Object-oriented democracies: conceptualising museum collections in networks

Abstract

Museum collections are increasingly connected to global flows of information via the Internet. These occurrences are radically transforming the interfaces between collections, museums and communities, requiring a rethinking of how collections are conceived as markers of culture, the processes of acquisition and documentation, and the resultant meanings and significances attributed to them. Such transformations invite a more sustained analysis of how organisational structures based on hierarchical forms might operate in flexible networks and information flows. This paper discusses conceptual work undertaken for the Australian Research Council project Reconceptualising Heritage Collections. I will begin by discussing the logic that is currently shaping museums collections and information within global flows. Second, I rethink the metaphors that underpin museum collections interfaces. Third, I clarify and develop new perspectives on the relations and organisation surrounding museum collections and how complexity might be brought back into the documentation process. I then offer some possible solutions on how museums and collections might operate as a complex system in order to thrive and succeed in these flows and spaces. This discussion draws on complexity and network theory to consider all these things.