The Herbert Virtual Museum

In recent years, virtual reality and augmented reality have emerged as areas of extreme interest as unique methods for visualising and interacting with digital museum artefacts in a different context, for example, as a virtual museum or exhibition, particularly over the Internet. Modern cultural heritage exhibitions have evolved from static to dynamic exhibitions and challenging explorations. This paper presents two different applications developed for the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery that make the user's experience more immersive, engaging, and interactive. The first application utilizes mobile phone devices in order to enrich the visitors experience in the museum, and the second application is a serious game for cultural heritage and in particular for museum environments focusing on the younger visitors

The Museum of the Infinite Scroll: Assessing the Effectiveness of Google Arts and Culture as a Virtual Tool for Museum Accessibility

As technology evolves, the concept of the virtual museum continues to come into focus. Google Arts and Culture (formerly the Google Art Project) has been a leading platform in virtual exhibitions and digital collections since 2011. Arts and Culture presents itself as a democratic platform that allows any museum, regardless of size or resources, access to the same new digital technologies. However, its model tends to favor institutions with more staff time to spend on their virtual presence. By analyzing Google Arts and Culture within the context of larger museum trends in virtuality and interviewing museum professionals responsible for their institutions’ virtual presence, this capstone describes the current state of the platform from a museological standpoint, how it fits into the history of museum virtuality, and how museums are using the platform. This project proposes several ways Google Arts and Culture can change their collaboration protocol better serve museums and go beyond merely providing access to their technologies

Making Exhibitions, Brokering Meaning: Designing new connections across communities of practice

New media museum exhibits often see designers representing the research of expert content providers. Despite perceptions that such exhibits provide museum visitors with a greater depth and range of experience, differences in knowledge and practice between designers and content providers can see content development become an unruly, competitive process in which audience experience, digital mediation, visualisation techniques and meaning become contested territory. Drawing on Etienne Wenger’s theory of “communities of practice”, this paper argues that designers’ advocacy for audiences and distance from exhibition content well positions them to broker interdisciplinary goal setting so that exhibitions observe the representational objectives of content providers and meet the needs and preferences of museum visitors. A wide range of design literature already discusses the pragmatic benefits and ethical importance of user-centered design, while the literature on co-design suggests that designed outcomes are more successful if the design process considers the interests of all stakeholders. These discussions can be compelling, but the inherent challenges in engaging others’ perspectives and knowledge in the design process are less acknowledged, Wenger’s ideas on the social dynamics of group enterprise offering designers valuable insights into the actuality of negotiating designed outcomes with non-designer stakeholders. The paper has two main aspects. The first outlines the theory of communities of practice, focusing on the brokering of knowledge and practice between disciplines. This discussion frames an analysis of the design process for two museum exhibitions. Representing an original application of Wenger’s ideas, the discussion recognises the unique role of the designed artifact in brokering information visualization processes, transcending the actions and intentions of individual stakeholders. While accepting there are successful examples of interdisciplinary exchange in various areas of design, the interpretation of examples via Wenger contributes useful principles to the theorisation of co-design with non-designer stakeholders. Keywords: Information visualization; New media museum exhibits; Multidisciplinary projects; Communities of Practice; Brokering; User-centered design; Co-Design; Etienne Wenger</p

Virtual Museum for NACHA

Our team worked with the Nso’ Arts and Cultural Heritage Association and created a virtual museum in order to increase awareness of the unique culture of the Nso’ people in Cameroon, Africa. A lot of information from this region is in danger of being lost due to political tension and poor artifact conservation, and many people, including the Cameroonian youth, are not prioritizing the preservation of their culture and history. Creating a website where individuals can view the art, history, and culture found in Cameroon is the best way to increase the availability of knowledge of the Nso’ people. Such a system will not only allow individuals to become more familiar with Cameroon, but it will also allow researchers to update the site and add new information as they go deeper into their research. Since anyone with a web-enabled device will be able to access the virtual museum, it has the potential to get people from around the world, including the youth in Cameroon, interested in learning more about the art, history, and traditions native to that region

Theatre information : searched and recorded once, manifold extended and used

Düsseldorf is the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state with the highest number of inhabitants in Germany. The city has a rich cultural history: The theatre history started in 1585 (the festivities in the context of a princely marriage at Düsseldorf). Theatre historiography marks three great periods for Düsseldorf (Immermann, 1834-1837; Dumont-Lindemann, 1905-1933; Gründgens, 1947-1955). In 2005 and 2006 we celebrate many anniversaries within the theatrical context: 100 years Schauspielhaus Dumont-Lindemann in 2005, 50 years theatre community Düsseldorf-Duisburg (Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg), 50 years puppet theatre (Düsseldorfer Marionettentheater), 30 years children and youth theatre (Kinder- und Jugendtheater im Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus), 10 years Capitol (musical theatre) beside other cultural events, for example the anniversaries of Heine and Schumann

Museums and New Media Art

Investigates the relationship between new media art and museums