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Re: LA Meteorite Exhibit

Dave Hostetter wrote:
> 
> Hi, list:
> 
> I feel obligated to leap to the defense of museums with meteorite
> collections!

I like museums too, but I won't defend all of their actions.  The point
is that with new capabilities in information systems and growing means
to distribute museum-like experiences to the public, there is no need to
suffer from planned or consequential viewing outages or physical travel
limitations.

> First, please remember that presenting ANY exhibit to the public
> involves a certain amount of staff time, staff effort, and expense.  

Yes, as does the preparation and maintenance of an on-line gallery. 
They aren't free to make and maintain, and take some work to do
properly.  I encourage anyone on the list with personal experience to
relate the ease or pitfalls of maintaining meteorite web sites- which is
done at their own expense.

> The museum may not have had the option of a longer exhibit period ...

I certainly agree that is a true statement in many circumstances.  No
argument there.

> As for the Smithsonian keeping meteorites off exhibit during remodeling,
> it seems to me they did the right thing.  Would you really want their
> meteorites on display at the cost of seeing them rust or having some
> stolen because they could not be properly exhibited?  

Preservation is always the responsible thing to do.  That's not the
issue.  Removing entire exhibits for extremely long times was the point. 
Some of us cannot visit DC everytime we would like, and if you happen to
have had the window during the long time it was closed, the effect is
that it ends up being just too bad for you.  The Smithsonian has done a
commendable job with their new meteorite exhibit, as I have reviewed
elsewhere.  And of course I know that there were a few scattered
meteorites elswhere in the Institution during that time, but its not the
same experience as seeing many types.

> 
> However, only a relatively small percentage of the
> public has the equipment needed to see those images.  By contrast
> (particularly in free museums like ours), anybody can see our meteorites
> just for the effort of walking in the doors.  And no museum's entry fee
> remotely approaches the cost of the equipment necessary to visit those
> web pages.  

I don't believe this is a strong argument.  Give me the plane fare to
fly to DC or your museum or wherever else and see a museum exhibit and
I'll be very happy. For less money than that I can buy a modem and get
on the internet.  There are some fairly inexpensive PCs coming out these
days and a rapidly growing access to an emerging information
infrastructure. The web sites are a bargain compared to physically
becoming a globe trotter and technology will only reinforce this point
as the years go by.  The emerging on-line sites are the new video stars
to the museum radio stars (or "brochure stars" may be a more appropriate
term).

> Finally, take a look at those spectacular meteorite home pages.  Now
> reach into your computer, pick up one of the meteorites, and heft it.
> Can't do it?  You can at a lot of museums.
 
But not at all, which was the point of the email to which I responded. 
Clearly, the ability to touch big irons is a plus of many museum
experiences.  Sometimes it is even possible to touch other types of
meteorites.  Kudos to any museum that makes that possible for more than
the odd day.  I would jump with joy at the museum that let the public
"heft" a big eucrite in their hands under supervision.

> Sorry for the length of this, but I thought there were some museum
> considerations being glossed over.  

Don't need to apologize, a debate over how to serve the public with the
experience of meteorites is one that I think appropriate for a meteorite
list.

> And if you don't like the way your
> local museum is exhibiting (or not exhibiting) its meteorites, then go
> there often to look at them and send your friends.  Write supportive
> letters to the curators and the museum administration.  

Not everyone has such a local opportunity, which is yet another reason
that the internet is emerging as an on-line experience that can't always
be had by physical visit- and certainly not at all times of day for a
museum and not by all peoples.  In the case of not being able to
physically touch the various specimens in a museum (the rule not the
exception, whether done for worries about preservation or other
concerns) photons from a monitor are about as good as photons from
behind a display case.  Questions of resolution and viewing angle are
issues. Of course, I don't discount the "feeling" of being within inches
of the actual material that the museum provides, but it is a state of
mind.

>Museums are very
> interested in what their audiences like, and obvious enthusiasm for
> meteorites on display will increase the odds that a facility will devote
> the time, space, and money to an exhibit.

Can the same be said of some of the web displays?  I would guess members
on the list have an opinion about that.

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