VI. Future of Historical Studies through Digital Technologies
So what does the future hold for the teaching of history? New media designers should always aim to draw people in and engage them in historical topics. Even if the way to grab an individual’s attention relies on some new media’s replication of an old familiar for media, anything that holds a reader’s or visitor’s interest long enough to convey some new piece of knowledge is worth the effort. While designing a show for the Art Institute of Chicago, Douglas R. Nickel began to investigate ways to display three photographic albums compiled by Lewis Carroll. “Dreaming in Pictures: The Photography of Lewis Carroll,” originally opened in San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, and by the time the show opened in Chicago, Nickel had turned to new media as a means to engage his audience. Nickel “designed a left turn shaped kiosk topped by a touch activated screen that’s tilted at the angle at which one might hold a book.”55Carol Kino, “Please Touch the Art,” New York Times, 2 November 2003, online edition.
The multimedia kiosks do not appeal to everyone. William Noel, curator of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, viewed the interactive displays as an unnecessary expense. He claimed, “The virtual book does not replace the real thing–it’s a didactic supplement to it.” However, none of the other curators were claiming that the virtual book replaced the actual historical artifact itself. The books are so old and fragile that a display of the original books may at best show the book open revealing only two pages. At this point, the book loses its functionality is a book becomes artifact no different from an ancient snuff bottle or a Native American arrowhead. Animating the pages in a multimedia environment restores the book as a functional object that conveys information. To curators such as William Noel, the kiosk may seem gimmicky, but museum visitors have the option of perusing multiple pages and getting a better sense of the value of the book than they might if they could only view the object behind glass.
Another goal of new media I stated earlier is that a main function should be to do things that cannot be done in other media or contexts. An example of this is The British Library’s display of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks.56“Turn the Pages of Leonardo’s notebook” These displays not only use the page turning functions previously mentioned, but they also incorporate tool known as the “Magic Lens.”57For information on the Magic Lens see “About the Magic Lens” DoHistory. Created by Film Study Center, Harvard University. This tool allows you to search around da Vinci’s notebooks and zoom in on certain sections as though you are holding a magnifying glass yourself. The Museum also added features such as the mirror to allow you to see how da Vinci wrote in his notebooks in a mirror image so that his work would not be stolen.
The aforementioned advancements in technology are examples of how museums incorporated digital technologies in their exhibits. After the effort and expense of development the exhibits, the museums did not let this work go to waste. The British Library simply moved the multimedia exhibit to the Web. Now schools that are in other parts of the country or world can take advantage of these unique exhibits. As tools such as the “Magic Lens” and virtual page turners become widely available, we will increasingly see them incorporated in course Web sites.
Next Section: Conclusion
55 Carol Kino, “Please Touch the Art,” New York Times, 2 November 2003, online edition.
56 “Turn the Pages of Leonardo’s notebook”<http://www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/leonardo/ttp.html> or <http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation4.html>
57 For information on the Magic Lens see “About the Magic Lens” DoHistory. Created by Film Study Center, Harvard University <http://dohistory.org/diary/exercises/lens/aboutLens.html>.