The conversation

It is undeniable that museums have made huge strides forward with their web and digital activities. But we must understand that you can’t master the web, as it is always evolving. Similarly, our audiences’ demands and expectations are always changing. We need to continually keep pace with these. Websites are not like temporary exhibitions; they do not have an end date. 

I agree that “mastering the web” is not the right phrase. If anything, the great advance has been for museums to stop trying to “master” the web, and to begin to make friends with it instead. 

The change in emphasis towards smaller-scale but more sustained programmes of engaging with the public has been an important area of progress, together with greater openness to the idea of making museum content available for sharing and reuse. The internet is a group of people using technology to exchange information. Museums just need to join in.

Joining in is key, although there is a temptation to simply build a site/campaign and think that people will join in, which is not enough. As museums, we need to do more to connect with audiences to ensure we are communicating with them as they want us to and encourage them to get involved. 

That is a move away from the slightly passive exhibition and display model to a more inclusive and interactive digital model for content. The web has progressed from broadcast to participation, and we should find ways to make the approaches complement each other. 

Absolutely. We are beginning to come to terms with a fundamental shift in the balance of power between us and our audiences. We are used to thinking that audience interaction is something we might choose to allow. 

Now we are realising that the audience is in a conversation anyway; it is our role, not theirs, that is up for negotiation. With an increasingly mobile and pervasive web, this is also becoming true within our physical museums. The good news is that our expertise and reputations are highly regarded so – done well – our institutions and their content are still warmly welcome. 

And what better way to build on that reputation by becoming a museum that truly listens, that uses our audience’s interactions with us to shape the overall museum. 

At the Horniman, we have introduced a variety of small-scale digital experiments asking our audience to contribute to our understanding of our collections. The key, so far, is to ask questions when we are genuinely interested in the answer. Encouraging this dialogue means that the museum and our audiences are constantly learning from each other. So maybe one day the web (audience) will “master” the museum? 

That has got to be the key – both to covering traditional subject areas and to exploring where new digital technologies might take us. Museums are social places, and being a museum has always been a social activity. 

Digital is removing barriers from where, when and with whom we can exchange ideas, and it is doing this beyond the traditional sphere of the “web” as much as beyond museums’ traditional sphere. More than ever, our main task is to be good company.