Specialness

So I'm reading the January 7 issue of the journal Science the other day -- because that's the kind of fun I have -- and I noticed two stories that looked related to me, though apparently not to the editors, who separated them. Science is subscription only on the Web, but I'll put links to the citations, at least.

The first was from the journal's NetWatch page, where they highlight cool stuff around the Web. It's a site that gives you 3-D images of 151 bird species from around the globe, like the peregrine falcon at right.

So, neat, says I.

But then, seven pages later, there's a news article about how the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia is cutting three of its 10 curators, including Leo Joseph, who was responsible for a 200-year-old collection of preserved birds.

The holdings include many of the earliest specimens collected by North American ornithologists as well as the Australia collection of John Gould.... Experts worry that the absence of a curator to add specimens and conduct his or her own research could undermine it.

You get where I'm going, right? The Web coughs up samples of birds (that you can't touch or hold) at the same time as a rock-solid institution in one of the US' more interesting cities threatens to restrict access to its collection of birds.

Putting aside the old argument about whether the Web is or isn't good because it's restricted to visual and audible stimuli, what's unarguably good about cities is the full spectrum of stimuli and stimulation they offer. And each city is special. We seek out in cities that which is unique -- tallest, oldest, unlike anywhere else. The souk in Cairo. The Empire State Building. The glass flowers at Harvard. The Tower of London.

And we go to these places not just because we're tourists -- even though sometimes we are -- but because you can't see this stuff anywhere else. And getting a look at a spinning 3-D model on the Web is no replacement for being there.