Questions being asked about the use of digital media

"Why and in what ways do digital media tools such as multimedia tours, podcasts, interactive tours, intelligent tours, and remote Internet-enabled tours improve the learning potential of a museum visit?"

"What inherent weaknesses are embodied in personal or handheld technologies?"

"Is there evidence for how such technologies affect visitors learning when compared to more traditional media?"

Digital technologies and the museum experience: hand-held guides and other media by Loïc Tallon and Kevin Walker.

Chapter 2 Enhancing visitors interaction and learning with mobile technology by John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking

What do we expect from a museum visit?

Quotes from :
Digital technologies and the museum experience: hand-held guides and other media by Loïc Tallon and Kevin Walker.

"Ask a visitor about his or her expectations for a museum visit and you find that whether visiting as part of a family, an all-adult group, or alone, she or he agrees on a few aspects:

1. The best museum is the one that presents a variety of interesting materials and experiences that appeal to different age groups, educational levels, personal interests, and technical levels.
   
2. Whether visiting as a group or alone, visitors expect to be mentally, and perhaps physically, engaged in some way by what they see and do; in other words they expect to be able to personally connect in some way with the objects, ideas, and experiences provided.
3. People visiting in groups, either families with children or all-adult groups, expect to enjoy a shared experience, as the members of the group with their varying interests and backgrounds collaborate and converse together ".

Chapter 2 Enhancing visitors interaction and learning with mobile technology by John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking

Why the use of digital technology in museums??

Quotes from :
Digital technologies and the museum experience: hand-held guides and other media by Loïc Tallon and Kevin Walker.

"Mobile digital technology offers museums, zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens, and art galleries many valuable and unique opportunities to increase access to their collection and to enhance their visitors' learning and enjoyment".

"Key to the success of mobile digital technology in a museum is a detailed understanding of the visitors' needs, wants, expectations, and behaviors. Research into visitors' reactions to and use of mobile digital technology-supplemented by simular research into fixed kiosk-based computer exhibits-is beginning to shed light upon these issues and to provide useful guidance as to how to develop genuinely effective mobile digital interpretation for museums".

Digital technology-in the form of static kiosk exhibits or as hand-held mobile devices-offers museums many opportunities that traditional print-based or live interpretation can not provide. It offers visitors access to vast resources of information from which they can search and select items of interest, providing museums with the opportunity to cater to people with different learning styles seeking very different types of information.

Chapter 3 Designing mobile digital experiences by Ben Gammon and Alexandra Burch

"Digital media, well designed and wisely used, are important tools that can enhance visitor interaction and learning in the museum, ensuring that these environments inspire and provoke curiosity and further understanding among visitors with varying backgrounds, interests, and knowledge levels".

Chapter 2 Enhancing visitors interaction and learning with mobile technology by John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking

How do you use museums in your classroom??

There are different ways how you can use museums in your classroom.

You can visit a museum with your class.
When you visit a museum you have different options:

• You develop a handout yourself so your students have something to work on during their visit.
• You use a hand out developed by the museum
• You book a guided tour in the museum
• You book a workshop in the museum

After your visit you can use the things you have all learned in your classroom. Spend a lesson talking about it or create a piece of artwork that is influenced by something you have seen during your visit. Or maybe teach your students a technique they have seen like collage, printmaking, oil pastel, painting etc.

You invite an educator from the museum into your classroom.
Sometimes museums offer special programs/projects that take place in school settings. So if you don't have the chance to take your students to the museum you can let the museum come to you. For some schools it is hard to find the transportation possibilities or the money to visit a museum so this is a good alternative.

You lend an object from a museum and teach your students about it.
Some museums offer the possibility of lending objects from the museum or you get a teaching kit specially developed for using in your classroom. These kits have lesson examples in them and have extras information about the artifact that you can teach your students.

You can use museum resources for your lessons.
On most websites museums offer teachers resources. These can come in very handy when you need more information about some subject/painter/technique etc. The are being created for teachers to use so make use of them!

You can create your own museum in the classroom.
You divide the class into small groups and every group gets assigned a different role/task like: curators, exhibit designers, technicians, educators, graphic designers, production chief etc. You make an exhibit of work the students created or an exhibit with a theme.

Make use of a virtual museum tour.
Today some museums even offer virtual tours. This is very new way of visiting a museum but worth looking at.

Information for Zine assignment

The beginning:
The first museums were private collections of wealthy people, families, or companies. These collections consisted out of rare or curious natural objects and artifacts. These objects were shown in rooms they called wonder rooms or cabinets of curiosities. These museums were only accessible for the wealthy people.

The first really public museum was opened in europe in the 18th century (the Louvre).

1928 First educational classes for children
1932 Founding of childrens art center
1938 Young people gallery in NY (by MOMA)
1947 Founding of NAEA

At the beginning of the 19th century museums were seen as places where you could experience art and be impressed instead of being taught about art. In the second half of this century museums started to experiment with didactic labels, public lectures, school programs, and educational exhibitions. At the beginning of the 20th century the goal of education in museums was to improve the society. Educational programs were about delivering correct information. There was only one meaning possible.Later interpretation (personal) became more excepted.

Today education in constantly changing because of all the changes taking place in our world. We now live in a visual world in what borders are being crossed and technology is being used in almost everything we see around us. The world of today is based on images. "The visual culture is in a continual state of becomming and should be taught as such". (K. Freedmand and P. Stuhr)

Today a lot of museums use digital media in their museum like:
Websites
Online discussion forums
Educational websites
Blogs
Podcasts
User generated content
PDA's
Mobile phones
Camera's
Audio tours
Touch screens

Quotes

"Having access to museums at an early age sets the tone for further exploration of ones culture by developing skills to interpret visual language".
(Wolf-Ragatz 1996)

"Paris &Hapgood (2002) described museums as informal learning environments where objects and experiences stimulate curiosity that can be extended to the classroom and beyond".

"A visit to the art museum places students in a new position to contemplate art, to ask questions about art, artists, and to discuss art and art making, and to learn about art history, art critisicm, aesthetics, various cultures, the museum and a host of other subjects".
(Bolin & Mayer 1998)

Museums and the web by Caroline Dunmore

The chapter museum and the web is from the book The Responsive museum: working with audiences in the Twenty-First Century what talks about the development in the museum world in the UK.

This chapter looks at what has been happening in between 1999 and 2004 in the museum sector if we look at the use of new technologies.

In the UK the department for education and skills sets the agenda when it comes to the use of technology in education. Museums must make sure they fit in with the agenda

The UK Office for Library Networking (UKOLN) and The Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) came up with a Good Practice Guide for Developers of Cultural Heritage Web Services >>

Different developments

Culture online >>
" The purpose of this website is to develop interactive online projects that will engage new audiences, that are not traditionally interested in arts and culture, and encourage them to participate".

The 24-hour museum >>
The 24 hour museum is essentially a marketing website for publicly funded museums and uses the web to encourage people to visit actual museums, galleries and other heritage attractions.

The knowledge web
It's main purpose is to provide access to online resources.
The main components are:
* Cornucopia >>
* MICHAEL >>
* People's network discover service >>

Cornucopia is a database that shows you all the Phisicel held collections in the UK at cultural intsitutes.

MICHAEL is a online database of digital cultural resources.

The People's network discover service delivers 3 online services: enquirer, discover and read.

The leading museums in the UK on exploring the use of new media are:
Tate >>
The National Gallery >>
The British Museum >>
Victoria and Albert Museum >>

Things that have to be more developed:
* Despite the knowledge of the power of the Internet and the ability of this medium to reach remote users the majority of web-based resources produces by museums are still intended to enhanced, and not replace, the actual visit to the museum.
* Not enough research has been done into how people use and want to use the available digital resources online offered by museums.
* " There has not jet been a unified approach to developing a pedagogy for museums' digital learning resources" .

Research that has been done:
Learning journeys: using technology to connect the four stages of meaning making by Morris Hargreaves. This report has never been published.

Museums, Galleries & web 2.0 >>
Museum Next >>
Museum 2.0 >>

What ways can we use to communicate with visitors in a museum

Guided tours, audio tours, Downloadable audio files from museum website, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Website, Flyer's, Text in the exhibition, Catalog, Magazines, Posters, Pictures, Video, DVD, Cd-rom, MP3 players like I pod, Games, Online resources for students/ teachers, Books, headphones in the exhibit, Lectures, Courses, Animations, Television programs, Interpreters, Database, Virtual tours

Literature

* Digital technologies and the museum experience: hand held guides and other media >>
by Loïc Tallon and Kevin Walker

* Exhibit labels: An interactive approach >>
by Beverly Serrell

* Learning from Museums: visitor experiences and the making of meaning >>
by John Howard Falk and Lynn Diane Dierking