Dubbo Regional Council’s (DRC) Western Plains Cultural Centre (WPCC) has used Coronavirus (COVID-19) as an opportunity to delve into the virtual world, with the permanent collection People Places Possessions taking a new 360° experience.
Mayor of the Dubbo Region, Councillor Ben Shields, says the virtual tour will allow people have to access the museum from the comfort of their couch.
“The 360 experience of the museum is a first for Dubbo Regional Council, and adds to the already awesome suite of technology such as augmented reality that we are using across the region” Clr Shields said.
The first virtual museum for our region will give teachers an opportunity to extend on their learning frameworks in schools, provide families with a place to share history, reminisce on ‘the days gone by’ and approach similar experiences between generations.
DRC’s Cultural Development Coordinator, Jessica Moore, says the virtual tours will give teachers an additional online resource that can be used in the classroom also.
“There’s a myriad of opportunities where this tour can be introduced such as; classrooms as teachers explore their programming options, preschools for their connections to community, members of our region who have a connection to, or similar experience of the objects and stories held within,” Ms Moore said.
The virtual museum offers a layering of stories from unique displays, where you have the opportunity to see an object’s relationship to its place within society at the time.
“The WPCC sees this as a new and exciting experience which offers a totally new lense to our museum but also allows those storytellers and Dubbo identities to continue spinning their yarns,” Ms Moore said.
This museum collection features the stories of its people, past and present. This sense of place is created through the entanglements of nature and culture, past and future dreams, shared stories and a collective memory which within the digital experience you can move through fluidly or stop to read and consider in depth.
Source: Dubbo Regional Council