How Virtual Reality Reshapes The Future of Museums

The coming of virtual reality has profoundly altered the way we perceive our environment. It most definitely will affect our development as a species. Virtual reality has created more impact on mankind than any other previous technology.

Much of the impact of virtual reality will also be seen in Museums. Even though museums are typically thought of as purveyors of the past, they could still be better off as tech pioneers.

Alex Benay, the president and CEO of the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation, expressed his idea on virtual reality for museums. "The concept here is using things like virtual reality, open data, anything that gets the story out ... whether it's raw or filtered, [it] means engagement," Benay said as cited on News United.

Benay's approach was first tested via a virtual-reality simulation of the 1936 CN 6400 steam locomotive. The train, which was acquired by the Canada Science and Technology Museum in 1967, is one of the most popular attractions at the museum.

Visitors to the museum, which is presently closed for renovations, will soon enter into a six-foot-long by six-foot-high box, heave on an Oculus Rift headset and start operating the train in 4-D, complete with amazing surround sound, air cannons shooting steam into their faces as the floor quakes beneath them as cited in an article on The Globe and Mail.

On April 20 in Ottawa, Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage was among the first ones who tried it, and where she tested a beta version. The museum will certainly reopen in 2017 for the Canada 150 celebration.

"You can go and look at the train, but if you get to live the experience ... that's a better emotional home run for a visitor," Benay said in a statement. He further added that anybody with their own virtual reality headset can actually drive the train from the comforts of their home. "[The] visitor can be anywhere in the country, or the world," he said.

Benay is strongly convinced that technology (virtual reality) is not only a supplement to museums, but also a big part of their future.  "We haven't found anybody else that's thinking this way right now [about VR exhibits]. Which means we're either completely out to left field, or we're on to something. I like to think we're on to something," Benay concluded.