IBM has announced a "philantropic cultural heritage initiative" that will allow folks to virtually tour the 800-building Forbidden City complex using immersive cell-chip technology developed for gaming.
We'll have to see how successfully they pull it off, of course. Back in the '70s, I thought the whole "opening up the museum" thing was going to create better museums, but the last few exhibits I've visited that stand out in my mind adhere to the old-school do-the-research-and-label-everything model. The flashier exhibitions have just seemed dumber, not better.
Of course, the virtual tour still won't take the place of being there—and I can testify from my day's exploration of the Jewish Quarter of Girona last year that sometimes an interactive 3D model can shed loads of light on what you're in the middle of.
