PROJECTS FROM THE AREA OF DIGITISATION AND NEW MEDIA IN THE SYBILLA CONTEST

Abstract

The dynamics of the social, economic and legal changes which took place from 2004 to 2014 related to Poland’s accession to the European Union has changed our reality and the functioning of the state and its institutions, including museums. New possibilities have arisen, together with serious challenges which museum managers and museum professionals have had to face. The National Institute for Museums and Public Collections, established in 2011, has become the organiser of the prestigious Sybilla Museum of the Year Contest, in line with its founding principles. Its organisers decided to carry out open consultations with museum professionals, which has resulted in changes to the regulations for new contest categories, pertaining for example to sources of financing an institution with European funds, and implementing new technological solutions by museums. The growing availability of new technologies has contributed to a new category in the contest “Digitisation and new media”, which appeared for the first time in the regulations for the 34th edition of the Sybilla contest in 2013. The process of technological revolution also applies to museums, as new technologies are present at museum conservation workshops, research papers, exhibition premises and educational activities. Museums use diverse electronic communication solutions, such as websites, applications and social media. Digital technologies are being used on an unprecedented hitherto scale to document and share collections, and to disseminate knowledge about them. During the latest, 37th edition of the Sybilla contest in 2016, a unique project was awarded: the Gulf of Gdańsk Shipwreck Virtual Open-Air Museum. Recording and Inventory of Underwater Archaeological Heritage, carried out by the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk. An innovative method for submarine documentation, in the form of the photogrammetry of 3D models of shipwrecks from the Gulf of Gdańsk, is being developed as part of the project. Faras in Wikipedia is a featured project by the National Museum in Warsaw. It consists of creating a knowledge database about the Faras Gallery, about the relics of Nubian art which form part of the museum’s collections, and the archaeological expedition and researchers involved, as well as making it available to the readers of Wikipedia and Internet users in Poland and abroad.