09:10-10:30 Promoting Museum Content
- ARTstor: A Global Network for Promoting Local Collections
- Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Cultural Memory
- Development Strategies for Knowledge Web of Taiwan’s Diversity
11:00-12:30 Museum Digital Archives
14:00-15:30 Innovative Museum Education
- Online Teaching in Museums – Current Practices and Reflections
- Innovation in Museum Education Online and Onsite: Collaborations and Rewards
16:00-17:30 MCN Taiwan & SIG Roundtable
ARTstor: A Global Network for Promoting Local Collections (Christine KUAN)
Today, there are millions of websites and images all over the internet, and yet it remains difficult for curators, scholars, educators, and students to find high-quality, reliable sources of images for teaching and research. The ARTstor Digital Library has served as a trusted, nonprofit infrastructure, repository, and network for disseminating cultural heritage image collections for over five years. This session will explore how museums, libraries, photo archives, artists, scholars, and photographers have shared their collections through ARTstor in order to make their collections better known to the international community. It will also look at how making important collections available in the context of other valuable collections benefits education and scholarship in a variety of disciplines.
Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Cultural Memory(Zong-Kun LI)
The origin of Chinese characters can be dated back to the time of oracle bone inscriptions more than 3300 years ago, which are the oldest Chinese characters seen so far. The emergence of oracle bones not only has revolutionary effect on the research on Chinese characters, but also marks the dawn of research on the history of the Shang Dynasty, making it the beginning of Chinese written history. The contents of oracle bone inscriptions are mainly divination records of the Late Shang kings. At that time the kings practiced divinations to almost about everything, and the divinations inscribed on oracle bones record all kinds of things about the royal family, and therefore could be viewed as a history of royal life, which are the most authentic firsthand historical materials. These inscriptions could also be counted as the “national archives” of the Shang Dynasty, and the earliest archives in human civilization. During 1928-1937, the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica has conducted fifteen seasons of excavations scientifically at the Ruins of Yin（Yin-hsü） in Anyang, Honan Province, setting a milestone for Chinese archaeology. During these excavations, about 25,000 oracle bones were found, whose amount is the most in the world, and some of them are even unique findings.
Development Strategies for Knowledge Web of Taiwan’s Diversity (Yen-Hung LIN)
The digitization of archives has been promoted for a long time in Taiwan. By executing meticulous plans, the collection of digital archives is ample in both variety and quantity. Although it initially was developed for the purpose of cultural heritage preservation, the drastic change in the world of Internet allows the collection to be seen worldwide. Especially the rising of web 2.0 has turned the Internet into an emerging “social media”, by which means not only the improvement of skills, but also people’s attitude and act toward the Internet. Hence the relative strategies of usage and dissemination also need to re-evaluate with time. “The Knowledge Web of Taiwan’s Diversity” was created under this circumstance. By providing various online editing tools and opportunities for user’s participation, the existing digital content can be edited and the result can therefore be widely seen via the Internet. In the process to achieve the goals of creating, sharing, and data portability, the participation and interpretation of users would uplift the knowledge context that enhances the depth and cultural significance of collection. Meanwhile, “The Knowledge Web of Taiwan’s Diversity” also wants to upgrade the digital archives to an interaction platform that allows the general public to enjoy and present the diversity of Taiwan to the whole world.
Workflow in Digital Archive for Historical Materials (Kimiyoshi MIYATA)
Imaging and information devices have been developed and those can be used for digital archives in museums. Because there is a variety of combinations of the devices, how to build suitable system for museums is a new challenging issue in the digital archive. In the National Museum of Japanese History, over 200,000 materials in literary history, archeology, folklore and natural sciences are stored and used for many purposes, such as research, education, and exhibition. In this presentation, requirements in the digital archives for the historical materials are surveyed and a workflow in digital archive for historical materials will be described. In addition, the workflow should be adjustable to meet not only for the purpose but also for the materials because the stored materials are different in shape, color, and texture. Aspects to adjust the workflow are also studied and applied in the actual investigation of the historical materials.
Digital Strategy (Douglas HEGLEY)
In today's world, our museums and cultural institutions find themselves faced with the challenges to "go digital", that is, to create, edit, catalog, find, combine, and present electronic content to our various audiences. To accomplish this broad range of goals effectively, technology can no longer be conceived as something that is applied only at the end of a project. Instead, technology itself is intrinsic to the overall interpretive approach. In essence, making content does not and cannot exist without technology, and the two are mutually-informative in a continual loop. Ongoing collaboration strengthens communication, reduces bureaucratic overhead, engages the staff, and produces rapid results. To that end, institutions should embrace a digital strategy that will ensure agility, productivity, effectiveness, transparency, and innovation. In this presentation we will explore these concepts and more, using real-world examples of practical methods to make strategy into everyday practice.
Online Teaching in Museums – Current Practices and Reflections (Herminia DIN)
This session examines the possibilities of online teaching and learning in the museum context, and how the interactive tools of Web 2.0 can impact our museum education practice. For years, videoconferencing and other methods of distance learning have bridged visitors across distances. How can the rise of social and professional networking create extended encounters with works of art? Because online interactions may occur over days, weeks or months, how does their ongoing nature affect visitor participation and perception of our collections? The participatory nature of blogs, wikis, threaded discussions, multimedia projects, and real-time interaction have caused us to take a renewed look at our own constructivist and inquiry-based principles of museum teaching causing us to see remarkable parallels and new avenues for research and exploration. Further, what possibilities can exist for a blurring of online and on-site programming, and what might be the advantages of this blended approach for museums? This presentation will use practical examples to discuss how to deliver effective learning contents. By exploring theories and practices of synchronous and asynchronous learning formats in the context of museum online learning and teaching, this session will also examine and reflect upon the appropriate use of technology and instructional methods with recommendations for future program development and implementation in online teaching and learning.
Innovation in Museum Education Online and Onsite: Collaborations and Rewards (Helena CARMENA)
Across the globe, museums are working together to better serve their audiences, and their combined resources and environments offer powerful learning opportunities for students, teachers and the general public. This presentation highlights some forefront developments, including art and science blended museum experiences; novel partnerships and collaborations; cross-curricular approaches; and future curriculum resources. Exemplary work from a broad range of museums will be highlighted as well as future trends, opportunities and challenges.
In the past two years, the MCN Taiwan has been strengthening the connection among IT professionals of cultural institutions in Taiwan and promoting the development of professional communities through its active special interest groups(SIGs) and numerous activities such as workshops, seminars, and on-site visits. This year, what is happening and what is going to happen? This session will share with the audience the latest news of the MCN Taiwan and its SIGs. Yet the most important thing is to explore with the participants the possibilities of this community, which belongs to those who are involved with IT related matters in museums, libraries and archives. This session invites you to influence the development of the cultural heritage IT communities in Taiwan.
