Beyond Digital
a programme part of our research programme "Better Digital Future"
a collaboration with the Västernorrlands Museum and One by One
How museums can go beyond using digital as tools but finally embracing a digital mindset and seeing it as a new culture?
'Beyond Digital' has been a programme of four online meet-ups, the fruit of the collaboration between the Västernorrlands Museum in Sweden, One by One, and We Are Museums.
We explored the digital landscape in all its various nuances with a view to better define and articulate appropriate semantics, consider the possible dialectics that digital can inform bridging the micro-regional and macro-international museum ecology and anticipate future scenarios where a better-understood digital informs new museum thinking.
'Beyond Digital' has been a programme of four online meet-ups, the fruit of the collaboration between the Västernorrlands Museum in Sweden, One by One, and We Are Museums.
We explored the digital landscape in all its various nuances with a view to better define and articulate appropriate semantics, consider the possible dialectics that digital can inform bridging the micro-regional and macro-international museum ecology and anticipate future scenarios where a better-understood digital informs new museum thinking.
Our discussions
Defining the Misunderstood
On April 1st 2021, we gathered our partners to frame the context and challenge:
Kajsa Hartig (Head of Museum Experience and Collections, Västernorrlands Museum, Sweden),
Lauren Vargas (Independent researcher and consultant, University of Leicester and One By Ony, United Kingdom) and
Sandro Debono (Museum thinker and cultural strategist, University of Malta, Malta).
Summary / Recording Kajsa Hartig (Head of Museum Experience and Collections, Västernorrlands Museum, Sweden),
Lauren Vargas (Independent researcher and consultant, University of Leicester and One By Ony, United Kingdom) and
Sandro Debono (Museum thinker and cultural strategist, University of Malta, Malta).
“
It is the time to experiment and acknowledge the need to shift, adjust and rethink in order to stay relevant.
What about the wider context?
On April 27th 2021, we started to shake things around with:
Ross Parry (Professor of Museum Technology at the University of Leicester, Deputy Director of School of Museum Studies, United Kingdom).
Kajsa Hartig (Head of Museum Experience and Collections, Västernorrlands Museum, Sweden),
Lauren Vargas (Independent researcher and consultant, University of Leicester and One By Ony, United Kingdom).
Summary / Recording Ross Parry (Professor of Museum Technology at the University of Leicester, Deputy Director of School of Museum Studies, United Kingdom).
Kajsa Hartig (Head of Museum Experience and Collections, Västernorrlands Museum, Sweden),
Lauren Vargas (Independent researcher and consultant, University of Leicester and One By Ony, United Kingdom).
“
Not tell, but listen. Not direct, but support. Not to guilt colleagues and blame for being behind the digital curve - whatever that curve is or wherever it should be - but to empathise and understand their circumstances.
Shifting Perspectives
On May 19th 2021, we dived into the world of video games with
Fabio Viola (game designer and founder of the non-profit artistic collective TuoMuseo).
Lauren Vargas (Independent researcher and consultant, University of Leicester and One By Ony, United Kingdom),
Sandro Debono (Museum thinker and academic, University of Malta).
Summary / Recording Fabio Viola (game designer and founder of the non-profit artistic collective TuoMuseo).
Lauren Vargas (Independent researcher and consultant, University of Leicester and One By Ony, United Kingdom),
Sandro Debono (Museum thinker and academic, University of Malta).
“
Museums should be a place where we imagine and create the future… However, museums are still focused much more on cultural consumption than on cultural production.
Back from the Future
On June 16th 2021, we came back to the basics with Professor Risto Sarvas (Head of the Information Networks program, Aalto University, Finland),
Kajsa Hartig (Head of Museum Experience and Collections, Västernorrlands Museum, Sweden),
Sandro Debono (Museum thinker and cultural strategist, University of Malta, Malta).
Summary / Recording Kajsa Hartig (Head of Museum Experience and Collections, Västernorrlands Museum, Sweden),
Sandro Debono (Museum thinker and cultural strategist, University of Malta, Malta).
“
You need to step outside of your organization - literally. You need to see the world from the audience's perspective.
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