In the previous days, museums were mainly catered for the purpose of storing key knowledge of culture and history. However, with the widespread availability of free and available information on the Internet, museums are not a necessity. Personally, I partly agree with this statement based on some reasons that are explained in this essay.
On the one hand, there are some compelling reasons to assume that museums may be obsolete in preserving important knowledge in the world of information technology. As our society evolves through many stages, the number of knowledge related to historical events and tradition are increasing every single day. This means, it is insufficient for museums, which are categorised by a small capacity, to serve for the surge demand of storage. Meanwhile, the Internet appears as a superior option to preserve this pivotal information due to their unlimited storage and free-of-charge exposure, making it an optimal tool in searching and keeping abreast of. Additionally, this practice can reduce costs incurred for maintenance and operations to museums. This renders these buildings becoming unnecessary.
Opponents of this first view, however, argue that museums can not be totally replaced by the Internet. With the regard of value, not only are museums the storage places, but they also are of great value as a cultural and historical artefact and unique architecture for the local people. These structures should be preserved and maintained for their cultural volume of distinctive regions, even acting as a magnet for tourists to promote cultural exchange and provide income for local people. Although the Internet is helpful for storing cultural and historical knowledge, it is difficult for people to get access to true content when media posts are not checked thoroughly. This is not mentioned in the cases where people can not have a deep understanding and distinguish the difference between the cultural and historic information from different ethnic groups when immersing themself into enormous resources like the Internet. Therefore, it is absurd to underestimate the role of museums.
In conclusion, although there are mixed benefits on determining whether the Internet is better than museums when it comes to conservation of cultural and historical knowledge, I believe that the Internet has supplemented characteristics, but there are still irreversible roles for museums.