Virtual Fieldwork Blog

Introduction

Hello, my name is Mitt Patel, and in this blog post, I will be discussing how fieldwork experience changes exponentially during times of crisis. During the pandemic of Covid-19, many museums had to adapt and change to make sure they were still open during the pandemic. This blog post will describe my thoughts about the virtual path museums have opted for by exploring the two virtual museums and two virtual exhibits.

The Natural History Museum

Rail Building - Science Technology Museum of Milan, Milan, Italy - Google Arts & Culture

Butterflies and Moths: Life Written on Wings - The Natural History Museum - Google Arts & Culture

Hintze Hall's Hidden Masterpiece - The Natural History Museum - Google Arts & Culture

Rail Building — Science Technology Museum of Milan, Italy

Clicking into Virtual Exhibits

One of the most fantastic ideas created to allow people to explore museum art with out being exposed to Covid-19 is virtual exhibitions. Since many museums are now using going on the virtual path, this idea can change the way people look at art and interactive applications.

• One of the museum views, allowed for parts of the hall to be explored, with the added benefit of being allowed to move the screen in a 360 degree, and a zoom function.

Museum View of Natural History Museum

• The first observation I had was concerning the user interface, in which it is organized in a way that allows users to first look at the overall theme of the exhibit, and the smooth transition, allows users to switch between sections, without any hassle quickly.

• Another observation I had was the design layout, in which, it is straight to the point, and makes the navigation of the page very simple, and connective. This simple of connective design, makes the entire exhibit flow together, and lets the user think about each of the pieces of art.

• The next observation I had was that the content of the page is the use of content sections, which has allowed users to quickly find their favorite parts of the exhibits without too much mental strain.

• My last observation was about the use of interactions, and I love how interaction can help impact a certain idea or notion into a user. One example of this interaction was when I was looking at “Hintze Hall’s Hidden Masterpieces,” in which the display zoomed into the huge ceiling design, then provided information about the specific strategic plan.

• One of the experience I wish I had when looking at “Hintze Hall’s Hidden Masterpieces” is the ability to learn about how architect Alfred Waterhouse who design the museum.
• I would say that the experience was designed especially well since it allowed me to understand the meaning of the exhibit. It also allowed me to have freedom when going back and forth within the exhibition and user-friendly.

Typography

Typography has been connected with art history since it is used to convey culture, emotions, and ideas. This section will describe how typography is used in both exhibits and the virtual space.

• What I noticed about the style of the type that is being utilized is that it is block type text and feels like it is connected to train yards and in metalworking areas. This type in particular, with the color of yellow, makes me feel like it is connected to the West Coast area since the color gives a sunny feedback.

• The theme I would connect these train screenshots with is: hardworking, lasting, and powerful. The convention of this museum relates to the theme since these types of museums try to display these inventions as powerful and as a significant event. I feel like the system is just expressing these machines in a way, which catches the eyes of observers and herd them around the museum.

• I don’t think there was a dominant type of style that was used in the exhibits is because most of the displays that I looked at were visually different. I think if I want to give a specific style to the exhibitions, then it would be just a unique style since they are allowed to be different. The only thing that would be the same is that the exhibits wanted to inform the audience, so the type of style would be the same.

Painting from Hintze Hall’s Hidden Masterpieces

• I would say that individual exhibits that were online mainly focused on giving a sleek but informative design that could quickly be scan by the eyes before moving on since these visual exhibits were accessible 24/7. The museum typography is that bold and in a negative space, so it could easily be seen when walking around the museum.

Picture from the National Museum in London

Envoking Physical Space

• The two museums that I explored was The Natural History Museum in London and the National Museum of Science and Technology. The impression of these museums was that they provided a unique way of traveling around the museum. In both of the museums, there were predetermined paths that limited where I could go. I would say that my final thoughts of the museums are that they are somewhat realistic, but still not the real thing.
• The “vibe” of the space is somewhat electric since I have always loved to go to museums. I enjoyed gazing at unique paintings and see the collective knowledge of creativity. The evoked emotions from the museums are envy and pride since I am envious of the people who made those fantastic pieces of art and proud since I respect their skill. When I am walking in a museum, the only thought that comes to my mind is “will I ever create something as fantastic?”
• The museum was trying to evoke a sense of accomplishment in the creative and hardworking people that helped push the human race to further heights. The museum also wanted to show future generations that the past is just as significant as the future.
• Bright, outstanding, perfect, splendid, proud, and sparkling are just a couple of words in which I can describe both of those museums, especially the train museum. I loved looking at the train museum since it always brought out the idea of me just riding the rails, and letting the world pass by, while just enjoying life.

What I Learned

• The exhibit that I am gonna be choosing will be either the “Hintze Hall’s Hidden Masterpiece since I enjoyed walking in a museum and also my motivation is that I love plants, ever since I was a young boy. I love looking at and growing plants since it allows me to have a glimpse of being a god.
• Concerning the exhibit’s content, I learned that the Hintze Hall’s ceiling is a work of art that is adorned with 162 illustrations panels that shows plants from across the world. It was designed by architect Alfred Waterhouse, and some plants like cotton and tobacco fueled the British Empire economy. The last fact is that for a victorian visitor. a Mediterranean olive plant would have biblical rather than culinary associations.

The Positive Response

• The positive aspects of the experience I had, in general, is that I enjoyed learning about new things, and I loved the exploration aspect of traveling to unique virtual museums. Another positive part of the experience is the knowledge that opened up to me with visual exhibits.
• The experience that helped me understand the course’s goals and objectives was the use of the visual museum tours since we are visual interacting. Another positive experience was the virtual exhibits. Since the world is trending, we are going onto a virtual path, like with zoom classes and meetings, so we need to understand how vital being virtual is in this day and age.