5 Case Study 1 - Leicester Research Archive - University of Leicester

INTRODUCTION
This research is concerned with notions of change and how museums have or
have not responded to them. The driving force behind this thesis, and its key
objective is to shed light onto the real opportunities of using digital media –
podcasting 10 in particular – as a tool to present and interpret material culture in
museums for the purpose of making the experience of art more engaging,
participatory and accessible. 11
10 Podcasting refers to a Web feed of audio or video files that any user can subscribe to, so that
they are automatically updated and downloaded as they become available. For a more thorough
definition see the paragraph under the sub-heading “Definition” in the Introduction of Chapter 4.
11 Within the museological discourse, user-participation, engagement and concepts of
interactivity are still chiefly associated with the clicking of buttons and boxes, with the possibility
of enhancing dialogue between museum and audience by allowing users to send emails through
websites, or by offering online discussion forums and related online tools and services, which
allow users to participate in the production of content on museum websites. This thesis moves
beyond this very literal and technical understanding of how the Web enhances user-participation
and engagement. User participation as understood in this thesis has not got much to do with users
writing and uploading content. Nor is it related to the idea that online museums can foster twoway
communication between museum and audiences and among audiences themselves. Rather, it
has to do with providing users with the tools that help them make sense of what they encounter in
museum exhibitions. More specifically, the thesis argues that podcasting is one of the many
possible tools that can be used in the context of museum learning. (And learning, education and
knowledge is considered as one of the prerequisites, necessary for encouraging users to become
more participatory and engaged in the museum experience.) The thesis, for instance, shows how
podcasting can support users in preparing or following up their museum visit. This it is argued
will help users to develop skills to construct meaning from objects they see in exhibitions and in a
second step, because they are more informed, people will become more engaged in culture. This
understanding of user-participation is based on the idea that a more informed user will
automatically make more sense of the museums’ offerings, which is supported by the research of
Falk and Dierking. These key theorists in the field of museum learning argue that a visitor who
feels comfortable in the galleries, who can easily orientate him/herself around the spaces, and has
some sort of idea what to expect in the galleries, will be more likely to understand the
exhibition’s narrative and as a consequence be able to take in more information, and make more
meaning out of this information. The idea is that a more informed museum visitor, is also likely
to become more interested, hence engaged in all sorts of cultural experiences, be they in a
museum or not. Based on literature reviews and data collected in case study 2 it is argued, that
podcasting can foster interests in various subjects. It is not argued that podcasting of museum x
will create subjects that become regular visitors of museum x. But what is suggested is that
people who listen to a podcast of museum x, might visit an exhibition related to the subject they
encountered in the podcast whether in museum x or elsewhere; or they might read a book on this
newly discovered subject, visit a theatre or concert. Summing up, the key argument is that a welldone
video or audio programme (that may be provided as podcast, webcast, embedded
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