Cultural Heritage Blog
This is the blurb about Information Technology in Museums, Galleries, Libraries and Archives. As keepers-of-history, are we inherently stuck in the past? Is funding an issue in serving our communities?
Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, narrates 100 programmes that retell humanity's history through the objects we have made. The series spans two million years of history and uses objects from the British Museum's collection to tell a history of the world, from the earliest times to the present day.
Privacy is no longer a social norm, according to the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg commenting on the rise of social networking.
“Many young people are choosing to open their lives in ways their parents would have thought impossible and their grandparents unthinkable. Their lives play out on a public stage of their own design as they strive for visibility, connectedness and knowledge,”
-- Jennifer Stoddart, Privacy Commissioner of Canada
An upcoming conference at the University of Toronto's Museum Studies programme: Taking Stock: Museum Studies and Museum Practices in Canada makes me think about the nature of teaching versus actually working in the museum field. Does a museum professional who becomes a full-time instructor lose their relevance as a museum professional? Can a professional, academic museologist be credible as an istructor in a professional program?
Collections management doesn't sounds like a nebulous concept, but ask a group of museum professionals for a definition and you soon realise it isn't as obvious as it seems.
Collections Management includes
· the clear scope of the collection / the collecting goals
· approved methods of acquisition
· responsible recordkeeping, accounting
· insurance
· care of physical object
· access
· provisions governing incoming and outgoing loans
· deaccessioning and disposal considerations
Many museums and cultural institutions have moved into the "digital age" in the name of progress. In many cases it was in name only. The movement towards a digital ge in museum was an evolution. What we need, however, is a revolution. In many ways we are still guided by the old paradigms but on a digital platform. The "old way" often made sense on paper, but the transition to digital makes less sense.