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m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Museums and digital media Establishing a research agenda for the Scottish Heritage Sector
Michela ClariEdinburgh
21 October 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
In the hands of the user Changing patterns of participation and learning through the digital collections of RCAHMS
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Research Agenda
Research: the creation of new knowledge across all fields of study
Innovation: the process of transforming such knowledge by turning it into new practices
Identify what should be explored and how
Establish a perspective
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
digitization and networking practices on the Internet can have a radically destabilising effect on texts, subjects and the act of meaning-making
around objects…
… not how the Net will benefit or harm the organization’s existing goals
…how the Internet may mediate a process of transformation …
(after Poster, 2001)
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
1. How are social media changing the way we make meaning around cultural heritage content?
2. How do institutions and their experts mediate such experience?
3. What are the long-term implications for cultural heritage?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
1. How are social media changing the way we make meaning around cultural heritage content?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
1. …
Who are the current users of online heritage content? What do people do?
How do different types of digital environments affect such experience?
What is the role of a collaborative/dialogical type of interaction in the experience? What are the implications of online cultural heritage content acting as the social object?
What motivates users to participate in the online experience? What role do cultural literacy and digital literacy respectively play as motivating factors in the engagement experience?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
1. …
Are there new forms of discourse emerging around artefacts? Are there examples of a potential long-term influence on institutional texts?
How are linguistic barriers affecting the experience on a global level? Are there experiences of successful boundary-crossing?
What are new, non-textual forms of expression emerging in the context of online engagement with cultural heritage content?
As users re-organize content, how do new networks which have formed around new content clusters affect the traditional relationship between users and institutions?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
1. …
What do we know about how online engagement is changing users’ perception of the value and relevance of the physical museum object and the institution?
Is there evidence that new forms of online engagement lead to a different sense of ownership of cultural content and a potential power shift in the user/institution relationship?
Is it naïve to perceive the online spaces as immune from the power and control of the cultural establishment? Are there experiences which belie this assumption?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. How do institutions and their experts mediate such relationship?
Content…Curators…Institutions…
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Content…
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. …
What and how much content has been digitized and put online? What has been driving the decision-making on this?
How is the experience affected by the type of content digitally available?
What modes of content sharing are proving most effective to maximize the quality of the user’s experience? How do we evaluate the quality of user experience?
If the visual element is prevalent on the web is there evidence that other types of content might be left behind? If so, what may be the implications?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. …
How do the different models making content more accessible within the virtual confines of the institutions versus that of releasing content in online communities outside the institutions’ control compare?
How do experiences of digital containment and digital disaggregation compare?
How do different technologies (e.g. mobile, visual data, 3D), combined with social media, affect content sharing styles and user experience? Will they lead to new content genres. Could trends be anticipated from other areas?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. …
What type of user generated content is prevalent around online heritage material? Who contributes it? How much is out there? How do we curate this? Should we?
What are the actual concerns around loss of authority in the face of user-contributed content? Is there any evidence of reputations compromised by online engagement? Are there examples in current practice of going beyond ‘provenance labelling’ to tackle these concerns?
Are there examples where user generated content is so good as to compete with theoriginal content?
Are there issues around the exploitation of user input and how should they be tackled?
How could the concept of authorship be re-defined in the light of online user participation and, if so, what are the implications?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Curators…
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. …
What is the typical curator’s personal experience of social networking?
What are curators saying about their experience of online engagement with users? How do they find the often more personal/exposed nature of online interaction?
Are they under pressure to be also educators, designers, facilitators? Do they find the experience empowering or disempowering?
Does curators’ sense of ownership of the artefact and the value of their expertise diminished by the users’ ability to manipulate content and contribute new material?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. …
Social media are supporting a new, cross-institutional brand of professional development for the digitally literate. What are the implications? Is there evidence of tensions around this?
How do curators feel content expertise and digital literacy respectively play in terms of their role in the institution today?
Is the traditional role of the curator changing? Are new roles emerging and what are the implications in terms of the institutional structure, costs and resources?Is there evidence of tensions around this?
What might be the implications for future museum professionals’ education and training requirements, and future job opportunities? Are there any signs that these are already changing?
∆
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Institutions…
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. …
What is museums’ chief motivation for going digital? How is this articulated in the new strategic documents?
Where is the decision-making power situated in museums when it comes to digital innovations?
How wedded are social media developments to institutions’ education and outreach agendas?
Can we establish the impact of government policy on digital innovations in institutions? Who is leading whom?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. …
Is a virtual version of the museum and a vibrant museum online community around it is the prevailing template for strategy and action shared by institutions?
How does the institutional online identity fit in with that of the physical place? Who, within organizations, tend to hold the vision for the whole thing?
Can such a thing as an online museum community be successfully created and sustained? What approaches have worked to date? What do they have in common with other web experiences?
Are different models of institutional online participation emerging, and if so, what are they and what is driving them?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
2. …
What kind of new institutional partnerships are emerging and for what purpose? Must institutions enter new types of partnerships to remain relevant? How have partnerships worked so far?
Are collaborations across sectors forging a new role for museums with respect to educational curricula, both in schools and HE?
What are examples of the impact of the potential global reach of the socialweb for institutions? How does it impact on the organization’s identity and ability todeliver its objectives?
If changes are reflected in the way in which institutional objectives are set and achievement measured, what may be the implications in terms of Future government support and funding?
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
3. What are the long-term implications for cultural heritage?
Meaning VoiceLiteraciesProfessionPower shifts
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Research Agenda
Get in the mind of both users and curatorsInvestigate changes in content Examine implications and impact on institutional policy and practice Benchmark against international experiences
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Research AgendaCreate opportunities to share research findings,experiences and methodologies within and across sectors and disciplines
identify projects and researchers across the disciplinessupport real opportunities for multi-disciplinary debatecreate a live repository of the relevant research experiences and outputs
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Research Agenda
Multi-disciplinary, international, technologically innovative, has wide cultural implications, cuts across theory and practice
Uniquely embedded in the past and pointing to the future
A model for future research, one which does creates new knowledge and which will successfully translate it into new practice
m clari 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Museums and digital media Establishing a research agenda for the Scottish Heritage Sector
Michela ClariUniversity of Edinburgh/RCAHMS
21 October 2010
The digital futures of cultural heritage education
