For example, the Vidal collection of popular culture and religious objects, given to the Smithsonian by Puerto Rican collector Teodoro Vidal in 1997, was digitized soon after it arrived. Now, people in Puerto Rico who previously had no access to these objects because the items were not on public display in Puerto Rico can see them on the Internet. In addition to increasing access, digitizing can give virtual visitors a deeper, more focused learning experience. On the Internet, you can have a wealth of information in addition to images. More significant, the blending of traditional and electronic approaches may solve one of the most challenging aspects of museum work.
Exhibits provide a context for objects, a sense of what they meant in their original time.
Museums can often only afford to exhibit one interpretation. Instead of having to choose one view over another, digitization allows curators to juxtapose interpretations of the same objects. Imagine an exhibit in which a variety of elements, such as choices for subjects and objects, is programmed at the discretion of the visitor. There are so many ways of using electronic technology creatively to enhance the visitor s experience, Allison believes, that it will necessarily change the very nature of museums. But I am fairly certain it will be a marriage of physical and electronic exhibitry.