Abstract
The purpose of this article is to verify how museums in Poland deal with the challenge of digital transformation. The proliferation of information and communications technology (ICT) enables the digitization of museum collections and increases their availability to the public. The preservation and popularization of cultural heritage, being an important part of the cultural policy, is a priority for the European Union, resulting in increased funding of digitization initiatives. The study presented in this article is based on a survey performed among a group of leading museums in Poland which are recorded in the State Register of Museums. The results show that museums accept digitization as a crucial element of their activity. 69% of the institutions present some part of their collections online and 94% intend to increase the scope of digitization. However, most institutions share less than 25% of their current collections online despite having a larger part digitized. 83% of museums share their collections exclusively on their own websites or dedicated platforms, and most institutions (62%) observe a positive connection between sharing collections online and the number of physical visits to the museum. The results also show that museums tend to prioritize heritage preservation over collection sharing.
Highlights
The purpose of this article is to verify how museums in Poland deal with the challenge of digital transformation
The study is based on Studia z Polityki Publicznej a survey conducted among a group of leading museums in Poland recorded in the State Register of Museums
Two goals of museum transformation with the support of digitization have become prominent: convenient and accessible collection sharing, and the creation of an otherwise-impossible user relation network, to transform the traditional space of the museum into a museum of the future (Andreacola, 2014). These goals are related to the more traditional public museum mission to “create a sense of national identity, encourage respect for other cultures and cultural diversity, foster an understanding of the past and teach aesthetic values” (Towse, 2010: 237), which reflects the major objectives of the cultural policy, namely: preserving the cultural identity of the nation, ensuring equal access to culture, promoting creativity and high-quality cultural goods and services and ensuring cultural diversity in order to respond to the needs and tastes of all social groups (Ilczuk, 2002)
Summary
“The internet is today what electricity used to be in the last century: a big accelerator of innovation” (Museum of the Future..., 2019). Two goals of museum transformation with the support of digitization have become prominent: convenient and accessible collection sharing, and the creation of an otherwise-impossible user relation network, to transform the traditional space of the museum into a museum of the future (Andreacola, 2014) These goals are related to the more traditional public museum mission to “create a sense of national identity, encourage respect for other cultures and cultural diversity, foster an understanding of the past and teach aesthetic values” (Towse, 2010: 237), which reflects the major objectives of the cultural policy, namely: preserving the cultural identity of the nation, ensuring equal access to culture, promoting creativity and high-quality cultural goods and services and ensuring cultural diversity in order to respond to the needs and tastes of all social groups (Ilczuk, 2002). We describe the research method and the sample, and we discuss the results of the study
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