhibit Collection

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