Defining Cybermuseology
The term ‘Cybermuseology’ (in
French «Cybermuséologie») has already appeared in some articles and conference
presentations, mostly in the Canadian museological community. The phenomena
that Cybermuseology represents have been developing worldwide and now demand
the introduction of a common term into General Museology theory to cover work
published to date on the museum's digital dimension.
In order to adequately define
Cybermuseology, we first need to determine its relationship to General
Museology and, secondly, outline all the cyber-related
issues that could be attributed to museum activities.
Cybermuseology Seen
Meta-Museologically
Hypothetically, Cybermuseology
could have become one of the following: 1) an applied discipline (i.e. Special
museology) or 2) a museological current (or movement). General museology,
as a field of study and academic discipline, reflects on the concepts concerning
all museum activities from collection management to visitors’ needs. In particular, it is aimed at monitoring Special
Museologies and keeping them up-to-date. By Special Museologies, we
refer to the application of specific subject disciplines serving museum needs.
On an academic level, they have already become university disciplines.
Today these so-called Special Museologies
include, for instance, Visitor Studies, Collections Management, Exhibition
Development, Object attribution and authenticity, Museum Informatics and so on.
Broader concepts, such as Museologie
Nouvelle and Critical Museology, have also emerged since the 1960s. Their relationship to General Museology is defined as
‘Museological Movements’ inside the common field of study. Those movements have
been forming in opposition to ‘old Museology’, which still lies within the
realm of General Museology and the wider
concept of Metamuseology. Museological movements have their own
distinct trends: Inclusive Museology as a further development of the
idea of New Museology, Postcritical
Museology as a smoothing application for Critical Museology in a less critical way and so forth.
The term ‘Cybermuseology’ unites
museum professionals’ and museologists' reflections that advance the idea of
the efficient use of digital media by museums. At this stage, Cybermuseology as
an intellectual discourse is already wider
than any of the Special Museologies. It is not only connected with the
application of Museum Informatics but we also can find reflections of a
philosophical nature, including conceptual foresights. Considering the growing
number of professional posts and conferences pertaining to the digital
dimension of museums, we are witnessing the growth of Cybermuseology into a
wide museological movement, uniting professionals all over the world. The
research agenda behind Cybermuseology also has been growing, along with new
challenges from the information technology industry to
which museums now have to respond.
To support the aforementioned
arguments, we will take a closer look at not only the new ‘cyber’ professions
that have been introduced into museums but also significant conferences and
publications on the subject.
(this paper was presented at ICOFOM symposium in 2014)
