from Guardian -

Museums' future lies on the internet, say Serota and MacGregor
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Museums on the internet? Get real
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Museums, up to mid 20th century, were the epitome of access, as artefacts were made available for scrutiny while on (open storage) display. However, with the ubiquitous reach of the internet culture, content became paramount and archives, rightly, took over the role of championing open access.

The singular issue of online access for museum collections would be the lost of reference and context to a human scale that accompanies viewing of artefacts in actual museum galleries. And that scale refers to qualities of size, depth, texture, transparency, colour, amongst others.

For stalwarts of the museum industry to declare - somewhat overconfidently - that the future of the museum lies (solely?) on the internet is akin to forecasting the death of the book - definitely rational but probably pre-mature. The internet is surely a means rather than an end.
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