Electronic museum: deficiency of the emotional information.

The Modern time is the golden age, time of the emancipation of fine art, an artist does not associate with the representative of handicraft guild already for a long time, moreover the artist embodies in public consciousness the brightest personification of an art creative beginning, the art of the 20 century is connected, first of all, with names of Picasso, Malevitch, Dali. On the other hand, at least within last century, sphere of the fine art influence in democratic culture of a mass society is steadily compressed.

Substantially the similar dual situation is the result that the volumes of the visual information exceed considerably the quantity of the verbal or acoustic information in channels of the art communications. Information power of visual images determines of their influence and, simultaneously, limits their availability. The scientific and technical progress, the development of electronic communications offer new and new media and ways of transmission of the visual information. The modern computer technologies create the preconditions for change of a place, role, speciality of fine art.

The information theory emotions

The “spectator -- fine art” problem or the “spectator - museum” one (museum as the basic institute represented the fine art) has two components.

Inaccessibility of a modern museum for the wide spectator is the first of them. Only 10 percents of the citizen of the richest country of the world (USA) were by abroad, only every 100-th can be suspected in acquaintance to the world art heritage.

Inaccessibility, elusiveness of the spectator (even spectator, who has come in museum) is the second component. This phenomenon is determined by laws of perception. The opportunity of perception of the information (including the art information) is rigid correlated with cultural luggage. For example, the Chinese music is not practically perceived by the representatives of the European culture because of unaccustomed harmonic, melodious, tonal tune of this music. The same reasons determine the reaction of the mass spectator (not having of skills, of dialogue habit, of past emotional experiences) at meeting with fine art.

The marked correlation has the direct relation to memory, to a storage both cognitive information and aesthetic information. Hardly it will be possible to find an example of the art work, what has produced strong impression and not printed in memory any details. Modern psychophysiology connects the memorising process to the emotional support. According to the information theory of the academician Simonov an emotion is a psychological reaction to deficiency of the information.

The efficiency of perception will be determined by a measure of this deficiency. Optimum deficiency (the relation of the unknown and known information) derivates the effective emotional response, what promotes the assimilation, fastening of the new information, the development of real potential of representations and feelings.

The too small deficiency of the information does not result in emotional excitation and do not promote perception. Monotony and boredom is associated with slackness, exhaustion.

However surplus of the information is so unproductive. Certainly, the operative memory processes the information always, but for the further active usage the information should be rationally readdressed in places of a constant keeping and neurone ways of access to it are precisely registered. It is well known, the destruction of file structure on a disk is fatal: though the record, probably, is not destroyed physically, but the information practically is inaccessible. The superfluous current of the information creates a similar situation. Some part of the information enters in constant memory and it can be even shown in some circumstances, but it is impossible to make such information actual reliably. Besides large volume of the information causes overstrain of mentality, and the protective reaction, shunting a impressions current, disconnects attention.

The skilled teacher knows, a theme will be acquired by the schoolboys only until, while the interest is kept. The important specification is, that a condition of interest, without which the perception can not be effective, is the optimum balance the new and the known.

A new museum for a new culture

The progress of digital technologies, obviously, will solve a problem of availability of a museum in foreseeable time. However it turns out to include fine art in culture of a democratic society much more difficulty, than to reach surprising technical achievement.

The first multimedia programs for fine art tried to reproduce a real museum in the electronic variant. These attempts are so natural, as the aspiration to repeat horse-drawn carriages in the first models of the automobile, and it is probably, they are not more perspective. Besides the technical restrictions do not give while possibility to reconstruct the Hermitage atmosphere in virtual space.

The today's disks and sites are not electronic museums, but rather they are electronic books. Such books have the rather perfect device, but they display the images, what lose strong polygraphic images. The whole complex of physical and psychological features of visual perception from the screen of the monitor does not allow to cause appreciable emotional rise of the visitor of an electronic museum.

Modern museum’s sites or disks are an ideal advertising information system for attraction of the tourists and solution of the large complex of auxiliary tasks. The problem of art influence remains while practically not touched.

As it was already marked the efficiency of perception is connected to cultural luggage, experience. It would be easier all to create an electronic product for the expert, connoisseur of fine art. There is no need in any shifts, the requirement are very simple: the high-speed channel, maximum quantity and high quality of a representational material. However overwhelming majority of software is created in account on the mass spectator having the minimal cultural stock.

The sociological researches data shows a average statistical inhabitant of St.-Petersburg visits once in during of life Hermitage and once Russian Museum. The sensations of the ordinary spectator in time of an excursion (hour and a half) pass three consecutive phases. Initial phase is characterised by the excitation, interest, caused an unusual museum’s, palace’s atmosphere, a change of impressions. Following phase - the bewilderment, confusion - comes rather soon and it is marked by decrease of interest. Last and most long one - the excitation attenuation, the interest fading - is finished by switching-off of attention.

Despite multiplication of the high-rate channels number of, the increase of the processor rate and memory volumes, hardly it is possible to expect, that the twentieth portrait in site will cause the spectator enthusiasm greater than at visiting a museum.

Revival in a digital format.

How is it possible to strengthen an art influence of virtual museum, to create a necessary emotional background, to interest an ignorant spectator, to keep his attention? Probably, there is only one main way - it is necessary to connect bad known material to knowledge from other, closer, habitual areas of the culture and art.

The programs for fine art should integrate the history, culture of mode of the life, the literature, the ethnography, the mythology, the social device and other bases. The fine art should be included in a context of new culture, the connection with which it has lost during mass democratic changes. The prospects of this way are quite good, as the broadest opportunities open in an electronic museum to replace the verbal comment (obviously conciliated with the basic channel of visual perception) by alive illustrative material. At last, it becomes possible to not tell about visual associations, but to try to develop them by the help of natural visual impressions. Probably, it is useful to accompany a portrait or a genre picture by display of a costume, dwelling, class differences, local and national colouring, elements of manners and customs.

The most serious defect of a museum exposition is monotony of visual lines, what extinguish emotions of the ordinary spectator. Potential of an electronic museum is immense, the opportunities to create a variety of impression by means of selection and presentation of any images, contained in bases, are unlimited. It can be lines demonstrating connections and mutual influences of various cultures (let's assume, landscape in Russian, German, French, American painting), diochronous lines showing development of a theme or a genre in time (for example, portrait in Russian painting from the parsuna up to Malevich), lines)of the historical persons, events and other.

The majority of visitor of an electronic museum are not adapted to competent, consecutive navigation. They do not know, than Russian icon differs from Byzantian one, late Egyptian portrait from Roman portrait. Their movings in site, management of the program, the picture viewing carries have usually casual character. To support the confused visitor, it is possible to offer him instead of the elementary steps the various long variational videolines. Not limiting the initiative it is necessary to support the inexperienced visitor, to help him to keep chosen (let's assume by emotional criteria) a direction of movement.

The system of inquiries, with which the visitor of site or electronic museum meets, is constructed, in accordance with principles of the museum description, especially formal. But the standard does not promote an increase of interest. The selection to registration attributes, boring and little known qualifiers, should be superseded by variational selection in conformly to alive interests, moods. Priority for spectator’s interest are not scientific characteristics, but exciting impressions. The search of works with sunset on the sea, autumn landscape or historical event answers individual directing much more often, than selection on the author, technics, genre.

One of the main advantages of the personal computer is interactivity, but intellectual programs actually do not use this quality. The transition from DOS to WINDOWS has ensured to the user a comfortable regime. However simplicity of management has played also negative role. The present level of interactivity is the same one, that was offered by DOS 15 years ago: a step forward, step back, choice from the menu. There are neither the reaction in connection of the user behaviour, nor response, the contact to him does not exist.

The quantity of the visitors is the main estimation of a site level, but it is an average impersonal estimation,. Whereas already today it is possible to receive a lot of information about the spectator, registering the time which he has spent in site, the division of this period on sections, quantity of the open images, time spent for the image. Even such poor data give the bases for the analysis, differentiation of the spectators on a cultural level, tastes, psychological features. The result is a occurrence of conditions for dialogue of program and spectator, answer-back reaction, which can be expressed by approval, surprise, question, offer of the further choice and depending on temperament, psychological type, mood.

The average quality of software for fine art does not speak about the achievement absence. The advanced recommendations for creation of a site begin with the recommendations for target differentiation, account of an audience; Hermitage site offers the non-standard selection (for example, colour one); idea of free designing of expositions and exhibitions begins to be realised, changing the copying of real museums (virtual primitive museum). The similar steps confirm the assumption: the prospect of development of an electronic museum consists in movement from a set digital pictures, catalogue data, magazine’s articles to the integral program product focused on a certain class of the consumers, fastened by general idea, using a lot of databases from various areas of culture, built in a precise composition and actively reacting on behaviour of the spectator.

Any product, in the traditional or in electronic form, has by the purpose the art influence and requires an adequate art image. The huge advantage of an electronic museum is the broadest variation, as a result of which such museum can become individual. This unique feature gives also hope that the distribution and the perfection of quality of a digital art heritage will result to display in the consciousness of the democratic spectators of visual images, adapted to their world-outlook.

The progress of fine art in the culture of a mass society is based on the achievement of electronic technologies and the achievement on this way are appreciable. However real strengthening of the fine art influence will require, probably, to proceed from the solution of tasks auxiliary, technological to the solution of fundamental problems, the problem of art influence and. of liquidation of the psychological barrier.

Alexander S. Drikker (1941), Ph.D. (Phylosophy), head of Databases Department of the State Russian Museum (St-Petersburg), vice-president of Association for Documentation and New Information Technology, graduated from the Department of Quantum Radioelectronics of the Leningrad Institute of Precise Mechanics and Optics, postgraduated the Institute of Problem of Information Transmission Of the Academy of Science (Moscow). The author of publications in the area of the physical theory of the information, evolution of culture, application of new information technologies.

The State Russian Museum represents the collection of fine art. It is the largest collection of Russian national fine art in the Russia and in the world (more than 400 thousand exhibits). There are old Russian icons, paintings (from parsuna to Malevich), drawings, graphics, sculptures, folk art, applied art.