Museum leader Sarah Lombard shares her belief on why digital museum experiences cannot surpass physical visits.
Assertion Partly supported
Lombard: Holocaust Museum was intentionally designed to be hard to navigate
“The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is built specifically to show a moment when a society was falling apart. It is supposed to feel slightly confused, what would you say, sort of shocking, chaotic, not necessarily chaotic, but more you think of the 19 thirties …”
Insight
Lombard: Museums serve as safe spaces away from societal noise
“At a time when there is tremendous schisms in society, it is a place where people expect to be safe and to have issues, topics, stories, That they can talk about in a way that is interesting, provocative, eye-opening, and doesn't have the noise from outside.”
Insight
Lombard: Use digital tools only when they best tell the story
“Digital is another tool in our storytelling toolbox, and so the question becomes, we have a story to tell. What can tell it best? Sometimes it's digital, sometimes it's film, sometimes it's an artifact or a facsimile of an artifact that you can touch.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lombard: Interactive physical chalkboards in museums self-regulate visitor responses
“We did like a chalkboard, which, because we were asking people to respond, it's tactile, it's in museum, and Everyone can see their responses. The audience is sort of self-regulating. If there's something inappropriate, then people would erase it.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lombard: 'Fail fast' tech methodologies are not part of museum culture
“I don't think it's being overstaffed that's our challenge, which is the digital culture has gone to things like designing a minimum bioproduct, going for lean design, and so it's looking to fail fast. That is not yet part of the museum culture.”
Insight
Lombard: Events cannot be treated as history until 25 years pass
“There is an idea out there that history really, you can't talk about it as history for about 25 years, that there needs to be some distance.”