A virtual museum is a digital entity that draws on the characteristics of a museum , in order to complement, enhance, or augment the museum experience through personalization, interactivity, and richness of content. Virtual museums can perform as the digital footprint of a physical museum, or can act independently, while maintaining the authoritative status as bestowed by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in its definition of a museum. In tandem with the ICOM mission of a physical museum, the virtual museum is also committed to public access; to both the knowledge systems embedded in the collections and the systematic, and coherent organization of their display, as well as to their long-term preservation. As with a traditional museum, a virtual museum can be designed around specific objects (such as an art museum or a natural history museum), or can consist of online exhibitions created from primary or secondary resources (as, for example in a science museum). Moreover, a virtual museum can refer to the mobile or World Wide Web offerings of traditional museums (e.g., displaying digital representations of its collections or exhibits); or can be born digital content such as, 3D environments , net art , virtual reality and digital art . Often, discussed in conjunction with other cultural institutions, a museum by definition, is essentially separate from its sister institutions such as a library or an archive. Virtual museums are usually, but not exclusively delivered electronically when they are denoted as online museums, hypermuseum, digital museum, cybermuseums or web museums.
30-525: Download coordinates as: This list of museums in South Africa is a list of museums, defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organisations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums ) are not included. To use
60-455: A laser rangefinder . By taking a distance measurement at every direction the scanner rapidly captures the surface shape of objects, buildings and landscapes. Construction of a full 3D model involves combining multiple surface models obtained from different viewing angles, or the admixing of other known constraints. Small objects can be placed on a revolving pedestal, in a technique akin to photogrammetry . 3D object scanning allows enhancing
90-496: A rotary encoder and control electronics that provide, for a desired angle or phase, the suitable electric current to the motor (for a polygon mirror) or galvanometer (also called galvos ). A software system usually controls the scanning motion and, if 3D scanning is implemented, also the collection of the measured data. In order to position a laser beam in two dimensions , it is possible either to rotate one mirror along two axes - used mainly for slow scanning systems - or to reflect
120-480: A beam of light can be scanned at will inside a cone. Such scanners are used for tracking missiles. When two optical lenses are moved or rotated against each other, a laser beam can be scanned in a way similar to mirror scanners. Some special laser scanners use, instead of moving mirrors, acousto-optic deflectors or electro-optic deflectors . These mechanisms allow the highest scanning frequencies possible so far. They are used, for example, in laser TV systems. On
150-413: A few other museums online: The digitalization of museums is a task that has combined efforts, budgets and research from many museums, cultural associations and governments around the world. For the last few years, there have been projects related to Information Society Technologies dealing with: preservation of cultural heritage , restoration and learning resources. Some examples of contributions in
180-615: A force and stimulus for cultural development. There are several types of interactive environments. One is to re-create 3D space with visual representations of the museum by a 3D architectural metaphor, which provides a sense of place using various spatial references. They usually use 3D modelling , VRML ( Virtual Reality Modelling Language ) and now X3D (successor to VRML) for viewing. There have been introduced various kinds of imaging techniques for building virtual museums, such as infrared reflectography, X-ray imaging, 3D laser scanning , IBMR (Image Based Rendering and Modeling) techniques. In
210-417: A laser show system. Additionally, the mirrors can lead to a periodic motion - like the rotating polygon mirror in a barcode scanner or so-called resonant galvanometer scanners - or to a freely addressable motion, as in servo-controlled galvanometer scanners. One also uses the terms raster scanning and vector scanning to distinguish the two situations. To control the scanning motion, scanners need
240-559: A museum facilitator through a robot equipped with an omni-directional camera. Each remote visitor is able to control their own view of the museum gallery. Museums have a variety of top-level domain names. In the United States, many are .org . Some are .gov , or governmental domains for other countries. A few are .edu in the US, either as part of a larger educational institution, or grandfathered in when .edu regulations changed (e.g., as with
270-399: Is achieved by a servo-controlled lens system, usually called a 'focus shifter' or 'z-shifter'. Many laser scanners further allow changing the laser intensity. In laser projectors for laser TV or laser displays, the three fundamental colors - red, blue, and green - are combined in a single beam and then reflected together with two mirrors. The most common way to move mirrors is, as mentioned,
300-448: Is partially removed by the laser. With higher powers the material becomes fluid and laser welding can be realized, or if the power is high enough to remove the material completely, then laser cutting can be performed. Modern lasers can cut steel blocks with a thickness of 10 cm and more or ablate a layer of the cornea that is only a few micrometers thick. The ability of lasers to harden liquid polymers, together with laser scanners,
330-420: Is possible that all available heads have to mark the same to finish processing faster or that the heads mark one single job in parallel where every scanhead performs a part of the job in case of large working areas. Many barcode readers , especially those with the ability to read bar codes at a distance of a few meters, use scanned laser beams. In these devices, a semiconductor laser beam is usually scanned with
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#1733086245653360-456: Is sent to the scanhead. This scanhead consists of two mirrors that are able to deflect the laser beam in one level (X- and Y-coordinate). The third dimension is - if necessary - realized by a specific optic that is able to move the laser's focal point in the depth-direction (Z-axis). Scanning the laser focus in the third spatial dimension is needed for some special applications like the laser scribing of curved surfaces or for in-glass-marking where
390-564: Is the annual Museums and the Web conference. In 2004, Roy Hawkey of King's College London reported that "Virtual visitors to museum websites already out-number physical (on-site) visitors, and many of these are engaged in dedicated learning". In establishing virtuality and promoting cultural development, the goal is not merely to reproduce existing objects, but to actualize new ones. Information and communication technologies are not merely tools for processing data and making it available, but can be
420-426: Is used in rapid prototyping , the ability to melt polymers and metals is, with laser scanners, to produce parts by laser sintering or laser melting . The principle that is used for all these applications is the same: software that runs on a PC or an embedded system and that controls the complete process is connected with a scanner card. That card converts the received vector data to movement information which
450-476: The Exploratorium ). The .museum domain name is used by some museums, as organized by MuseDoma , but is not widely used. Depending on the scientific position of the researchers, industry or instrumental use, virtual museums are regarded and used in different ways. For example, as a kind of creative activity; an innovative educational tool; a fashion or advertising project; а room with multimedia capabilities;
480-477: The design process , speeds up and reduces data collection errors, saves time and money, and thus makes it an attractive alternative to traditional data collection techniques. 3D scanning is also used for mobile mapping , surveying , scanning of buildings and building interiors , and in archaeology . Depending on the power of the laser, its influence on a working piece differs: lower power values are used for laser engraving and laser ablation , where material
510-459: The case of EU-funded projects, the ViHAP3D , a new virtual reality system for scanning museum artifacts, has been developed by EU researchers. Another interactive three-dimensional spatial environment is QTVR . Being a pre-rendered, fixed environment it is more restricted in regards to moving freely around in 3D space but the image quality can be superior to that of real-time rendered environments. This
540-449: The conversion into digital format of information archived in display holograms. In 2017, Virtual Multimodal Museum continues to explore the core concept of the virtual museum where the Working group 1.1 is actively working towards re-defining the definition of the virtual museum in order to keep up with current research. An international conference in the field of museums and their websites
570-582: The field of digital and virtual museography: Euromuse.net (EU), DigiCULT (EU), Musings, Digital Museums Projects. European Community has founded various projects to support this filed, like V-Must, the Virtual Museum Transnational Network that aims to provide the heritage sector with the tools and support to develop Virtual Museums that are educational, enjoyable, long-lasting and easy to maintain. A notable example of research work on digitizing information to replenish museum collections can be
600-424: The help of a resonant mirror scanner. The mirror is driven electromagnetically and is made of a metal-coated polymer. When a space transporter has to dock to the space station, it must carefully maneuver to the correct position. In order to determine its relative position to the space station, laser scanners built into the front of the space transporter scan the shape of the space station and then determine, through
630-424: The laser beam onto two closely spaced mirrors that are mounted on orthogonal axes. Each of the two flat or polygon (polygonal) mirrors is then driven by a galvanometer or by an electric motor respectively. Two-dimensional systems are essential for most applications in material processing, confocal microscopy, and medical science. Some applications require positioning the focus of a laser beam in three dimensions . This
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#1733086245653660-402: The laser has to influence the material at specific positions within it. For these cases it is important that the laser has as small a focal point as possible. For enhanced laser scanning applications and/or high material throughput during production, scanning systems with more than one scanhead are used. Here the software has to control what is done exactly within such a multihead application: it
690-513: The other hand, these systems are also much more expensive than mirror scanning systems. Research is going on to achieve scanning of laser beams through phased arrays . This method is used to scan radar beams without moving parts. With the use of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSELs), it might be possible to realize fast laser scanners in the foreseeable future. Within the field of 3D object scanning , laser scanning (also known as lidar ) combines controlled steering of laser beams with
720-608: The period, web pages were simpler, bandwidth was slower, the concepts of the online museum were still developing, and there were limited multimedia technologies available within web browsers . Some online museums began in non-website electronic forms and not all were established by existing physical museums. Many online museums have become significant sources of scholarly information, including extensive citations within Misplaced Pages . Most physical museums now have an online presence with varying degrees of online information. At one end of
750-503: The representation of the traditional Museum on the Internet; a gadget; the publication; website; type of communication; the electronic catalogue, etc. Laser scanning Laser scanning is the controlled deflection of laser beams, visible or invisible. Scanned laser beams are used in some 3-D printers , in rapid prototyping , in machines for material processing, in laser engraving machines, in ophthalmological laser systems for
780-492: The sortable tables: click on the icons at the top of each column to sort that column in alphabetical order; click again for reverse alphabetical order. Virtual museum The following museums were created with digital technology before the web gained any form of popularity or mass usability. CD-ROM and postal mail distribution made these museums available world-wide, before web browsers, fast connections and ubiquitous web usage. The following online museums were pioneers. In
810-430: The spectrum, museums may provide simple contact and background information plus a list of exhibitions (brochure museums). On the other end of the spectrum, there are museums that exist only online, or those that have a physical building but offer extensive online exhibits, interactive online features, multimedia, and searchable or browsable collections (content museums, learning museums, virtual museums). The following are
840-458: The treatment of presbyopia , in confocal microscopy , in laser printers , in laser shows , in Laser TV , and in barcode scanners . Applications specific to mapping and 3D object reconstruction are known as 3D laser scanner . Most laser scanners use moveable mirrors to steer the laser beam. The steering of the beam can be one-dimensional , as inside a laser printer, or two-dimensional , as in
870-498: The use of an electric motor or of a galvanometer . However, piezoelectric actuators or magnetostrictive actuators are alternative options. They offer higher achievable angular speeds, but often at the expense of smaller achievable maximum angles. There are also microscanners , which are MEMS devices containing a small (millimeter) mirror that has controllable tilt in one or two dimensions; these are used in pico projectors . When two Risley prisms are rotated against each other,
900-612: Was especially the case in the mid-1990s when computing power and online speeds were limited. In 2013, the National Museum of Australia and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) trialled a virtual museum tour system that uses mobile telepresence technology and requires a high-speed broadband connection. The technology allows remote visitors, for example school students from regional and remote Australia, to interact with
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