Original scientific paper
Croatian Museums in the Digital Domain: Sources for a Society of Knowledge?
Maja Šojat-Bikić
; Muzej grada Zagreba, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
In the late 1990s, Croatian museums launched their fi rst websites. Are present museums using the internet as the most powerful medium for communication and cultural identity or have they remained at the level of the fi rst generation of websites? Have new technologies and the web environment affected the process of integration of heritage contents from archives, libraries and museums? What are the trends of digital production and communication and are the traditional disagreements between heritage institutions still present at the expense of the users and development of a society of knowledge? The paper provides a critical analysis of the Croatian museum digital domain in the context of a society of knowledge and online learning based on a study conducted in April 2009. It analyzes the communication patterns based on evaluation of museum websites by using four criteria groups: general, content-oriented, communication-oriented in the context of social web, and educational according to UNESCO’s four tiers of education. The study shows that the possibilities of integrating content from various heritage sources are still unused and that they have not significantly affected the production of thematic digital products due to the digital gap present both between institutions and between professions within institutions. The evaluation according to UNESCO’s four tiers of education failed to show a significant contribution of Croatian museum websites to a society of knowledge.
Keywords
digitalization in museums; museum websites; society of knowledge; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
334535
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2009.
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