what will the museum of the future be like?

Where do 'digital leaders' (unofficial, official) sit in museums?

I'm really only starting to think about this question so I don't have much more than that to ask. I'm interested in examples from your own experience, or any other research leads.

I assume that many museums won't have any sort of 'digital leader' who acts as leader or coordinator, and that where these roles do exist, they might have a different title.

I'll pop back and summarise what I've learnt unless it's marked as private.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by claire antrobus on December 24, 2009 at 1:08am

did anyone respond to this? (I'm fairly new to this ning so still finding my way around). I'm interested in this question too - in terms of how leaders respond to user-driven innovation (technology obviously being v important for this). I will be doing some research in the New Year and wonder whether structural issues about who is responsible for audiences are going to be a significant issue for my question.

Permalink Reply by Michel Harnois on December 24, 2009 at 2:01am

We are a very small organization, so we all do all sort of things. we can not afford to have someone exclusively acting as a «digital leader». But I think, I might be the nearest one, as the executive director. Last year (2008), I introduced my collegues to a new (for us) way of presenting the history. We produced a new permanent exhibit on the history of our town, that we opened last june 16th. We used picture frames, phone sticks, touch screens and so on, to dynamise the exhibit. And it worked.

As the acting « digital leader », I had to convince my team members to follow that path. Some of them were suspicious. Even though, they use computer for work, they were not sure how would it work in the exhibit. During the process it was important to me that we would have to see examples and meet with the persons in charge in those institutions. So we visited larger institutions in Montreal and Quebec City to inspire our own production. We met other profesionnals and it cleared the way.

Comments from visitors and collegues from other institutions are great. As I like to put it, the digital technologies in the exhibit are servig the topics. Not the other way around.

Right now, we are working on a new exhibit into the oldest (1888) hydroelectric power station in use in Quebec. And, our experience with the permanent exhibit is helping me to include digital technologies in that one too. It is easier for me to talk my collegue into it.

In short, this is our recent experience in that domain.

Have a nice day

Michel

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