Museums in a Digital Age

by Parry; Ross

• ISBN13: 9780415402620
• ISBN10: 041540262X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2010-01-22
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The influence of digital media on the cultural heritage sector has been pervasive and profound. Today museums are reliant on new technology to manage their collections. They collect digital as well as material things. New media is embedded within their exhibition spaces. And their activity online is as important as their physical presence on site. However, '¬Üdigital heritage'¬" (as an area of practice and as a subject of study) does not exist in one single place. Its evidence base is complex, diverse and distributed, and its content is available through multiple channels, on varied media, in myriad locations, and different genres of writing. It is this diaspora of material and practice that this Reader is intended to address. With over forty chapters (by some fifty authors and co-authors), from around the world, spanning over twenty years of museum practice and research, this volume acts as an aggregator drawing selectively from a notoriously distributed network of content. Divided into seven parts (on information, space, access, interpretation, objects, production and futures), the book presents a series of cross-sections through the body of digital heritage literature, each revealing how a different aspect of curatorship and museum provision has been informed, shaped or challenged by computing. Museums in a Digital Ageis a provocative and inspiring guide for any student or practitioner of digital heritage.

Table of Contents

Series Preface
Acknowledgements
The Practice of Digital Heritage and the Heritage of Digital Practice	p. 1
Information: Data, Structure and Meaning	p. 9
Introduction to Part one	p. 11
A Brief History of Museum Computerization	p. 15
The Changing Role of Information Professionals in Museums	p. 22
What is Information in the Museum Context?	p. 28
The World of (Almost) Unique Objects	p. 39
Standards for Networked Cultural Heritage	p. 48
Database as Symbolic Form	p. 64
The Museum as Information Utility	p. 72
Museum Collections, Documentation and Shifting Knowledge Paradigms	p. 80
Semantic Dissonance: do we need (and do we understand) the semantic web?	p. 96
Building a Universal Digital Memory	p. 107
Space: Visits, Virtuality and Distance	p. 117
Introduction to Part Two	p. 119
On the Origins of the Virtual Museum	p. 121
From Malraux's Imaginary Museum to the Virtual Museum	p. 136
Virtual Spaces and Museums	p. 148
The Virtual Visit: towards a new concept for the electronic science centre	p. 153
Empowering the Remote Visitor: supporting social museum experiences among local and remote visitors	p. 159
Museums Outside Wails: mobile phones and the museum in the everyday	p. 170
Access: Ability, Usability And Connectivity	p. 177
Introduction to Part Three	p. 179
Access to Digital Heritage in Africa: bridging the digital divide	p. 181
My Dream of an Accessible Web Culture for Disabled People	p. 186
My Dream of an Accessible Web Culture for Disabled People: a re-evaluation	p. 189
Implementing a Holistic Approach to E-Learning Accessibility	p. 193
Usability Evaluation for Museum Websites	p. 204
Culture as a Driver of Innovation	p. 220
Interpretation: Communication, Interactivity And Learning	p. 225
Introduction to Part Four	p. 227
The Web and the Unassailable Voice	p. 229
When the Object is Digital: properties of digital surrogate objects and implications for learning	p. 237
Learning by Doing and Learning Through Play: an exploration of interactivity in virtual environments for children	p. 247
Interactivity and Collaboration: new forms of participation in museums, galleries and science centres	p. 266
Visitors' Use of Computer Exhibits: findings from five gruelling years of watching visitors getting it wrong	p. 281
Object: Authenticity, Authority And Trust	p. 291
Introduction to Part Five	p. 293
Museums and Virtuality	p. 295
When All You've Got is 'The Real Thing': museums and authenticity in the networked world	p. 306
Authenticity and Integrity in the Digital Environment: an exploratory analysis of the central role of trust	p. 314
Why Museums Matter	p. 332
Defining the Problem of Our Vanishing Memory: background, current status, models for resolution	p. 336
Curating New Media	p. 344
Delivery: Production, Evaluation and Sustain Ability	p. 351
Introduction to Part Six	p. 353
Managing New Technology Projects in Museums and Galleries	p. 355
Rationale for Digitization and Preservation	p. 365
'Speaking for Themselves': new media and 'Making the Modern World'	p. 379
The Evaluation of Museum Multimedia Applications: lessons from research	p. 391
A Survey on Digital Cultural Heritage Initiatives and Their Sustainability Concerns	p. 406
Futures: Priorities, Approaches and Aspirations	p. 417
Introduction to Part Seven	p. 419
Making the Total Museum Possible	p. 421
Museums in the Information Era: cultural connectors of time and space	p. 427
The Shape of Things to Come: museums in the technological landscape	p. 435
Digital Heritage and the Rise of Theory in Museum Computing	p. 454
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