Design experiments with social media and museum content in the context of the distributed museum

Abstract

The relationship of digital technology to museum practices is a field that continues to grow and acknowledge the potential of development. Development that will require new understandings related to museum content travelling across contexts, participatory methods suitable to designing digital technology into museum communication and new forms of relationships with visitors and citizens. In this paper we explore the use of a small-scale prototype experiment as the basis for exploring mobile social media based practices related to the distributed museum within the city. The design experiment is staged with inspiration from critical design, in which design thinking and cultural investigation are combined to inquire upon the role social media can have for extending the spaces of museum communication.