The ExhiBIT app: transcending the museum experience
The museum experience is an essential component of the contemporary society. It can provide aninterface for social interaction, a point of contact with the cultural and social environment, and it can stimulate discussion about social issues, thus establishing a sense of community and communal engagement among citizens. These premises has been supported in recent decades by a number of museum and cultural institutions that have sought to redefine their functions and roles. The International Council of Museums (ICOM), for example, has gradually changed its original definition of a museum in 1946 which defined the museum as a mere “collection of artifacts” that is “open to the public”, to a more socially relevant definition that emphasizes on “accessibility and inclusivity”, it “promotes diversity”, and “enables the participation of [diverse] communities”, in its most recent definition in 2022. Concepts such as “public education” and “entertainment” are also now seen as important aspects of a museum’s role showing a turn away from initial distant academic role towards a more publicly-engaged role.
This approach can largely be attributed to more recent approaches happening in cultural
theory that seek to give the cultural institutions and their exhibitions a more democratic and
social character, such as the view that art exhibitions can facilitate the viewer’s ability to reflect
on his or her beliefs and opinions and to consider different perspectives (Mezirow, 1981), rather
than just be “informed” by them. At the same time, in an age that every information is readily
accessible through the internet, cultural institutions such as museums are forced to do more to
provide a context that stimulates dialogue and the exchange of ideas, rather than simply
providing information unidirectionally.
Another significant aspect of recent museological practices, as seen in the recent ICOM
definition of the museums, is the emphasis on “inclusivity” and “openness to the public”. These
values have become very important in a museum institution and reflect an effort to make the
institution relevant to the community as a whole – to include minorities and people from all
socio-economic backgrounds, for example – as opposed to being an authority that appeals only to
certain segments of the population. This is in response to criticisms, such as those of Pierre
Bourdieu et. Al (1997), that museums alienate the majority of society because they have shaped
values associated with a particular part of society. As such, museums in the recent decades try to
reassess their values in order to include as much of the population as possible in the discussion
about their exhibits, rather than acting as information agencies.
Contemporary museologists such as Nancy Proctor (2021), director of the Peale Center
for History and Architecture in Baltimore, try to show that museums should be seen not only as
physical entities but also as networks of experiences, perspectives, and collaborations. In this
way, museums will become democratic and community-driven institutions, and their importance
will be determined by the shared narratives told through their engagement with the public,
shaping public opinion and being shaped by the public bidirectionally.
This approach could be further facilitated by the use of digital technology, because digital
technology’s most prominent ability is to form social networks that transcend geographical,
cultural and socio-economic barriers and limitations. Moreover, the unidirectional and
authoritative narratives promoted by museum institutions can be challenged by the capabilities of
digital technologies, to give enable the museum visitor to interact with the objects rather than just
passively observe them. For example, digital technology can practically provide easy ways to
rearrange the exhibits in a museum and create personalized narratives through customizable
classifications and categorizations of museum objects, thus democratizing the way in which the
exhibits are being categorized and described.
The UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage at the Cyprus University of Technology,
based on its expertise in the field of cultural heritage digitization, while also drawing on the
opinions gathered through its dialogue with the cultural institutions of the local community and
through its collaboration with the ExhiBIT project partners, has designed the ExhiBIT app. The
ExhiBIT app is based on the idea that digital technology should not simply replicate the physical
aspects of a museum in the digital world, but should use the unique capabilities and features of
digital connectivity to increase participation, co-curation, democracy, accessibility and
inclusivity. In other words, the museum experience shouldn’t just be digitally replicated, but
rather augmented or expanded by newer capabilities that digital technology offers.
The ExhiBIT app is designed to allow the user to decide how the exhibits should be set
up and displayed and what story they should tell. Also it permits the user to share their opinions
publicly online via the app. This encourages a more intimate interpretation of the objects, while
at the same time the exhibits become interfaces through which a social discussion is opened up
that concerns the present day lives of the viewers, rather than just the official authoritative
interpretations of them. This does not mean that we completely reject the “official” and scientific
explanation, but rather it enables for a parallel space to open up in which the public is able to use
the objects to reflect on their own social and individual lives. In this way, the objects become
alive again and relevant to the everyday life of the public. Meanwhile, by allowing viewers to
decide the “stories” and the meaning of the exhibits themselves, the app aims to enable the
participation of all parts of the community, including minorities, in the commons in a way that
does not exclude them, as it can happen by relying on official museum narratives that are
determined by the existing power dynamics within society.
The next stage will be to digitize the museum objects to be used in the application. After
the digitization, we will evaluate the app based on the results of user testing, and we will gather
relevant information. This information will address not only the technical aspects of the
application, but also its social impact. The comments and feedback we receive will inform us
about the functionality of the application in relation to the above-mentioned objectives and thus
will help us with the final technical and design modifications so that the ExhiBIT app contribute
to the idea of inclusiveness, democratization and engagement with the public.
Bourdieu, P., Darbel, A. and Schnapper, D., 1997. The Love of Art: European Art Museums and Their Public. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Mezirow, J. (1981). A critical theory of adult learning and education. Adult Education, 32, 3-24.
Proctor, N. (2021). The collection is dead; long live the collective. In: Shehade, M. and Stylianou-Lambert, T. (eds), Emerging Technologies and the Digital Transformation of Museums and Heritage Sites, Proceedings of the 1st RISE IMET conference, 2-4 June 2021, Springer.International Council of Museums. (2022). Museum Definition – International Council of Museums [Webpage]. Retrieved 30 01, 2024 from https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/.
The ExhiBIT app: transcending the museum experience