BY: Victoria Heath

One of the most striking and rather disturbing scenes of the Disney movie Wall-E was when the child-like robot discovers humanity’s fate aboard The Axiom. It seems the writers at Disney-Pixar were showing us a funny but a farfetched future–one where consumerism had not only grated our brains into mush and one when we relied on robots for basic needs, but also a future in which virtualization and digitization became intrinsic components of our behavior and everyday interactions.

For us, it’s easy to see that digitization (in the broad use of the word) is the future of many different industries, particularly retail and education. One needs to look no further than our friendly neighborhood company Google for examples.

The Google Cultural Institute

In 2012, Google announced the launch of the Google Cultural Institute, a virtual library of thousands of historical sites, museums, photos and art galleries. In just a few minutes (after figuring out how to actually navigate the site), you can view the Taj Mahal in India then take a tour of the Mont Saint-Michel in France.

For history lovers, students, or retirees who have a few hours to waste, it’s the perfect opportunity to see places and things many could never afford to go to in person. Google claims it’s an experience “for the culturally curious.”

If you’re a pessimist, you may see this type of platform as the end of traditional museums, galleries and the unique sensation one gets from physically seeing masterpieces in person. Perhaps it’s that first step aboard The Axiom.

The director of the Google Cultural Institute, Amit Sood, has staunchly defended the venture, telling The Guardian in 2013 that the platform actually encouraged viewers to visit the sites in person and that, in fact, museums globally recorded higher rates of attendance than ever before.

In 2013, The Economist published an article stating the number of museums (of all kinds) had grown from 23,000 two decades ago to an estimated 55,000 globally–thanks in part to higher demand, particularly in emerging economies, such as China and the United Arab Emirates. For example, Chinese museums reported over 500 million visits in 2013, up from 400 million in 2009.

However, the National Endowment for the Arts published a report in 2015 that found arts attendance to “core activities” such as art museums and/or galleries in particular, had declined from 39.4 percent in 2002 to 33.4 percent in 2012. The report explains this is partly due to demographic changes in the United States as well as the proliferation of the Internet as an alternative arts engagement.

Whether or not the changes in attendance to museums or other cultural exhibitions is caused by platforms like the Google Cultural Institute is debatable, but there may be a correlation that should be studied further.

The Good, the Bad and the Future

1. Wayne Clough, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has nevertheless embraced the digital future of museums, arguing “it is mandatory that museums, libraries and archives join with educational institutions in embracing it.” Clough’s plan is to digitize over 20,000 objects under the Smithsonian umbrella. His vision is to create a “new world” where people can interact directly with the exhibitions and even help design them. Unsurprisingly, the Smithsonian American Art Museum already has a collection on the Google Cultural Institute, featuring over 190 items.

Several aspects of digital platforms like the Google Cultural Institute are undoubtedly positive. These platforms can preserve sites, artifacts and historical documents that are otherwise disintegrating or off-limits. Even a pessimist can’t deny the benefit of this platform in preserving artifacts or sites in conflict zones. For example, all that’s left of some of the Assyrian statues destroyed by ISIS in Mosul, Iraq are photos and memories. Ancient cities, like Palmyra in Syria, that are almost completely destroyed by war, are only salvaged digitally.

Although the Google Cultural Institute hasn’t embarked on any major educational programs, its mere existence is another step towards the democratization of education. As Clough mentioned during an interview, “this gives us a chance to deliver education to every person. And we can tailor the stories we tell based on the audience, and setting.”

No answers, just questions marks.

So, is the digitization trend bad for museums? The answer seems to be a giant question mark. Trends in museum attendance have fluctuated for decades, rising in some places while falling in others. For now, it doesn’t seem like the Google Cultural Institute will put any museum out of business.

Are we on the road to becoming the humans the movie Wall-E imagined? Again, that question garners a giant question mark–but it doesn’t take long to notice the impact technology and the digital world has had.

Even Amit Sood believes that it can only go so far.

I’ve said it a hundred times, but you can never replicate the experience of seeing a work of art online. I still prefer seeing van Gogh’s The Starry Night in person.