ABSTRACTS OF THE
9.03 SEMINAR
Frictions of the Digital: Rethinking Innovation and Engagement in the GLAM Sector
Keywords:
digitisation, accessibility, Lithuanian museums, cultural policy, cultural heritage
Abstract
The digitisation of cultural heritage has emerged not only from the need to preserve it, but also from the opportunity to present it to the public. Accessibility is a very important component of this process, allowing digitisation of cultural heritage to be studied from the perspective of society.
In Lithuania, the accessibility of digitised cultural heritage is ensured at the national level. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to examine the implementation of cultural heritage digitisation policy in Lithuania aimed to ensure accessibility of digitised cultural heritage from museums to the public.
My research combines an analysis of Lithuanian legislation regulating the implementation of this policy with a public survey (n=283), which aims to gain an understanding of how the public views the digitization of cultural heritage and uses digital heritage information systems. Data collection is still ongoing.
Preliminary results indicate low public awareness of digitised cultural heritage and digitised cultural heritage information systems, along with the complicated use of those systems. This suggests that the goals set out in legislation to increase accessibility of cultural heritage are not being fully achieved.
By focusing on Lithuania, this research contributes to discussions about digital heritage practices and digital engagement.
Keywords:
cybermuseology, diffusion of digital innovation, digital divide
Abstract
This study redefinines cybermuseology with an emphasis on digital innovation and focuses on the diffusion of digital innovation across the museum sector in Latvia. It addresses two RQ: (1) what digital divide related characteristics shape the diffusion process, and (2) whether and how the diffusion of digital innovation manifests in museums’ experiences and attitudes related to the implementation of their core functions.
The empirical research employs a mixed-methods strategy and is based on the analysis of a representative sector-wide survey, secondary quantitative (statistical) data, and primary qualitative data from 21 semi-structured interviews with museum employees from both the most innovative and the least innovative museums.
Diffusion is operationalised through 2 dimensions. The institutional dimension examines the observable graduality of diffusion and the influence of top-down and bottom-up decision-making through the lens of the digital divide, operationalised through (1) the innovation–needs paradox, (2) the role of socio-demographic factors, (3) usage gaps, and (4) the social desirability. Second, it analyses diffusion as a process and the resulting changes in relation to museums’ 3 core functions. The author addresses dilemmas related to collection digitisation and digitalisation and the preservation of born-digital heritage, changes in collection-based research, innovation research and transformations in museum education.
Keywords:
co-creation, community heritage initiatives, open access, data enrichment, Wikipedia, inclusion, diversity
Abstract:
How does the abundance of data and images shape what becomes visible and what remains unseen? How do different actors – audiences, researchers, developers, curators, artists, school students, and others – interpret and use digitised heritage? How are value, authorship, and accountability reconfigured in collaborative and co-created projects?
The questions for this workshop are key to the Wiki Labs Culture community. Centered around digitised Danish cultural heritage, we use Wikipedia to share knowledge, distribute open access materials, and form a friendly collaborative space where contributors with differing backgrounds are appreciated, heard and respected for their opinions and efforts. This creates productive friction: we learn from working together around the community rules of Wikipedia, and the GLAM institutions gain new perspectives on the collections we steward.
Wiki Labs Culture has managed to create an enduring effort towards enriching knowledge about cultural heritage in the small language Danish on Wikipedia. A targeted focus on womens' history (scientists, artists, writers, politicians etc.) has proven to enhance participation and deepen engagement. As the organiser, I will share key learnings from more than ten years of building a sustainable community where diversity in background, training and age is an seen as an asset.
Bibliography
Keywords:
digital cultural heritage, innovation, co-creation, digital engagement
Abstract
The presentation examines frictions of digital innovation in the GLAM sector by approaching digital heritage not as a technological inevitability, but as a social and institutional process of negotiation. Drawing on anthropological and infrastructure studies perspectives on friction, the presentation analyses the tensions that emerge at the intersections of digital development, institutional structures, professional practices, and external partnerships.
The presentation highlights recurring frictions such as the differing rhythms of institutional time and project-based digital development, the fragmentation of knowledge and responsibility, and tensions between creativity, standardisation, and control. Rather than treating these frictions merely as obstacles, they are understood as productive sites where new forms of collaboration, professional roles, and understandings of digital heritage take shape.
Alongside this broader analysis, the presentation discusses collaborations between museums, creative communities, and technology partners, drawing on examples from projects conducted at the Estonian National Museum. One of the examples comes from the game jam collaboration, where digital games and prototyping function as experimental spaces for rethinking institutional expectations, authorship, knowledge, and playfulness.
Keywords: Digital innovation, action research, museum practices, experimentation.
Abstract
The intersection of digital technology and museums has been discussed since the museum sector’s adoption of computing in the 1960s (Parry 2007). From EDB to ICT, AR, VR, and so on, the sector today faces yet another rapidly emerging technology: The current wave of AI promises a kaleidoscope of opportunities – and challenges – and many museums are developing AI strategies in response (Derda and Predescu 2025). But how can museums move from strategic ambitions to embedding digital innovation in everyday work practices?
This presentation draws on findings from a 1.5 year action research project on digital innovation involving ten museums across Europe and the United States. Understanding digital innovation as an emergent, situated, and negotiated practice (Bijker, Hughes, & Pinch 1987), the participating museums carried out local experiments and collaboratively reflected on their outcomes across institutional boundaries.The process resulted in a set of recommendations that for some will appear surprisingly non-digital. Instead, participants highlighted the importance of developing ways of working that cultivate an innovative and collaborative environment.
In the presentation, I will outline the process, present the resulting recommendations, and discuss how these insights might inform future approaches to digital innovation in the museum sector.
Bibliography
Keywords:
Economic Transactions, Audience Experiences, Historical Knowledge, digital cultural heritage, dilemma
Abstract
Den Gamle By is an open-air museum navigating between commercial operational logic and museological educational task.
We collect data on economic transactions and produce reports that define the guest as a commensurable transactional unit (Espeland & Stevens 1998) At the same time, audience surveys investigate the visitor experience and usage facilitated by the museum. (Djupdræt 2025). A third parameter is historical knowledge and the striving for professionally correct environments, in which the visitors' experiences and transactions take place (Skjernov 2013).
Through time registration and product sales, we can precisely measure the efficiency of, for example, the 1970s quarter's patisserie Bonnich, but we lack systems that similarly measure visitors' use and experience. And certainly, no systems with variables for historical correctness and credibility.
We wish to create a system that exploits this diversity rather than eliminating it (Madsen et al. forthcoming). This could be models where Machine Learning is applied to free-text responses from visitors to force technology to visualize soft values such as hygge, learning, and memory, alongside economic operational data.
We wish to discuss how such a system can be designed to facilitate a situated negotiation between credibility, experience, use, and economic necessity.
Bibliography
Frictions of the Digital: Rethinking Innovation and Engagement in the GLAM Sector
|
Rita Tamošaitienė. Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania Between Policy and Practice: Implementation of Cultural Heritage Digitisation Policy in Lithuanian Museums |
digitisation, accessibility, Lithuanian museums, cultural policy, cultural heritage
Abstract
The digitisation of cultural heritage has emerged not only from the need to preserve it, but also from the opportunity to present it to the public. Accessibility is a very important component of this process, allowing digitisation of cultural heritage to be studied from the perspective of society.
In Lithuania, the accessibility of digitised cultural heritage is ensured at the national level. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to examine the implementation of cultural heritage digitisation policy in Lithuania aimed to ensure accessibility of digitised cultural heritage from museums to the public.
My research combines an analysis of Lithuanian legislation regulating the implementation of this policy with a public survey (n=283), which aims to gain an understanding of how the public views the digitization of cultural heritage and uses digital heritage information systems. Data collection is still ongoing.
Preliminary results indicate low public awareness of digitised cultural heritage and digitised cultural heritage information systems, along with the complicated use of those systems. This suggests that the goals set out in legislation to increase accessibility of cultural heritage are not being fully achieved.
By focusing on Lithuania, this research contributes to discussions about digital heritage practices and digital engagement.
|
Elīna Vikmane. Latvian Academy of Culture / Latvian Museum Association, Latvia Diffusion of Digital Innovations in Museums: Operationalisation via the Digital Divide and Core Functions |
cybermuseology, diffusion of digital innovation, digital divide
Abstract
This study redefinines cybermuseology with an emphasis on digital innovation and focuses on the diffusion of digital innovation across the museum sector in Latvia. It addresses two RQ: (1) what digital divide related characteristics shape the diffusion process, and (2) whether and how the diffusion of digital innovation manifests in museums’ experiences and attitudes related to the implementation of their core functions.
The empirical research employs a mixed-methods strategy and is based on the analysis of a representative sector-wide survey, secondary quantitative (statistical) data, and primary qualitative data from 21 semi-structured interviews with museum employees from both the most innovative and the least innovative museums.
Diffusion is operationalised through 2 dimensions. The institutional dimension examines the observable graduality of diffusion and the influence of top-down and bottom-up decision-making through the lens of the digital divide, operationalised through (1) the innovation–needs paradox, (2) the role of socio-demographic factors, (3) usage gaps, and (4) the social desirability. Second, it analyses diffusion as a process and the resulting changes in relation to museums’ 3 core functions. The author addresses dilemmas related to collection digitisation and digitalisation and the preservation of born-digital heritage, changes in collection-based research, innovation research and transformations in museum education.
|
Merete Sanderhoff. SMK - Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark Productive Frictions: Wikipedians and GLAM professionals collaborating to enrich open knowledge of Danish cultural Heritage |
co-creation, community heritage initiatives, open access, data enrichment, Wikipedia, inclusion, diversity
Abstract:
How does the abundance of data and images shape what becomes visible and what remains unseen? How do different actors – audiences, researchers, developers, curators, artists, school students, and others – interpret and use digitised heritage? How are value, authorship, and accountability reconfigured in collaborative and co-created projects?
The questions for this workshop are key to the Wiki Labs Culture community. Centered around digitised Danish cultural heritage, we use Wikipedia to share knowledge, distribute open access materials, and form a friendly collaborative space where contributors with differing backgrounds are appreciated, heard and respected for their opinions and efforts. This creates productive friction: we learn from working together around the community rules of Wikipedia, and the GLAM institutions gain new perspectives on the collections we steward.
Wiki Labs Culture has managed to create an enduring effort towards enriching knowledge about cultural heritage in the small language Danish on Wikipedia. A targeted focus on womens' history (scientists, artists, writers, politicians etc.) has proven to enhance participation and deepen engagement. As the organiser, I will share key learnings from more than ten years of building a sustainable community where diversity in background, training and age is an seen as an asset.
Bibliography
- Sanderhoff, M. (2023). In users we trust. In NEMO Practical Guide: Digital Basic Cataloguing – 10 Principles. Network of European Museum Organisations.
Sanderhoff, M. (2014). Sharing is Caring: Openness and Sharing in the Cultural Heritage Sector. Copenhagen: Statens Museum for Kunst.
|
Agnes Aljas, Pille Runnel. Estonian National Museum, Estonia Productive Frictions: Negotiating Digital Innovation in the GLAM Sector |
digital cultural heritage, innovation, co-creation, digital engagement
Abstract
The presentation examines frictions of digital innovation in the GLAM sector by approaching digital heritage not as a technological inevitability, but as a social and institutional process of negotiation. Drawing on anthropological and infrastructure studies perspectives on friction, the presentation analyses the tensions that emerge at the intersections of digital development, institutional structures, professional practices, and external partnerships.
The presentation highlights recurring frictions such as the differing rhythms of institutional time and project-based digital development, the fragmentation of knowledge and responsibility, and tensions between creativity, standardisation, and control. Rather than treating these frictions merely as obstacles, they are understood as productive sites where new forms of collaboration, professional roles, and understandings of digital heritage take shape.
Alongside this broader analysis, the presentation discusses collaborations between museums, creative communities, and technology partners, drawing on examples from projects conducted at the Estonian National Museum. One of the examples comes from the game jam collaboration, where digital games and prototyping function as experimental spaces for rethinking institutional expectations, authorship, knowledge, and playfulness.
|
Anne Rørbæk Olesen. National Museum of Denmark, Denmark Digital innovation as everyday practice: Learnings from ten museums |
Abstract
The intersection of digital technology and museums has been discussed since the museum sector’s adoption of computing in the 1960s (Parry 2007). From EDB to ICT, AR, VR, and so on, the sector today faces yet another rapidly emerging technology: The current wave of AI promises a kaleidoscope of opportunities – and challenges – and many museums are developing AI strategies in response (Derda and Predescu 2025). But how can museums move from strategic ambitions to embedding digital innovation in everyday work practices?
This presentation draws on findings from a 1.5 year action research project on digital innovation involving ten museums across Europe and the United States. Understanding digital innovation as an emergent, situated, and negotiated practice (Bijker, Hughes, & Pinch 1987), the participating museums carried out local experiments and collaboratively reflected on their outcomes across institutional boundaries.The process resulted in a set of recommendations that for some will appear surprisingly non-digital. Instead, participants highlighted the importance of developing ways of working that cultivate an innovative and collaborative environment.
In the presentation, I will outline the process, present the resulting recommendations, and discuss how these insights might inform future approaches to digital innovation in the museum sector.
Bibliography
- Bijker, W. E., Hughes, T. P., & Pinch, T. J. (Eds) (1987). The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
- Derda, I., & Predescu, D. (2025). Towards human-centric AI in museums: practitioners’ perspectives and technology acceptance of visitor-centered AI for value (co-)creation. Museum Management and Curatorship, 40(4), 532–554. https://doi.org/10.1080/09647775.2025.2467703
- Parry, R. (2007). Recoding the Museum: Digital Heritage and the Technologies of Change. London: Routledge.
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Martin Brandt Djupdræt, Thomas Linde Dideriksen. Den Gamle By, Denmark Compiling Economic Transactions, Audience Experiences, and Historical Knowledge |
Economic Transactions, Audience Experiences, Historical Knowledge, digital cultural heritage, dilemma
Abstract
Den Gamle By is an open-air museum navigating between commercial operational logic and museological educational task.
We collect data on economic transactions and produce reports that define the guest as a commensurable transactional unit (Espeland & Stevens 1998) At the same time, audience surveys investigate the visitor experience and usage facilitated by the museum. (Djupdræt 2025). A third parameter is historical knowledge and the striving for professionally correct environments, in which the visitors' experiences and transactions take place (Skjernov 2013).
Through time registration and product sales, we can precisely measure the efficiency of, for example, the 1970s quarter's patisserie Bonnich, but we lack systems that similarly measure visitors' use and experience. And certainly, no systems with variables for historical correctness and credibility.
We wish to create a system that exploits this diversity rather than eliminating it (Madsen et al. forthcoming). This could be models where Machine Learning is applied to free-text responses from visitors to force technology to visualize soft values such as hygge, learning, and memory, alongside economic operational data.
We wish to discuss how such a system can be designed to facilitate a situated negotiation between credibility, experience, use, and economic necessity.
Bibliography
- Djupdræt, M. B. (2025). Museumsbesøget: En undersøgelse af brug, udbytte og oplevet værdi. CBS.
- Espeland, W. N., & Stevens, M. L. (1998). Commensuration as a Social Process. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 313–343.
- Madsen, A. K., et al. (forthcoming). Datafantasi – fra styring til læring i en verden af vilde problemer. In Nørlem et al. (eds.), Tilblivelser og det levende. Samfundslitteratur.
- Skjernov, L. (2013). Æ skumkacher å æ vinnebrø’. Den Gamle By: Danmarks Købstadmuseum (Årbog), 79.