Reinventing the Academic Museum: Studying the Digital Transformations at Glasgow's University Museums

Economou, M. (2014) Reinventing the Academic Museum: Studying the Digital Transformations at Glasgow's University Museums. In: EPC 2014 Horizon2020 and Creative Europe vs Digital Heritage: A European Projects Crossover, Florence, Italy, 18 Feb 2014, pp. 7-11.

Abstract

The Hunterian is Scotland’s oldest public museum holding large and diverse collections of national significance. These were built on the founding bequest of Dr William Hunter (1718 - 1783), a pioneering obstetrician, teacher and passionate collector, and reflect his Enlightenment interests. The Hunterian has just embarked on an ambitious project that will allow it to reunite the collections and employ new technologies to increase their accessibility. In partnership with Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life and the National Library of Scotland, it will co-locate its collections at the Kelvin Hall, one of Glasgow’s historic buildings. A new portal will bring the collections of the three partners together. The paper focuses on a project, which will study the use of these online collections and large data sets for teaching, research and public engagement with diverse communities. The project will investigate how these developments affect the way different user groups (students, researchers, wider educational audiences and communities) engage with the online collections and the potential for new types of interactions. It will also draw guidelines and discuss the wider issues arising from this case study about how online access and digital technologies are reshaping out understanding of rich and diverse cultural material.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Additional Information: Vol-1336
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Economou, Professor Maria
• Authors: Economou, M.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Information Studies
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 The Authors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License