ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some of the obstacles facing natural history museums and the "Natural Futures museum": a new vision for museums with natural history collections. It explains what form the natural history museums of the future will take. Interactions with natural history objects is based on and connected to actual research conducted within the museum or on natural history research in general. These interactions could feature the identification, description, or classification of living beings. By extracting data from objects, visitors can come closer to the collection. The interactions mimic research processes using description lead to an increased awareness of biological characteristics while involving the production of digital data. Basic, non-destructive methods to describe objects include the writing of text, the taking of photographs, microscopy, or drawing. More advanced processes for extracting data, which depend on a museum's infrastructure comprise, 360° photography, 3D scanning, and other specialized measuring techniques, among them the use of color temperature meters, X-rays, genetic analysis.
