Knowledge Objects: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Collections Documentation

Fiona Cameron, Helena Robinson

Research output: Book/Research ReportResearch report

Abstract

In the last decade, under mounting pressure from governments, stakeholders, and growing community expectations, museums have initiated a range of programs aimed at keeping pace with unprecedented technical advances and public access to digital media. A major part of this undertaking has been bringing museums and their collection databases onto the World Wide Web. However, the rate at which museum data has been brought online has not been reciprocated to any great extent by a critical evaluation of the actual significance or utility of this data. This report goes some way to addressing this imbalance by examining the structure and content of museum object documentation in the light of contemporary critical theory and cross-disciplinary needs. Drawing on the findings, this report proposes a new multidisciplinary object documentation template for online collections databases. This model will address both theoretical and practical issues of museum documentation and presents a solution whereby the technical capacity of emerging digital technology can be meaningfully harnessed to further museum objectives and communication potential with online audiences.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationCamperdown, N.S.W.
PublisherUniversity of Sydney
Number of pages71
Publication statusPublished - 2003

Keywords

  • Powerhouse Museum
  • digitisation
  • knowledge management
  • museums
  • virtual museums

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