{"id":7522,"date":"2020-07-02T06:35:58","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T04:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/c2dh-en\/articles\/luxlife-reflections-on-the-recurated-museum\/"},"modified":"2025-03-27T08:51:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T07:51:41","slug":"luxlife-reflections-on-the-recurated-museum","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/c2dh-en\/articles\/luxlife-reflections-on-the-recurated-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"#LuxLife: Reflections on The Recurated Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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During the summer semester we co-taught a course called The Recurated Museum, which explored the evolving role of museums in digital spaces. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic mid-semester and the subsequent explosion of movements like #MuseumAtHome and #CultureChezNous, we directly confronted many of the ideas we featured in class in a way that we could not have previously imagined. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In designing our course, The Recurated Museum<\/em>, we sought to go beyond the in-person<\/em> visit and explore how museums are enacting their respective missions in digital spaces. Our goal was to investigate the implications of new technologies on the ways in which museums produce meaning, connect with their communities, and engage visitors through novel digital interactivity. Perhaps most importantly, we wanted to equip students with the tools necessary to critically reflect on the user experience of museum technologies and how they influence our thinking about cultural heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We drew inspiration from various sources in the development of the course structure. As a first of its kind, interdisciplinarity was key. Incorporating research from museum studies, user experience (UX) design, digital history, and computer science, we set out to bring together salient theoretical concepts from different disciplines and ground them within a series of applied projects throughout the semester. We borrowed from museum studies curricula, including a course by Katherine Burton Jones<\/a> at Harvard University, as well as a number of multimedia sources such as Netflix documentaries, TED talks, and podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an effort to continue the conversation beyond the classroom, we adopted the digital annotation tool hypothes.is<\/a>, which allowed students to engage readings collaboratively in preparation for in-class discussion.[1]<\/sup><\/a> After each session, two or three students posed additional questions to continue the discussion on the class forum. We adapted the course format slightly after the unexpected lockdown and consecutive move to remote teaching as explained in another blogpost<\/a>. Weekly readings and discussion sessions culminated in a short essay where students evaluated a digital collection of their choosing. For the final project, students teamed up to create their own online collection and launch a curated exhibit via social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe Role of the (Virtual) Museum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Early in the course we discussed the evolving identities and roles of museums. For example, we asked the students to consider what kinds of institutions counted as museums (The Recurated Museum: I. Museums as Producers of Meaning<\/em>, slides 13-20). While there is indeed some consensus over what museums are or should be, we highlighted the challenges surrounding their precise definition. Museums are cultural institutions, legal entities, educational experiences, community venues, and even spaces of play or calm respite, among many other things. Recent controversy<\/a> over a new definition suggested by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) reiterates this exact tension. The evolving identity of museums has major implications for museum staff who frequently take on new responsibilities as a result. We considered the role of the curator, for example, noting that their work is not always transparent (The Recurated Museum: I. Museums as Producers of Meaning<\/em>, slides 21-29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curation takes on new dimensions in digital spaces, where cultural professionals increasingly collaborate with designers and developers to create interactive exhibits and virtual tours. In addition to their on-site visitors, it is increasingly clear that museums must also cultivate digital communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then considered the increasing necessity for museums to cultivate digital<\/em> communities. This coincides with the massive influx of visitors to museum websites each year. In the case of the Louvre, their website had 16.1 million visitors in 2015 alone, many of whom were digital-only visitors due to distance, preference, or other circumstances.Evrard, Y., & Krebs, A. (2018). The authenticity of the museum experience in the digital age: The case of the Louvre. Journal of Cultural Economics<\/em>, 42(3), 353\u2013363. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10824-017-9309-x<\/p>\n\n\n\n