Museus virtuais de ciências: possibilidades e desafios para a divulgação científica

Abstract

With the expansion of the internet, many forms of access to information and knowledge have been created. Virtual museums are a type of museum that has only been made possible after this expansion. Amidst the current situation of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, virtual museums have had their importance expanded. In this context, we seek to investigate online platforms classified as virtual museums, discussing the possibilities and challenges for scientific dissemination, highlighting aspects of interactivity, scientific culture and the important relationship between Science, Technology and Society in science museums. Therefore, we adopted a theoretical framework that highlights virtuality and interactivity as well as aspects of scientific dissemination. Starting from there, we classified, we selected and analyzed virtual science museums in Brazil, conducting an exploratory survey of virtual museums in two Brazilian guides: Associação Brasileira de Centros e Museus de Ciências (ABCMC) and Instituto Brasileiro de Museus (IBRAM); we based our analysis on the Content Analysis method. We emphasize that each of the museums presents negative and positive points in the most varied aspects that involve scientific dissemination, accessibility, interactivity, and the approach of the Science, Technology and Society (STS) attributes in all the resources used in its digitalization for a virtual environment. Thus, it was possible to map the best practices of each of the analyzed museums. In addition, we highlight the importance of approaching concepts involving Science, Technology and Society in virtual science museums, which could actively participate in the transposition of cognitive deficit models to contextual models, that are more democratic and that value the role that society has in the direction of science. We also emphasize the need to include accessibility practices in virtual museums, because the virtual museum is available on the internet, we start from the premise that it is a tool that is used to promote broader access to the public and, so that fact is, it needs to be accessible. We hope that our reflections can contribute in an academic and practical manner to other research to be developed in the area.