Staff working in the digital space at museums are familiar with organisational battles. From establishing the need to replace outdated websites to understanding social media as a cornerstone of our audience development, it sometimes feels as if there’s always somebody left to convince about digital.
Some claim that this era might be coming to an end. What Leicester University’s Ross Parry rather grandly calls “digital normativity” is an understanding that the digital mindset is now part of the core ethos of museums.
We are recruiting fewer specialised digital roles, preferring jobs that cover both digital and non-digital forms of engagement. Digital strategy is no longer separate, but part of larger organisational and engagement strategies.
Most importantly, once obscure digital practices such as agile project management and user-centred design have become part of everything from exhibition design to education.
Perhaps this utopia hasn’t fully arrived yet. But it will, as digital ceases to be the exception and becomes part of a larger rule.
There may be a few things to be wary of in this brave new world. If digital ceases to be a speciality we may lose the capacity to recruit and understand the technical expertise that it takes to deliver on digital promise.
And maybe it’s too soon for digital to become the new normal. Digital practice is still overturning much of what we thought we knew about museums. Are we ready for this revolution to be finished?
Danny Birchall is the Wellcome Collection’s digital manager
Some claim that this era might be coming to an end. What Leicester University’s Ross Parry rather grandly calls “digital normativity” is an understanding that the digital mindset is now part of the core ethos of museums.
We are recruiting fewer specialised digital roles, preferring jobs that cover both digital and non-digital forms of engagement. Digital strategy is no longer separate, but part of larger organisational and engagement strategies.
Most importantly, once obscure digital practices such as agile project management and user-centred design have become part of everything from exhibition design to education.
Perhaps this utopia hasn’t fully arrived yet. But it will, as digital ceases to be the exception and becomes part of a larger rule.
There may be a few things to be wary of in this brave new world. If digital ceases to be a speciality we may lose the capacity to recruit and understand the technical expertise that it takes to deliver on digital promise.
And maybe it’s too soon for digital to become the new normal. Digital practice is still overturning much of what we thought we knew about museums. Are we ready for this revolution to be finished?
Danny Birchall is the Wellcome Collection’s digital manager