Previous Possessions,New Obligations: A Commitment by Australian Museums†

In 1993, Museums Australia, representing museums and the Australian museum community, adopted a policy covering relations between museums and Australia's indigenous peoples. Previous Possessions, New Obligations is based on 13 principles, the first of which recognizes the right to self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in respect of their cultural property. The policy recognizes a multiplicity of interests in indigenous peoples' cultural property but emphasizes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' primary role. The policy was developed through consultation with indigenous people and communities, museums, professional associations, and governments. It covers human remains, secret/sacred material, and collections in general. It also deals with museums' public programs and issues of staffing, training, and governance. It emphasizes the importance of consultation between museum staff and appropriate persons and communities when museums are dealing with indigenous cultures. This paper traces the history of museums' dealings with indigenous peoples in several countries, especially Australia. The development of this policy from mid-1991 is traced. Museums Australia, in collaboration with the Australian government, is pursuing the policy, especially the provenancing of human remains and secret/sacred material, to assist in returning such material when requested and appropriate. Museums Australia is also reviewing the effect the policy has had over the last two years. While the policy is an important document, there is still much progress to be made.     

Building Relationships through Communities of Practice: Museums and Indigenous People

Abstract This paper explores the theory of “communities of practice” and how the ideas contained in it could be applied to museums, by demonstrating how a key stakeholder group, Indigenous people, have been involved with and engaged in the work of the Australian Museum, Sydney, over the past 30 years. It is suggested that the processes museums have developed in building relationships with Indigenous people, particularly at the practitioner level, could form a template for how museums make themselves relevant to broader communities through active engagement with multiple communities of practice.     

Evaluation, Research and Communities of Practice: Program Evaluation in Museums

Museums present different contexts for learning, particularly when compared with places such as schooos, universities and libraries. They have been described as free-choice learning environments visited by a broad range of people. Museums have the opportunity to shape identities—through access to objects, knowledge and information visitors see themselves and their culture reflected in ways that encourage new connections, meaning making and learning. However, across the world museums are finding themselves competing with other leisure and learning experiences in an increasingly global world. The long history of audience research in the cultural sector demonstrates the interest museums have had in their visitors over time. This paper outlines the development of audience research in museums, the context within which it operates, and describes the processes of audience research through a series of case studies drawn from the work of the Australian Museum Audience Research Centre. It is argued that the shift in museums from mission-led program development to balancing content and audience needs through a transaction approach requires a broader research-focused agenda. While traditional ways of conducting evaluations are necessary and useful, to remain viable audience research needs to be more strategic, working across the sector in new ways and utilising new methods. How programs impact on users and facilitate learning about a wide range of key issues that museums are concerned with is a leadership role that audience research can take across both the cultural sector and other free-choice learning contexts. To achieve this, a communities of practice approach is suggested as a potential framework for audience research in the contemporary museum.     

NAGPRA: Effective Repatriation Programs and Cultural Change in Museums

A survey of museums in the United States sought to identify evidence of broad impact on the organisational culture and practices of museums in their relatioships with indiginous peoples as a result of the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 1990 (NAGPRA). NAGPRA establishes a process for the repatriation of human remains and other specified items held in museum collections to Native Americans who can prove they are lineal descendants or members of tribes which are culturally affiliated with identified items covered by the legislation. Effective repatriation programs are characterised by: * a genuine belief in the primary rights of indigenous people in the management of their cultural material presently held in museum collections; * a commitment to greater collaboration between the museum and indigenous people in the management of scientific research and public programs pertaining to items of indigenous cultural heritage; * practices which are indicative of an organisational culture which acts in ways which go beyond the minimum requirements of the legislation. Our research shows that museums are engaging in consultation with indigenous people in the management of collections of indigenous cultural heritage, and that this engagement is influencing conservation strategies. Museums espouse goals which promote external consultation, the involvement of indigenous people in their activities, respect for the cultural goals of indigenous people and a commitment to increasing public awareness of indigenous cultural heritage and social issues. However, only in the areas where NAGPRA has mandated it should happen—collections of human remains and secret/sacred material—is there evidence of communication and consultation, commitment of resources and sharing of authority with indigenous people consistent with the outcomes intended under NAGPRA.     

The Temple and the Bazaar: Wikipedia as a Platform for Open Authority in Museums

Museums today grapple with the reconciliation of traditional models of authority with the expectation to incorporate new voices in cultural interpretation. At the same time, society is increasingly empowered by a social Web that provides collaboration, connectivity, and openness. This paper frames the dialogue of authority and openness around parallel theories within the museum and technology communities, offering Wikipedia as a platform for facilitating new perspectives in collaborative knowledge‐sharing between museums and communities. Expanding on the metaphors of the museum as “the Temple and the Forum” and the Web as “the Cathedral and the Bazaar,” this essay argues that issues of democratization, voice, and authority in museums can be addressed through Wikipedia's community, process, and its potential as a model for a new Open Authority in museums.     

Hyperconnection: Natural History Museums,Knowledge, and the Evolving Ecology of Community

Abstract Interviews conducted during the summer of 2006 with people in and around the international museum community suggest that the interests natural history museums share in common with each other and with other kinds of organizations and communities are creating an array of new links across institutional, social and cultural boundaries. These links are active, complex, networked relationships directed toward common purposes. Museums that are taking advantage of this emerging environment are becoming “hyperconnected hubs” across which knowledge is exchanged and action initiated. In forging a multitude of “weak ties” outward at different institutional levels, museums are finding that their shared activity with others brings to themselves new and often unexpected value across the “strong ties” that bind them together internally as institutions. Those natural history museums most able to participate as members of larger, interconnected entities are finding powerful new opportunities to more vigorously engage the world they study and the constituencies they serve. In the process, they are becoming increasingly open, active and relevant.     

Keeping cultures alive: archives and Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights

Archives play an important role in the cultural survival of Indigenous Australians. The wave of colonisation has had such an impact on Indigenous communities and the transmission of culture that access to records, materials, photographs and films is, for Indigenous people, a key way of keeping culture. Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights are Indigenous people’s rights to their heritage. Archival organisations and museums collect and preserve Indigenous people’s culture. In the past, this has been from an ethnographic eye, but the contemporary challenge is to work with Indigenous people to make the archives alive, to foster and promote Indigenous cultural knowledge and cultural expression, and innovation.     

Museums and the Agency of Ideology: Three Recent Examples

Abstract Museums are not neutral organizations; they are active social participants. While museums serve many social purposes, fundamentally they define and express major social narratives. Museums are important collections of ideological symbols and perform a special communication as well as legitimizing role. The narratives conveyed by museums are observed as definitive and authoritative, and the objects displayed are understood as emblematic or normative culture. This article examines two museums and a historic site in the United States in the context of their social narratives. Attention is paid to the political implications of recent program decisions. The social and political interactions that accompany these institutions' program decisions demonstrate the ideological purpose of the museum.     

中国早期自然博物馆中的两个方向——“学究式博物馆”与“公共教育博物馆”

近代中国政治、经济、文化等领域深受西方影响,早期自然博物馆的营建体现出了两个不同方向。西方对生物学的研究经历了博物学狭义化到实验生理学为主导的方法转向、博物馆内部教育功能的发展趋势以及外强入侵近代中国的社会背景,共同推动了中国早期自然博物馆的落地生根。西人营建的中国早期自然博物馆是欧洲自然史收藏体系下的一部分,这类“学究式博物馆”研究属性强,不以服务中国社会为目的,影响有限。而中国本土的不同阶层在传播博物馆观念与实践上均做出了各自回应,他们身处衰败之际与觉醒年代,肩负救亡图存之责任,其创办的一批“公共教育博物馆”彰显了对科学的求索,对国家未来的希冀。这些博物馆体现了科学传播的公共性价值。     

Do Museums Change Lives?: Ninth Stephen Weil Memorial Lecture

No museum is actually “neutral,” ever. This article presents the keynote address presented at the annual conference of the International Committee on Museum Management (INTERCOM) and of the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM). In it, the author lays out the provocative case that museums not only are not, but should not be “neutral” when it comes to issues of human rights and social justice. Museums need not present both sides of every argument, or retain a lofty academic tone when it comes to the injustices of the present and the past. As an alternative course, the author presents a framework published by the British Museums Association, entitled Museums Change Lives, which offers a vision for museums to engage with challenging topics. He then offers a series of examples where Museums have embraced a new role as a promoter of social good.     

Learning from Culture: The Importance of the Museums and Galleries Education Program (Phase I) in England

Abstract During 1999–2002, the British government invested £3 million (roughly $5.5 million) in an unprecedented set of initiatives that explored the potential of museums and galleries for educating students in novel and compelling ways. The Museums and Galleries Education Program (Phase 1), or MGEP1, consisted of 65 projects linking schools and museums of all kinds. Projects took many forms and were spread across England, reaching students between the ages of 5 and 16. They also enlisted the talents and energies of creative professionals, such as artists and media producers, and involved parents, community members, and museum workers. This paper describes MGEP1, gives a “before and after” picture of museums and education in England, and assesses the program's impact. Learning outcomes for pupils and teachers are discussed, and the importance for museum education policy and practice is outlined.     

A Synopsis and Perspective of Concerns and Challenges for the International Community of University Museums

University museums and their collections are among the oldest and most significant in the world, yet their role and future is being questioned. They have critical needs for facilities, staff, and support. At risk are millions of objects that document our natural and cultural history and programs for research, teaching, and public education and exhibits. The museums are attempting to redefine, reposition, and clarify their educational mission. Museums such as the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural history are successfully meeting the challenges through strategic planning and funding for new facilities. Other museums are finding solutions with partnerships, links, and tailor‐made service programs. New leadership and management will need to emerge for university museums to reestablish their stature and relevance. Physical and intellectual access to the museums and their objects is a key to their future. The new technologies are tools that museums can use to improve their interpretive programs and increase the depth of their research. Facing shared concerns and challenges, the museums are generating a growning sense of collective urgency and a call for intenational organization, advocacy, and cooperation, resulting in formation of the International Committee for University Museums and Collections.     

Museums and the Living Artist

During the past two decades, relationships between artists and museums have changed in subtle, but significant, ways. Artists have become more fully integrated into the day-to-day workings of the art museum, whether as employees, guest curators, or even as members of decision-making boards. A new awareness of museum ethics in the 1980s has led to questioning of some common practices, and issues such as censorship have come to the fore. What has emerged is the growing realization on the part of both museums and artists that their fates are inextricably linked.     

Sex Differences in Science Museums: A Review

Girls as a group have far fewer science- and math-related experiences than boys. This article reviews what is known about how these differences carry over into science museums. Behavioral studies indicate that girls generally engage in more cooperative behavior at museum exhibits, and boys explore exhibits more actively on their own. However, there are large differences between institutions and even discrepancies between similar studies at the same institution. Museums may be able to minimize gender differences by anticipating them in the design of exhibits and programs.     

Nodes and Connections: Science Museums in the Network Age1

Abstract Museums have embraced the World Wide Web in many ways. For some it is a convenient way to market their offerings, for others it has become a fundamental cornerstone of their practice. Questions still remain about the role of the Web in the museum world and the interplay between the physical and virtual worlds. Developing a strong research agenda and fostering a shared community of practice are two necessary components if museums are to maximize the potential that the Web has to offer them.     

Museums and Virtuality

Abstract This paper investigates issues of museums and virtuality. In considering the diverse ways that museums are approaching virtuality, the focus here is on the common ground and shared objectives, rather than the differences between museums and their virtual re‐creations. Put simply, on‐site museums and their online counterparts are merely two ways of exhibiting cultures. In this sense, “virtuality” is a fundamental exhibition practice. The World Wide Web has become increasingly relevant to such core museum tasks as collecting, preserving, and exhibiting. Digitization of objects in digital heritage programs has led to new forms of collection management and unparalleled access to virtual replicas of museum artifacts. This transformation is inspiring new forms of preserving and displaying cultures both on‐ and off‐line. A successful digital expansion will largely influence whether museums can sustain their cultural authority and position in the 21st century.     

国家达尔文博物馆与俄罗斯自然历史博物馆协会

创建于1907年的国家达尔文博物馆是俄罗斯历史最悠久的自然历史博物馆之一,由亚历山大·科茨等四人共同创办,该馆每年为不同的观众举办50~60个不同主题的展览。在国家达尔文博物馆中设立的俄罗斯自然历史博物馆协会发挥着联系俄罗斯各自然历史博物馆的作用。     

Museums and Technology: Being Inclusive Helps Accessibility for All

This paper explores accessibility issues for museums in the context of growing dependence on technology. The background of these issues is described, along with the evolution from physical access to digital access—for example, via the Web—and, increasingly, mobile technology. The authors are people with different disabilities and they describe personal experiences, giving a sense of the various barriers and benefits that are involved. The aim of this paper is to provide museums with a disabled person's point of view, which could help in inspiring improvements for the future. Often the task is one of understanding as much as financial constraints, since many solutions can be implemented at little additional cost.     

Art and National Identity: Some Museums in Prague

In histories of the art museum, Prague has only a minor place. Yet at one crucial early moment, Prague played an important role in what we might call the prehistory of European public museums. There is a close link between art museums and nationalism. One necessary condition for being a country, it might be said, is that its people have a distinctive artistic tradition and therefore reason to build a museum in which to house it. What, then, is the relationship between Prague’s art museums and the identity of the Czech people?     

Investigating the Development of the “Mobile Museum” from the Perspective of Service

During economic development, modern museums face competition from various leisure activities and entertainment sites, and to achieve sustainable development, museums should reflect on providing high‐quality service to satisfy visitors’ expectations. Based on service design‐related theories, this research team conducted a case study to explore the planning, implementation, and meaning of Mobile Museums. It investigated design development from the perspective of public service design and summarized the policy, design, and service satisfaction results for Mobile Museums. Finally, the similarities in service processes are discussed between Mobile Museums and the general service industry. According to this study, attracting more visitors is the biggest issue facing museums today, as are the ways in which museums must actively provide service and become recognized to compete with others. This study identifies the onstage and backstage support of museums as well as their cultural features and non‐profit services.