Interactive games, 3D models, behind-the-scenes access, and engaging videos.
Not necessarily what is expected from a museum but it is what people can find now when visiting various Centretown history hubs without even leaving their homes.
Downtown Ottawa is home to the Canadian War Museum, Museum of Nature, the Bytown Museum, and the, under construction, Currency Museum; all of which have a growing presence online.
The Canadian War Museum has 19 online exhibits and three interactive games, and can be found on both Twitter and Facebook.
In 2012, it had one million visitors online while there were less than half of that who visited the museum, according to Caroline Dromauget, the museum’s manager of exhibitions and programs.
This year the museum is working to expand its two most popular online attractions in order to commemorate the centennial of the start of the First World War.
Throughout the year it will continue to digitize objects for the exhibit “Canada and the First World War” and will update the adventure game “Over the Top,” which shows what it was like to live in the trenches during the war.
“We are using social media quite extensively in a way that it allows more engagement,” says Dromaguet. “We see a lot of people commenting and engaging with that content so it is a different way of presenting our collection that we find really effective.”
The Bytown Museum also has two online exhibits and is spending this year working to digitize its collection. The first batch of records will be online for the public this spring.
“Digitizing a collection is critical for all museums and art galleries in today’s knowledge-based economy and society,” says museum executive director Robin Etherington.
The Canadian Museum of Nature has just launched its latest online exhibit, Expedition Arctic, in collaboration with Students on Ice. It’s an interactive website about an expedition some students went on to Canada’s Far North.
“What this site does is it delves deeper and it provides some real, rich content,” says media relations officer Dan Smythe. “Reaching people virtually is a great way for national institutions, such as the Museum of Nature, to expand beyond the borders of our physical location here in Ottawa.”
The total cost of ExpeditionArctic.ca was $390,000 and, as a general comparison, is about half the cost of a comprehensive physical exhibit, according to Smythe.
The Canadian Museums Association supports the improvement of Canadian museums and has 2,000 members. It understands the potential online content has for exhibits.
“One of the biggest benefits of virtual museums is that they build awareness about our heritage and history among Canadians, as well as among people all over the world,” says communications manager Caroline Couture-Gillgrass.
Expedition Arctic was also targeted towards youth, offering a contest to kids aged 14 to 18 in order to win a trip on Student on Ice’s Arctic expedition this summer through weekly quiz questions.
“Youth are very active in the online world,” says Smythe. “It is a very important way for the museum to communicate and share the resources that it does have.”
Online exhibits also faces some challenges, including keeping up to date with the latest technologies.
There is a good chance that museums may be forced to adapt to the growing demands of the Internet but the CMA still sees the importance of having physical exhibits.
“Virtual visits still cannot recreate the same overall experience one gets from visiting a museum in person,” says Couture-Gillgrass. “The ability to see a historical object or work of art, interact with the exhibits, speak with knowledgeable staff or specialists, and walk through a physical space are all part of the in-person experience that cannot be replicated online.”