博物馆学：虚拟博物馆、混合现实
MUSEOLOGY: VIRTUAL MUSEUM, MIXED REALITY
展览的未来在不断变化，这是因为当代科技的应用为我们带来无限可能。人们对展览进行了重新定义，这使具有历史、科学、艺术、文化价值的事物有了新的保存与展示模式。而虚拟博物馆就是一种欣赏历史、艺术及文化遗产的更广阔的途径。
虚拟博物馆的根本目的是为文化名胜、历史遗迹和自然景观建立一套数字一体化的认识、定价与沟通体系。“虚拟博物馆”是一种即便实体条件不允许的情况下也能欣赏到历史、艺术及文化遗产的手段。“虚拟博物馆”让游客无论身处何地都能够进行观看与欣赏。它不需要任何实体场地，而且需要的时候，它还能通过科技手段自我扩充并拓宽知识渠道。无论您身处何处，何时观看，或是想对比不同博物馆的藏品，如今这一切都已绝非难事。“博物馆”这一概念已经彻底革新。艺术品不再陈列于方盒中，而是在一个虚拟的世界里。在这里，人们所交流和分享到的只是抽象的知识，而这些过程都是通过新型文化遗产之间无形而又复杂的关系网来实现的。是数字科技让这一切成为了可能。崭新的视角不仅扎根于博物馆内，也同样放眼于博物馆外。交织着不同民族与文化的语言、组织以及文化遗产都在世界范围内传播开来。当代科技的应用为我们带来了太多的可能性，使建筑展览会的未来发展变化莫测。各种新颖的规划方案层出不穷，试图对参展建筑的内容进行重新定义，使得那些具有历史、科学、艺术以及文化价值的物品也能出现在储备与展览的列表中。虚拟博物馆的根本目的是为文化名胜、历史遗迹以及自然景观建立一套数字一体化的认知、控价与沟通体系。
这诸多构想都迫切要求我们引入新的语言与新的沟通方式。如果所有的文物保护工作都能转化为通讯的形式，那么当代科技定能挑起大梁，为我们提供一个强有力的信息传播与分享机制。
但是到底什么是真实的，什么是虚拟的呢？在虚拟现实系统中，我们也许并不能直接看到展品的本体，但映入我们眼帘的，却是如假包换的展品的模样；你的身体并没有直接站在展品前，但凭借知觉与想象的混合技术，你的意识却真真切切地与展品共处一室，你想要欣赏的一切尽在眼前。虚拟现实技术、增强现实技术以及虚拟影像技术令我们打破桎梏，放飞心灵。这究竟是白日做梦，还是进步之光？我们现在还不得而知。但我们知道，要想建立这样一种兼具现实与虚拟空间的“混合现实”，必须投入一支专业力量来引入新的文化形态。
“虚拟博物馆”的相关工作包括基本的地理学考古学工作，对一些古老的潜在景观的修缮以及对著名地理景观与文明遗迹的虚拟建模。
The future of exhibitions is transforming itself, depending of wide possibilities offered by using contemporary technologies: new scenarios are rising on the horizon to define a new set for the building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.
Virtual Museum is a wider way of giving new visibility to historical, artistic and cultural heritage. The principle aim of the Virtual Museums is the creation of integrated digital systems for the knowledge, development and communication of the cultural landscape, archaeological and naturalistic sites.
“Virtual Museum” is a way of giving visibility to historical, artistic and cultural heritage, even when it is not physically possible. "Virtual Museum" is a museum that can be observed and visited everywhere: it does not require a physical site and, when needed, it amplifies it, facilitating access and knowledge through technologies.Geographic location, chronological distance, cross-examination between collections of different museums: everything is possible everywhere now. The concept of "museum" is completely renewed: no more “box” of artwork, but a place where knowledge is communicated and shared, in a complex system of relationships between the new types of "heritage" - even intangible - and the possibilities offered by digital technologies.
A different viewpoint, not only inside the museum, but also outside it: multiethnic and multicultural dialogues, communities, cultural heritage spread across the world.
The future of exhibitions is transforming itself, depending of wide possibilities offered by using contemporary technologies: new scenarios are rising on the horizon to define a new set for the architectures in which historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural masterpieces are stored and exhibited.The principle aim of the "Virtual Museums" is the creation of an integrated digital system for the knowledge, development and communication of the cultural landscape, archaeological and naturalistic sites. All this requires new languages and new types of communication. If any heritage conservation activity is a communicative action, then the enormous sharing/dissemination allowed by the recent technology responds exactly to the purpose.
But what is real? What is not it? Probably in virtual reality, we do not really see what we are perceiving but everything is exactly how it looks: you are not physically there, but you are there now in a mix of perception and imagination. Yet everything is here if you want. Virtual reality, augmented reality, captivating photos, emotions that go beyond the bounds of the possible: do they deceive or reveal? We really don't know yet, but we know that to create this new form of mixed reality - made by true life and synthetic space - where appreciating a new cultural experience, a new professionals are needed.
The different stages of works related to “Virtual Museums”, cover from the building of a geo-spatial archaeological database, up to the reconstruction of the ancient potential landscape and the creation of virtual models of the major archaeological sites and cultural heritage.