Cultural heritage sites, including libraries, archives and museums, have existed in some shape or form for a very long time. Computers, on the other hand, have only been a part of these institutions for about sixty years. Although technologies offer more efficient and cost-effective ways to store and disseminate information and promise greater accessibility to materials, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they successfully facilitate the missions of these cultural heritage sites or the needs of their visitors. Why is this the case? Do digital technologies truly have the potential to decentralize and democratize these spaces? What can they tell us about what we value, as a culture? In this interdisciplinary course, we will reflect on the impact of digital technologies on cultural heritage sites, and museums in particular, starting in the 1960s and continuing through the present, including discussion of how museums responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other things, students will learn how to collect, curate, and digitize objects, write and design an object label, and contribute to an online exhibition.
Goals
You’ll emerge from this class with the ability to:
Critically engage with the history of technology in the cultural heritage sector
Collect, curate, and digitize objects
Engage with new writing formats and styles
Balance the discoverability component of playing with digital tools with the very real possibility/probability of failure (“productive” failure)
Explore and articulate ways that digital technologies may be used effectively and ethically.
Questions we’ll consider (among many others):
What is valuable to us as a culture? Or, who decides what is valuable to us as a culture, and why?
Where does “authority” come from, and how does technology impact notions of authority?
How important are objects to the mission of the museum?
Is technology transformative or disruptive (or both) within the context of memory institutions?
What ethical questions arise when we talk about technology?
About
Instructor Information
Aisling Quigley, PhD
aquigley@macalester.edu
Library L03 (lower level of the library in the Digital Resource Center)
Office hours
Tuesdays from 3:30-4:30 PM, or by appointment (I have a Calendly or you can just send me an email)
Course Description
M/W/F- 12:00-1:00 PM | Carnegie 304
Cultural heritage sites, including libraries, archives and museums, have existed in some shape or form for a very long time. Computers, on the other hand, have only been a part of these institutions for about sixty years. Although technologies offer more efficient and cost-effective ways to store and disseminate information and promise greater accessibility to materials, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they successfully facilitate the missions of these cultural heritage sites or the needs of their visitors. Why is this the case? Do digital technologies truly have the potential to decentralize and democratize these spaces? What can they tell us about what we value, as a culture? In this interdisciplinary course, we will reflect on the impact of digital technologies on cultural heritage sites, and museums in particular, starting in the 1960s and continuing through the present, including discussion of how museums responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other things, students will learn how to collect, curate, and digitize objects, write and design an object label, and contribute to an online exhibition.
Goals
You’ll emerge from this class with the ability to:
Questions we’ll consider (among many others):