Caroline Wilson-Barnao – författare

Digital Access and Museums as Platforms draws on interviews with museum practitioners, along with a range of case studies from public and private institutions, in order to investigate the tensions and benefits involved in making cultural collections available using digital technologies. Taking a media and critical studies approach to the museum and raising questions about the role of privately owned search engines in facilitating museum experiences, the book questions who collects what, for whom objects are collected and what purpose these objects and collections serve. Connecting fieldwork undertaken in Australia and New Zealand with the global practices of technology companies, Wilson-Barnao brings attention to an emerging new model of digital ownership and moderation. Considering the synergising of these institutions with media systems, which are now playing a more prominent role in facilitating access to culture, the book also explores the motivations of different cultural workers for constructing the museum as a mediatised location. Digital Access and Museums as Platforms will be of interest to academics and students working in the fields of museum studies, art, culture, media studies and digital humanities. Weighing in on conversations about how technologies are being incorporated into museums, the book should also be useful to practitioners working in museums and galleries around the world.

Digital Access and Museums as Platforms draws on interviews with museum practitioners, along with a range of case studies from public and private institutions, in order to investigate the tensions and benefits involved in making cultural collections available using digital technologies. Taking a media and critical studies approach to the museum and raising questions about the role of privately owned search engines in facilitating museum experiences, the book questions who collects what, for whom objects are collected and what purpose these objects and collections serve. Connecting fieldwork undertaken in Australia and New Zealand with the global practices of technology companies, Wilson-Barnao brings attention to an emerging new model of digital ownership and moderation. Considering the synergising of these institutions with media systems, which are now playing a more prominent role in facilitating access to culture, the book also explores the motivations of different cultural workers for constructing the museum as a mediatised location. Digital Access and Museums as Platforms will be of interest to academics and students working in the fields of museum studies, art, culture, media studies and digital humanities. Weighing in on conversations about how technologies are being incorporated into museums, the book should also be useful to practitioners working in museums and galleries around the world.

Collecting Social Media in Museums draws attention to the importance of collecting social media as museum objects and explores the role of rapid response and born-digital collecting in documenting social history as it happens.Drawing on a range of case studies and facilitated conversations with museum professionals and technology experts, the book discusses different approaches to incorporating creator content from social media into museum practice. It highlights the need to bridge the gap between traditional museum practices that focus only on material aspects and what the authors argue is increasingly fundamental to human experience and identity formation: social media and digital cultural artefacts. Providing readers with the critical tools necessary for a rethinking of museum collecting practices in the digital age, the book highlights different projects that have navigated ethical, legal and copyright concerns for institutions. The book culminates with recommendations relating to the implementation of social media collecting strategies, ultimately calling for the museum to be more responsive to safeguarding the content that is generated online for future generations.Collecting Social Media in Museums provides museum professionals around the world with valuable tools that will empower them to change their practices and respond to social media in real time, before it’s too late to act. Scholars and students engaged in the study of museums, media and digital humanities will also find much to interest them within the pages of this book.