By and large, museums of today in the Western world evolved out of the Renaissance Wunderkammer cum Kunstkammer (Cabinet of Curiosity) – a vocabulary of ideas, a microcosm cum theatre of the world. Intended to be encyclopedic looking back we now know that they were something of a well intentioned folly. However, after they had fulfilled, and underlined their patron’s power, we might then understand them as the breeding ground of new ideas – the sciences among them. Interestingly their patrons used them as a kind of playground where they might play God – albeit indoors and in microscopic ways. After all Nobility was a divine right assigned to these Wunderkammerists by God.
Nonetheless, museums in the 21st Century carry much of the Wunderkammer’s cultural cargo. It is so given that they take on board much of their original imagining as ‘a tradition’. However, over time they have changed and adapted to the contemporaneous sensibilities of their time. Arguably, in 21st Century this is yet to really happen. The age of the information explosion is upon us and the World Wide Web is yet to be really exploited by most museums. Yes a great many have Websites but most score less than 5 on the zingSCALE of 11.
The democratisation of information is an idea yet to be embraced by a great many museums. Albeit a while ago, a museum manager has been reported as saying “we are waiting until we get it right before we do anything online.”
A great many managers faced with the demand for more information have given similar responses to the challenges and possibilities of the WWW. We might understand this as resistance to change but it is something that we have all felt at some time or other. The 20th Century has imposed change upon us all and at breakneck speed. The truth is, getting it right – whatever is meant by that – is out of everyone’s reach all the time – and it’s out of the question.
We all need to get used to that idea – “getting it right” is all too often code for the status quo.
CONTENTS: Click on a heading
• CONTEXT
• INTRODUCING THE WUNDERKAMMER & KUNSTKAMMER TO THE 21ST C & THE WORLD WIDE WEB
• CULTURAL PROPERTY AND LAYERS OF OWNERSHIP
• IDENTIFYING A MUSEUM’S COMMUNITIES OF OWNERSHIP & INTEREST – Their Cognitive Owners
Nonetheless, museums in the 21st Century carry much of the Wunderkammer’s cultural cargo. It is so given that they take on board much of their original imagining as ‘a tradition’. However, over time they have changed and adapted to the contemporaneous sensibilities of their time. Arguably, in 21st Century this is yet to really happen. The age of the information explosion is upon us and the World Wide Web is yet to be really exploited by most museums. Yes a great many have Websites but most score less than 5 on the zingSCALE
We all need to get used to that idea – “getting it right” is all too often code for the status quo.
• CONTEXT
• INTRODUCING THE WUNDERKAMMER & KUNSTKAMMER TO THE 21ST C & THE WORLD WIDE WEB
• CULTURAL PROPERTY AND LAYERS OF OWNERSHIP
• IDENTIFYING A MUSEUM’S COMMUNITIES OF OWNERSHIP & INTEREST – Their Cognitive Owners
No comments:
Post a Comment