Let\u27s keep in touch : conversations about access and tactility.

Let’s Keep in Touch: Conversations about Tactility, a project collaboratively organized by social practice artist Carmen Papalia and curator Whitney Mashburn, presents conversations between Papalia and artists selected by Mashburn, in regard to tactile access of the chosen artists’ works. The project aims to challenge visual biases in museum engagement, through dialogue with living artists. Carmen Papalia takes social practice in a new direction as he applies it to the topic of accessibility. Using the tool of conversation, he creates strategic infrastructural activism and prompts exploration of non-visual perception. In this thesis, Papalia’s work will be examined and discussed with particular emphasis on the burgeoning field of tactility studies and Papalia’s use of conversation within social practice to critique the accessibility of institutions and societal barriers. Additionally, relevant foundations and examples in social practice, institutional critique, and disability studies will be presented

Redefining Access: Embracing multimodality, memorability and shared experience in Museums

Disability access to museums, both physical and intellectual, is generally considered a minority issue. Whilst museums and cultural institutions acknowledge the moral and legal importance of equal access to their establishments, there is generally a conflict between the perceived number of potential visitors that will benefit and the cost implications. Set in the context of research on multisensory learning, this article discusses why disability access is, in fact, a majority issue. It discusses two case studies where an “access for all” museological approach has been applied to access to the collections, with differing success. The article considers how an “access for all” approach would potentially enhance learning, long-term memorability and the ‘cultural value’ of a museum experience for all visitors

Include 2011 : The role of inclusive design in making social innovation happen.

Include is the biennial conference held at the RCA and hosted by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. The event is directed by Jo-Anne Bichard and attracts an international delegation

Museums as disseminators of niche knowledge: Universality in accessibility for all

Accessibility has faced several challenges within audiovisual translation Studies and gained great opportunities for its establishment as a methodologically and theoretically well-founded discipline. Initially conceived as a set of services and practices that provides access to audiovisual media content for persons with sensory impairment, today accessibility can be viewed as a concept involving more and more universality thanks to its contribution to the dissemination of audiovisual products on the topic of marginalisation. Against this theoretical backdrop, accessibility is scrutinised from the perspective of aesthetics of migration and minorities within the field of the visual arts in museum settings. These aesthetic narrative forms act as modalities that encourage the diffusion of ‘niche’ knowledge, where processes of translation and interpretation provide access to all knowledge as counter discourse. Within this framework, the ways in which language is used can be considered the beginning of a type of local grammar in English as lingua franca for interlingual translation and subtitling, both of which ensure access to knowledge for all citizens as a human rights principle and regardless of cultural and social differences. Accessibility is thus gaining momentum as an agent for the democratisation and transparency of information against media discourse distortions and oversimplifications

Towards Inclusion in Museums: Multisensory and Cross-Modal Translations/Interpretations of Visual Artworks

Access to art and cultural works is a fundamental human right, irrespective of abilities and human differences. However, traditional museum experiences heavily rely on visual perception, which creates barriers for visitors—especially for those who are unable to access art through sight. How can visual art be “translated” into other modalities, and what might be their affordances, limitations, and impact? This qualitative investigation focused on a graduate course on multisensory museum experiences embedded within a unique partnership between the Art Gallery of Ontario and OCAD University. Observations and interviews with students, instructors, museum visitors, and stakeholders (including community members with vision impairments and museum professionals) revealed: a range of translation/interpretation strategies, from “literal” (mapping visually perceived spatial properties of artworks to non-visual perceptual modalities) to “constructivist” (non-literal mappings that aim to engender audience memories that are akin to what might have inspired the original artwork); transformative student journeys, such as building meaningful connections with art; and significant impact on diverse audiences and students. This study revealed promising directions for inclusive museums, a preliminary technical language to support the design of translations/ interpretations, and a need for theoretically informed and tested standards to guide these designs and practices

THE MEANING OF PARTICIPATION Detecting the space for inclusive strategies in the Finnish and German museum context

Museoiden yleisötyöstrategioissa osallisuus, moninaisuus ja inkluusio ovat yleisiä käsitteitä. Ne sanallistavat museoiden motivaation ja tarpeen täyttää niihin kohdistuvan yhteiskunnallisen odotuksen olla kaikille avoimia. Jokainen saa käydä museossa ja osallistua aktiviteetteihin. Mutta onko tämän osallistuminen sellaista, joka edistää strategioissa mainittua osallisuutta tai inkluusiota? Kriittisen ja etnografisen tarkastelun kautta kattotermi ”yleisötyö” suomalaisella ja saksalaisella museokentällä paljastaa, että osallisuuden ja inkluusion käsitteet voidaan ymmärtää eri tasoilla. Ne voivat viitata esteettömään tiedonsaantiin ja tiloissa kulkemiseen tai ennalta suunniteltujen aktiviteettien toteuttamiseen. Museoalan kirjallisuus toteaa tämänkaltaisen osallistamisen riittämättömäksi museoiden tavoitteen ollessa osallistujien kuuluvuuden tunne. Siten, museota tarkastellaan kriittisesti käsitteenä, jossa osallistavan yleisötyön yleisimpiä käytäntöjä teoretisoidaan ja kyseenalaistetaan. Kuuluvuuden tunteeseen sisältyvät merkityksellisyys, samaistuttavuus ja omistajuus, joiden saavuttaminen yleisötyön kontekstissa kaipaa ohjenuoria. Tarjonta, jonka odotetaan edistävän strategioissa esiintyvää osallisuutta museoissa, esiintyy kahden ääripään, ennalta suunniteltujen aktiviteettien ja jaetun vallan näyttelysuunnittelussa välillä. Tämä synnyttää tarpeen tarkastella yleisötyössä käytettyjen termien, kuten osallistumisen, inkluusion, moninaisuuden ja saavutettavuuden sisältöjä. Käytettyjen käsitteiden ymmärtämistä voidaan parantaa, kun niitä tarkastellaan niiden käytännön merkityksen tasolla ja arvioidaan, toteutuvatko nämä odotukset nykyisillä yleisötyön vakiometodeilla. Ymmärtämisen kautta voidaan luoda uusia tekemisen tapoja ja siten todellista osallisuutta, joka voi mahdollistaa osallistujan inkluusion museossa. Koska suurinosa museokokemuksista luodaan näyttelysaleissa ja vastaanotossa työskentelevän henkilökunnan myötävaikutuksesta, ymmärtäminen voi edistää myös asiakaspalveluhenkilökunnan arvostusta, joka ei yleensä ole osallinen näyttelysuunnitteluprosessien ensimmäisissä vaiheissa. Pohdinta kumuloituu museon ja yleisön välisen suhteen käsitteeseen, jota havainnoillistetaan museo-yleisö-suhteen kaaviossa (museum-audience relationship blueprint). Tässä suhteessa osallistujien valta määritellä ja päättää omien kokemustensa ehdot ja puitteet on jakautunut kentällä jokseenkin epätasaisesti. Todellisen osallisuuden ja inkluusion nimissä tätä suhdetta tulee voida avata. Kysymys on lopulta osallistujien todellisesta osallisuudesta ja omistajuudesta, museoiden sidosryhmien tuntemuksesta, ylläpidetyistä suhteista entisten osallistujien ja museoiden välillä ja näkymättöminen esteiden tunnistamisesta ja tunnustamisesta yleisötyön kontekstissa. Tämä väitöskirja ehdottaa inkluusio-orientoitunutta osallistumismallia (inclusiondirected participation model), joka perustuu palvelumuotoiluun pohjautuvaan lähestymistapaan. Osallistumismallissa yhdistyvät museokentän odotukset osallistumiseen liittyvästä yleisötyöstä ja palvelumuotoilun teoria ja filosofia. Osallistumisen viiden osa-alueen – tutkimuksen; yhteistyön ja kommunikoinnin; kestävyyden; mielekkyyden ja omistajuuden; sekä vastoinkäymisten – kautta konsepti ehdottaa osallistumisen iteratiivista sykliä, joka mahdollistaa osallistujien vallan yhteissuunnitteluprosessissa, edistää kävijätutkimusta yksittäisissä instituutioissa ja huomioi kehittämishankkeiden avoimen luonteen. Tämän ehdotuksen tavoitteena on siis edistää palvelumuotoilun syvällisempää tunnustamista ohjenuoraksi museoille, kun tavoitteena on saavuttaa uuden museologian (New Museology) asettamat vaatimukset osallistumiselle ja edistää museoiden yhteiskunnallisen vastuun toteutumista meille kaikille kuuluvasta kulttuuriperinnöstä.In museums’ strategies for Audience Development, concepts such as participation, diversity, and inclusion are common. They state the museums’ initial motivations and need to fulfill their societal xpectations, which is to be “open for all.” Everyone is welcome to visit museums and take part in the activities therein. However, does this participation promote the type of participation or inclusion mentioned in their strategies? Through a critical and ethnographic exploration of the umbrella term “Audience Development” in the Finnish and German museum domains, it becomes evident that the very meanings of the concepts of participation and inclusion are understood on differing levels. They can indicate barrier-free information and access to spaces or the realization of pre-designed activities. The literature on the museum field states this type of participation insufficient when museums aim for the feeling of belonging among participants. The critical examination discusses the museum as a concept and theorizes and questions the most common practices in participative Audience Development. The “feeling of belonging” includes meaningfulness, relevancy, and ownership. Notably, achieving these within the context of Audience Development still lacks specific guidelines. Moreover, the offerings expected to promote participation in museums occur at two extremes: pre-designed activities and shared power in exhibition design. A need to examine the contents of the terms used in the strategies such as “participation,” “inclusion,” “diversity,” and “accessibility” is evident. The understanding of these terms can be improved when they are examined on the level of their practical functions and evaluated as to whether the standard methods of Audience Development realize these practical expectations. The emerging understanding promotes new ways of doing and, thus, “real” participation, which can lead to the participants’ inclusion in museums. Most museum experiences are created with the influence of frontline staff, so this understanding can also promote the value laid on this portion of the staff that is usually not included in the first phases of the exhibition planning processes. This discussion evolves to focus on the museum-audience relationship, which will be exemplified in the form of a museum-audience blueprint. In this relationship, the participants’ power over the terms and circumstances of their experiences is divided unevenly in the field. In the name of “real” participation and inclusion, this relationship should be able to be opened. The issue eventually concerns participants’ involvement and ownership, the museums’ knowledge about stakeholders, sustainable relationships with former participants, and recognizing and acknowledging the invisible barriers in Audience Development. By leveraging the Service Design-based approach, this dissertation proposes an inclusion-directed participation model that combines the participatory expectations of the museum field with the tools and philosophy of Service Design. Through the five parts of participation, namely, research, collaboration and communication, sustainability, meaningfulness and ownership, and obstacles, the concept proposes an iterative cycle of participation that would allow participants to influence the codesign process, promote visitor research in individual institutions, and acknowledge the open-ended nature of developmental projects. This proposal aims to promote the acknowledgment of Service Design as a guideline in the museum field more profoundly when the goal is to achieve the participatory aims of New Museology and promote the fulfillment of the museums’ societal responsibilities concerning access to and participation in culture

Communicating the Past in the Digital Age: Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Methods in Teaching and Learning in Archaeology (12-13 October 2018)

Recent developments in the field of archaeology are not only progressing archaeological fieldwork but also changing the way we practise and present archaeology today. As these digital technologies are being used more and more every day on excavations or in museums, this also means that we must change the way we approach teaching and communicating archaeology as a discipline. This volume presents the outcome of a two-day international symposium on digital methods in teaching and learning in archaeology held at the University of Cologne in October 2018. Specialists from around the world share their views on the newest developments in the field of archaeology and the way we teach these with the help of archaeogaming, augmented and virtual reality, 3D reconstruction and many more

SSAT 2021: abstracts of the International Conference on Smart, Sustainable, Social, and Accessible Tourism

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Proceedings of the International Workshop “Re-Thinking Technology in Museums: towards a new understanding of people’s experience in museums"

Proceedings of the International Workshop “Re-Thinking Technology in Museums: towards a new understanding of people’s experience in museums

Making Art Accessible to All: Co-Creating Multi-sensory Art with Visually Impaired People

Blind and visually impaired people experience many limitations when encountering artworks, and most of the general public lack attention and understanding of the visually impaired community. Despite previous research efforts to make visual art more accessible to blind and visually impaired people through audio descriptions, tactile graphics, or digital media technologies, they still face challenges in experiencing art independently and feeling an emotional connection with artworks. This study explores how to create multi-sensory art for blind and visually impaired people to awaken a new form of experience. The study conducted semi-structured interviews to understand the experiences and perspectives of curators and blind artists on multi-sensory art. At the same time, by analyzing two case studies on co-creation with the visually impaired community, this study explores practices of involving the visually impaired community in the creative process. In addition, this study aims to investigate the potential of multi-sensory experiences to enhance the enjoyment and accessibility of art and culture for the visually impaired community. This study will broaden the knowledge about vulnerable communities by exploring the possibility of the visually impaired community as co-designers in multi-sensory art. This knowledge will benefit galleries, museums, and disabled communities and may lead to a positive reconsideration of the importance of an expanded sensory culture in our society