Digital Museums
Since 2004, I have been researching the "digital museum in the life of the user," studying how museum visitors incorporate digital museum resources into their daily lives. As museums provide online access to their collections and other information resources, it becomes important to explore how access to digital museum resources affects the ability of museum information professionals to meet the needs of museum visitors.
With this research, I am addressing such questions as: Why do individuals desire access to digital representations of museum resources? How can museum professionals help users integrate digital museum resources into the sociocultural fabric of their everyday lives? How does increased access to digital information resources affect the ability of the information professional working in the museum to meet the needs of museum visitors?
In a recent project, I administered a survey to more than 1200 online visitors to museum websites about the role museum websites play in the lives of museum visitors. This study is exploring why people visit museum websites before going to museums, how museum websites influence one's decision to visit a museum, and how museum visitors integrate online museum resources into their daily lives:
Marty, P.F. (2008). Museum websites and museum visitors: Digital museum resources and their use. Museum Management and Curatorship 23 (1), 81-99. [Preprint | Final]
Marty, P.F. (2007). Museum websites and museum visitors: Before and after the museum visit. Museum Management and Curatorship 22 (4), 337-360. [Preprint | Final]
Marty, P.F. (2007). The Digital Museum in the Life of the User. In Proceedings of Digital Humanities 2007 (pp. 133-134). Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Available online at http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dh2007/abstracts/xhtml.xq?id=138
Since 2006, I have been exploring the role of personal digital collections in encouraging a positive relationship between museum visitors and museum websites. Access to digital collections offers museum visitors new opportunities for interactivity, such as "my collection" interfaces where visitors to museum websites can build digital collections of their favorite museum artifacts. In theory, the ability to create such collections serves as a lure, encouraging visitors to explore the museum's collections online.
I have gathered some initial data from museums with these personal digital collection interfaces, and I am currently working on a study funded by the FSU Council on Research and Creativity to explore the effectiveness of personal digital collections from the user's perspective:
Marty, P.F. (In Preparation). Online museum visitors and personal digital collections.