The LIS-697-09 Museum Informatics masters course at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) within the Pratt Institute↑ in Manhattan↑, New York City↑, USA↑, is being delivered by Jonathan Bowen during May 2012. The MuseumsWiki is being featured as part of the course.
Course description[]
Museum informatics↑ is an interdisciplinary field concerning the study of the theory and application of information technology in museums↑. This has developed rapidly over the last decade or two and is still a fast-evolving field. It involves the use of electronic information by museums with respect to the information resources themselves (representation, databases, etc.), the management of those resources, the interaction of museum visitors – both virtual and real – with the resources (e.g., in interactive exhibits and online), including their behavior (e.g., use in the classroom), consideration of collaboration between museums, and the development of associated online communities. The use of networked resources is now extremely important and museums must keep up with trends such as social networking, the use of phone apps, wikis, QR codes, etc. Many resources available to museums are financially free, but require expertise and time to develop for the needs of the museum. This course will explore these various aspects and use examples to allow hands-on experience by students wherever possible. General experience of IT and the web will be required, but programming experience will not be needed.
Recommended resources[]
- Paul F. Marty and Katherine Burton Jones (editors), Museum Informatics: People, Information, and Technology in Museums. New York: Routledge, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8247-2581-5.
- Loïc Tallon and Kevin Walker (editors), Digital Technologies and the Museum Experience: Handheld Guides and Other Media. New York: AltaMira Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7591-1119-6 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-7591-1121-9 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-7591-1237-7 (electronic).
- Archives and Museum Informatics journal – see papers. ISSN 1042-1467 (print), ISSN 1573-7500 (electronic).
- Museums and the Web (MW) conference, http://www.museumsandtheweb.com/ — see papers.
- Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA) London↑ conference — see papers.
- MuseumsWiki.
External links[]
- School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
- Master of Science in Library & Information Science (MSLIS)
- Jonathan Bowen (Pratt Institute home page)
- eHive online museum collection database from Vernon Systems — see also associated wiki information