Museum informatics and collaborative technologies: the emerging socio-technological dimension of information science in museum environments

The museum offers a starting point from which to examine the fundamental nature of collaborative work and interdisciplinary scholarship. This article examines the socio-technological impact of introducing advanced information technology into the Spurlock Museum, a museum of world history and culture at the University of Illinois. It addresses the implementation of such methodologies as computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the museum environment. Discussions are illustrated with examples and scenarios drawn from the Spurlock Museum and emphasize the intimate relationship between the museum's social structure and information systems. Viewed in a holistic fashion, such studies of collaborative activities within the museum will help shape the future of museum informatics, an emerging sub-discipline of the field of social informatics.

[1]  Elaine Rich,et al.  User Modeling via Stereotypes , 1998, Cogn. Sci..

[2]  Lucy Suchman.  Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication , 1987 .

[3]  Karen Sparck Jones.  User Models, Discourse Models, and Some Others , 1988, CL.

[4]  Sung-Hyon Myaeng,et al.  Integration of user profiles: models and experiments in information retrieval , 1990, Inf. Process. Manag..

[5]  Christian Heath,et al.  Collaborative Activity and Technological Design: Task Coordination in London Underground Control Rooms , 1991, ECSCW.

[6]  G. Macdonald,et al.  The museum as information utility , 1991 .

[7]  Eilean Hooper-Greenhill.  Museum And Gallery Education , 1991 .

[8]  Bonnie A. Nardi,et al.  Twinkling Lights and Nested Loops: Distributed Problem Solving and Spreadsheet Development , 1991, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[9]  Richard Bentley,et al.  Ethnographically-informed systems design for air traffic control , 1992, CSCW '92.

[10]  Eilean Hooper-Greenhill.  Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge , 1992 .

[11]  Dan Shapiro,et al.  Faltering from ethnography to design , 1992, CSCW '92.

[12]  Christopher John Nash.  Interactive media in museums: Looking backwards, forwards and sideways , 1992 .

[13]  Eileen Hooper Greenhill.  Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge , 1992 .

[14]  Kjeld Schmidt,et al.  Taking CSCW Seriously: Supporting Articulation Work * , 1992 .

[15]  Stephanie Eva Koester.  Interactive Multimedia in American Museums , 1993 .

[16]  Paul B. Kantor.  The Adaptive Network Library Interface: A Historical Overview and Interim Report , 1993 .

[17]  Richard Bentley,et al.  Integrating ethnography into the requirements engineering process , 1993, [1993] Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering.

[18]  Richard Bentley,et al.  Situated evaluation for cooperative systems , 1994, CSCW '94.

[19]  M. Ackerman.  Augmenting the organizational memory: a field study of answer garden , 1994, CSCW '94.

[20]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Moving out from the control room: ethnography in system design , 1994, CSCW '94.

[21]  David McConnell,et al.  Implementing Computer Supported Cooperative Learning , 1994 .

[22]  Sigois.  CSCW '94 : transcending boundaries : proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, October 22-26, 1994, Chapel Hill, NC, USA , 1994 .

[23]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Working with “constant interruption”: CSCW and the small office , 1994, CSCW '94.

[24]  Steven G. Jones.  CyberSociety: Computer-Mediated Communication and Community , 1994 .

[25]  James D. Hollan,et al.  History-Enriched Digital Objects: Prototypes and Policy Issues , 1994, Inf. Soc..

[26]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Working with 'constant interruption , 1994 .

[27]  John M. Carroll,et al.  Scenario-based design: envisioning work and technology in system development: john wiley & sons , 1995 .

[28]  Graham Button,et al.  The relevance of “work-practice” for design , 1995 .

[29]  P. Levy,et al.  Research Brief: Developing a New Professional Practice: a Model for Networked Learner Support in Higher Education , 1995, J. Documentation.

[30]  David M. Nichols,et al.  Browsing is a collaborative process , 1997, Inf. Process. Manag..

[31]  S. Kiesler.  Culture of the Internet , 1997 .

[32]  Selma Thomas,et al.  Virtual and the Real: Media in the Museum , 1998 .

[33]  Carol A. Hert,et al.  Social Informatics in Information Science: An Introduction , 1998, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[34]  Henry M. Gladney,et al.  Digital access to antiquities , 1998, CACM.

[35]  W. Boyd Rayward.  Electronic information and the functional integration of libraries, museums, and archives , 1998 .

[36]  Boon-Lock Yeo,et al.  Technical trials and legal tribulations , 1998, CACM.

[37]  William E. Moen.  Accessing distributed cultural heritage information , 1998, CACM.

[38]  Caroline Haythornthwaite,et al.  Mapping the dimensions of a dynamic field , 1999 .

[39]  Eilean Hooper-Greenhill,et al.  Museum, Media, Message , 1999 .