A common topic in all of our classes has been the incorporation of technology into the museum and archival fields. However, while we talked about digitization and born digital items in regard to archival records, what about in a museum that collects physical objects from our past? A very interesting article about a museum in New York, published in Smithsonian Magazine in September of this year, addresses this conundrum. The Cooper-Hewitt museum recently acquired an iPad app Planetary. Even thought we can't touch the object, it has an increasing importance and influence on our lives. The benefits of having such software are that it can allow for the visitors to interact more with the museum and exhibits. The article explains that while the software currently is for the navigation and use of iTunes, their hopes are that it can help provide more information on the museum's other collections and its donors. The problem however, as with other forms of software created today, is the issue of when will it become obsolete? Since the application was created by Apple, when will they abandon the certain operating system or devise that will run the program? As of right now, the museum hopes that because they have acquired the software program and intend to make it accessible to the public, that it will evolve to be compatible with future hardware and devises through user use.
Link:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/smithsonian-institution/How-Does-a-Museum-Acquire-an-iPad-App-for-its-Collections-220570391.html
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