Ontological breakdown at UCMP (from D. Lindberg)

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Date: Thu, 24 Aug 95 22:07:00 PDT
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To: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk
From: drl@ucmp1.Berkeley.EDU (D.R. Lindberg)
Subject: Ontological breakdown at UCMP
Status: O

I want to thank Prof. DeLong for his recent posting re:  the UCMP Virtual
Museum.   Although some out here on the net (and even within our esteemed
institution) have viewed his comments in _TidBITS_ as negative, those of us
that have been involved with the virtual museum from its beginning consider
it the highestcompliment we have yet received for our effort.

UCMP is a University Museum; our primary charge is teaching and research.
We are allocated funding and space for this mission.  We are not allocated
space or funds for public displays or outreach.  However, UCMP has long
recognized the importance of public contact and has prepared limited
displays, hosted open houses, run school tours, and sponsored public digs
for over 20 years.

In the original conception of the virtual Museum graduate students Rob
Guralnick and David Polly saw the opportunity to construct a "museum without
walls" on the Internet.  Those of us that subsequently became involved with
their vision shared the excitement of  the opportunity to provide the public
with access to the incredible materials and knowledge housed in UCMP which
otherwise would have remain hiddened in cases or archived in field note
files.  In "real museums' research and exhibits are housed in separate areas
of the building, with separate administrations, separate mission statements,
and separate budgets.  In the UCMP virtual museum; they are one in the same.

UCMP will never have extensive display space; not because we are committed
to academic elitist esoterica, but because space in a University  is more
valuable than most precisous metals.  What display space  we do have was
salvaged from nooks and crannies during the preparation of the building
plans.   The display cases that Ben Waggoner mentions were craved out of
dead space that existed between bearing walls and hallways.  And if it
wasn't for the architects desire to have a spiral stair case outside the
museum entrance, there would be no _T_. _rex_ mount.  Moreover, even  if we
had 100,000 square meters of physical display space we could never reach or
share the Museum's treasures with our "global public."  While Brad DeLong
and his children toured the dinosaur halls from Washington, DC, they may
have shared their cyberspace with visitors from Croatia, Japan, Eygpt,
England,  Italy, and Athens (Georgia).  No admission, no gift shop, and no
US$ 5.00 hotdogs.

Best,

David R. Lindberg
Acting Director, UCMP
Prof. of Integrative Biology
UC Berkeley
http://ucmp1.Berkeley.Edu/davidl/





Best, David

D.R. Lindberg
IB & UCMP, UC Berkeley
davidl@ucmp1.Berkeley.Edu






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Norman MacLeod
Senior Scientific Officer
N.MacLeod@nhm.ac.uk (Internet)
N.MacLeod@uk.ac.nhm (Janet)

Address: Dept. of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum,
         Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD

Office Phone: 071-938-9006
Dept. FAX:  071-938-9277
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