Lisa Noordam

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In the last post, I talked about the aquarium de Paris and their jellyfish NFT collection. In this post the focus will be more on the interaction between the creator and the consumer, and I will share my thoughts on how I think emerging technologies can help cultural experiences reach more people and increase engagement.

As mentioned in the last post, people can buy the jellyfish NFT’s. By owning these NFTs they can be more educated on jellyfish as the NFTs are scientific replicas of the real jellyfish project (Aquarium de Paris – Metaseum, n.d.). Additionally, the NFTs also have perks to them such as unlimited and free access to the aquarium and in-store discounts. Additionally they are invited to VIP events and earn access and invitation to events such as the arrival of the polyps of the purchased species or to the establishments night club (Desk, 2022). All of these initiatives makes it possible to create a web3 community for people interested in the marine world, web3, and art enthusiasts. This way, the aquarium is able to interact more with their visitors and create a strong community. They even take this to a next level by opening their doors in the near future in the metaverse (Desk, 2022). In here, there will be even more possibilities to let people interact with the aquarium and make the cultural experience more widely accessible (Gursoy et al., 2022).. In this metaverse aquarium there are no limits and visitors can swim in an aquarium, run through the corridors, or even interact with artwork (Desk, 2022).

Personally, I think that the metaverse, NFTs and other emerging technologies are a great way to stimulate people to experience culture. A new community is created which is more widely accessible for people. Additionally, I think that people will be more motivated to learn about culture when there is more interaction present, as it has been proven that interaction is a great way of learning (Dahan et al., 2022). This can be done through the extra perks of NFTs, the limitless online world, but also through the learn to earn principle, where visitors will learn to earn crypto currency, which is reusable in the metaverse. However, I am unsure about whether this virtual experience can completely take over the real world experience of experiencing culture. Also, I don’t think the use of emerging technologies should be the goal, instead they should be the means to the goal of offering a wide range of people a cultural experience.

Sources

Aquarium de Paris—Metaseum. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2023, from https://www.metaseum.space/aquarium-de-paris

Dahan, N. A., Al-Razgan, M., Al-Laith, A., Alsoufi, M. A., Al-Asaly, M. S., & Alfakih, T. (2022). Metaverse Framework: A Case Study on E-Learning Environment (ELEM). Electronics, 11(10), 1616. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11101616

Desk, A. P. (2022, December 9). The Aquarium de Paris and Metaseum launch the world’s first scientifically accurate NFT collection. AlexaBlockchain. https://alexablockchain.com/the-aquarium-de-paris-metaseum-launch-worlds-first-scientifically-accurate-nft-collection/

Gursoy, D., Malodia, S., & Dhir, A. (2022). The metaverse in the hospitality and tourism industry: An overview of current trends and future research directions. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 31(5), 527–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2022.2072504

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Traditionally, cultural experiences have taken place in physical spaces such as museums. However, museums are struggling to attract new and young visitors. Therefore, the oldest public aquarium in the world, the aquarium de Paris embraces emerging technologies such as the metaverse and non-fungible tokens(NFTs). This shift exemplifies how the Metaverse disrupt cultural engagement as the digital and physical worlds converge.

People from around the world can now immerse themselves in the world of jellyfish without leaving their homes with the Jellyfish NFT collection. The Jellyfish NFT collection is a first-of-its kind scientifically accurate marine biology NFT project (Aquarium de Paris – Metaseum, n.d.). Aquarium de Paris has the largest jellyfish collection in the world, outside of Japan. A collection of 1234 Jellyfish based NFT’s on 64 species have been launched in December 2022 in collaboration with the Metaseum, a metaverse of culture and cultural institutions. The particular thing about these jellyfish NFT’s is that they are a 1:1 replication of real jellyfish swimming in the aquarium (Desk, 2022). The NFT’s have been verified by a team of marine biologists. So all characteristics of the NFT correspond to the jellyfish in the aquarium, such as their names, scientific families, geographical locations, ages and more. By acquiring a jellyfish NFT, you are also promoting the sharing of knowledge on a relatively unknown animal; jellyfish. With the launch of this collection, Aquarium de Paris is the first one in history to use metadata to categorize scientific traits as NFTs (Desk, 2022). For the first time, scientific data is encoded on the blockchain, which makes science and art come together.

Moreover, the aquarium de Paris is opening its doors in the metaverse in Oktober this year. The Metaverse is a digital space that empowers users to interact socially, using digital avatars, to generate value and co-create experiences (Gursoy et al., 2022). Using this emerging technologies, they hope to create a new community. I personally think it is super interesting to see an old established organization such as the aquarium de Paris to be open for change, and explore emerging technologies such as NFTs and the metaverse.

In the next post, I will look further into the interaction between the creator and the consumer, and discuss whether I think these emerging technologies can help cultural experiences reach more people and increase engagement. Do you think that the use of emerging technologies stimulates the interaction between people and culture?

Sources

Aquarium de Paris—Metaseum. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2023, from https://www.metaseum.space/aquarium-de-paris

The Metaverse’s Disruptive Impact on Cultural Experience: The Aquarium of Paris and its Jellyfish NFT Collection (2/2)

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The Metaverse’s Disruptive Impact on Cultural Experience: The Aquarium of Paris and its Jellyfish NFT Collection (1/2)

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