Towards Inclusive Digital Museum Innovation
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Institute of Archaeology
Abstract
Towards Inclusive Digital Museum Innovation is a cross-disciplinary research network primarily between the UK and South Korea exploring inclusive approaches to the digital transformation of arts and heritage organisations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our lives in many ways, including how we learn about new things and how we choose to spend our leisure time. Digital leisure, like digital games, has diversified and attracted more players during times of social distancing, with benefits for their mental health and well-being (Barr & Copeland-Stewart 2021). Museums that have vastly expanded digital programmes for the public over the last three decades have further accelerated digital approaches to engaging remote audiences. In a post-pandemic society, digital has become the default even for our leisure.
This project connecting the UK's world-leading academic museum studies at UCL IoA and South Korea's outstanding strengths in the digital sector and game studies at KAIST GSCT, offers a unique platform for museum professionals to reflect on the distribution of digital resources, exchange knowledge and experiences of current digital practices in the museum sector, and review their digital strategies and development plans to contribute to further equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in society.
Although emerging digital technologies (e.g. AI, ML, VR/AR, robotics) have created exciting opportunities for museums, it is undeniable that neither museums nor technologies are neutral. We have already noticed the increasing social awareness of historical and cultural biases in museums, as well as of the technological and human biases in digital technologies and the digital industry. Certain groups of people in our society have been left behind by digital innovation. Digital inequality is a valid concern across the world. Digital ethics must not, therefore, be overlooked when discussing digital transformations of museums and developing new digital initiatives. Digital inclusion is not something to check at the end of the digital development process, it should be an integral part of that process from the initial planning stages on. Otherwise, digital methods will only amplify the inherent biases of museums while perpetuating the exclusion of underrepresented groups in society, for example, people with disabilities and people with marginalised ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
This project provides opportunities for museums to look at their digital initiatives and discuss practical actions to take to implement inclusion in digitally enhanced ways. Over 18 months, museum professionals, academics, activists, and social enterprises will join the network for a series of thematic workshops exploring the three key themes, namely Technology, Culture & Ethics, the Digital Divide, and Inclusive Technology. Public engagement events online, including casual talks will provide further opportunities for different stakeholders to take part in fruitful discussions. A final international conference in London open to the wider public will share the accumulated knowledge and examples of digital museum innovation. A website built for the project will be used to form a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) regarding inclusive digital museum innovation, facilitating the knowledge exchange that is the foundation for the development of a joint research proposal between UCL IoA and KAIST GSCT.
This project takes advantage of the two countries' strengths in digital innovation and their cultural and creative industries to make not only an academic contribution to the identification and development of themes and topics around digital inequality and the social responsibility of museums in the digital age, but also practical contributions to museums and other collecting institutions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our lives in many ways, including how we learn about new things and how we choose to spend our leisure time. Digital leisure, like digital games, has diversified and attracted more players during times of social distancing, with benefits for their mental health and well-being (Barr & Copeland-Stewart 2021). Museums that have vastly expanded digital programmes for the public over the last three decades have further accelerated digital approaches to engaging remote audiences. In a post-pandemic society, digital has become the default even for our leisure.
This project connecting the UK's world-leading academic museum studies at UCL IoA and South Korea's outstanding strengths in the digital sector and game studies at KAIST GSCT, offers a unique platform for museum professionals to reflect on the distribution of digital resources, exchange knowledge and experiences of current digital practices in the museum sector, and review their digital strategies and development plans to contribute to further equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in society.
Although emerging digital technologies (e.g. AI, ML, VR/AR, robotics) have created exciting opportunities for museums, it is undeniable that neither museums nor technologies are neutral. We have already noticed the increasing social awareness of historical and cultural biases in museums, as well as of the technological and human biases in digital technologies and the digital industry. Certain groups of people in our society have been left behind by digital innovation. Digital inequality is a valid concern across the world. Digital ethics must not, therefore, be overlooked when discussing digital transformations of museums and developing new digital initiatives. Digital inclusion is not something to check at the end of the digital development process, it should be an integral part of that process from the initial planning stages on. Otherwise, digital methods will only amplify the inherent biases of museums while perpetuating the exclusion of underrepresented groups in society, for example, people with disabilities and people with marginalised ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
This project provides opportunities for museums to look at their digital initiatives and discuss practical actions to take to implement inclusion in digitally enhanced ways. Over 18 months, museum professionals, academics, activists, and social enterprises will join the network for a series of thematic workshops exploring the three key themes, namely Technology, Culture & Ethics, the Digital Divide, and Inclusive Technology. Public engagement events online, including casual talks will provide further opportunities for different stakeholders to take part in fruitful discussions. A final international conference in London open to the wider public will share the accumulated knowledge and examples of digital museum innovation. A website built for the project will be used to form a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) regarding inclusive digital museum innovation, facilitating the knowledge exchange that is the foundation for the development of a joint research proposal between UCL IoA and KAIST GSCT.
This project takes advantage of the two countries' strengths in digital innovation and their cultural and creative industries to make not only an academic contribution to the identification and development of themes and topics around digital inequality and the social responsibility of museums in the digital age, but also practical contributions to museums and other collecting institutions.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Science Museum Group (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Victoria and Albert Museum (Project Partner)
- Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Project Partner)
- Nam June Paik Art Centre (Project Partner)
- National Folk Museum of Korea (Project Partner)
- Gwacheon National Science Museum (Project Partner)
- National Library of Korea (Project Partner)
Publications
Cecilia, R.
(2022)
Inclusive Digital Museum Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities
Park, J.
(2022)
Towards Inclusive Digital Museum Innovation: Part 1
Description | Games Design |
Organisation | Science Museum Group |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The SMG is developing a new Gaming exhibition. The KAIST-based research team who specialises in computer games and gaming research has shared theoretical knowledge and research findings as well as examples of good practice among the S. Korean gaming industry with members of the SMG exhibition development team. This is an ongoing collaboration. |
Collaborator Contribution | Insights into audiences research conducted with users of a number of interactive gaming events (Power Up) run across the SMG sites. |
Impact | This collaboration started in November 2022 and is ongoing. We will use a conference we will have in July to explore the potential of this collaboration further |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Project web site and associated resources |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 58 users from the UK, S. Korea, the USA, Egypt, the Netherlands and Iceland have visited the web site |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
URL | https://inclusivedigitalmuseum.org/ |
Description | museum and library group workshop (computer games and digital inlcusion) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 14 professional practitioners from 6 UK museums and a library and 5 S. Korean museums and a library attended the workshop, which sparked discussion about the importance of conducting audience/user research throughout the development of digital resources (e.g. web sites, computer games and events which combine digital activities & recourses) to better understand and support the digital inclusion of minoritised audiences. This discussion, subsequently, led to an exchange of audience research expertise from UK to S. Korean museum and library professionals. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | museum and library group workshop (digital technology and ethics) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 17 professional practitioners from 5 UK museums and a library and 4 S. Korean museums and a library attended the workshop, which sparked discussion about the importance of having and applying guidelines for digital inclusion and, subsequently, all participants reported that they reviewed and/or drafted sets of guidelines and applying these actively in their work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | museum and library group workshop (technological accessibility and poeple with visual impairement) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 15 professional practitioners from 4 UK museums and one library and 3 S. Korean museums and one library attended this workshop, which sparked questions and discussion about the role of assistive and other types of technology to support the digital inclusion of people with visual impairment. Afterwards, the participants reported an interest in and need for more information and examples of the types of inclusive technology available. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |