Museums in the Internet Century – the challenges and opportunities for museums in the digital age

Beyond Memory and
Experience
The Challenges & Opportunities for Museums in the
Internet Century

MuseumNext
Geneva
20 April 2015
Stephen Feber Ltd
stephenfeber@me.com
#stephenfeberltd

So, What are the Big
Trends This Century?

So, What are the Big
Trends This Century?
Some Things Will Stay the Same

This animated timeline looks back over 1,000,000 years to the probable first use of controlled fire. The timeline is very selective and
covers agriculture, food, transport, communications, information technology etc. It is a snapshot of human ingenuity. It’s part of a
bigger project by SFL to produce animated timelines for all significant human inventions.

And We’ll Keep Some of
Them in Museums and
Galleries

The British Museum. One of the world’s great museums and a repository of material given, bought and occasionally plundered.
Generally, organised using a taxonomic structure and generally foregrounding the object. Context, narrative and background
singularly missing throughout.

A gallery arranged in the religious, adoration-of-the-object style.

And We’ll Still Be…
Creatures
‘Creatures’ is simply a shorthand way of saying that we will, despite all of the changes that the Internet century presages, remain
human animals. We will undoubtedly slowly adapt to the digital but we will undoubtedly also retain the same human cognitive
processing structures throughout the century. We will certainly live longer and during these longer lives we learn to use the digital as
a tool; an extension of our humanity.

Maslovian Creatures
This is Maslow simpliﬁed to 3 layers, a basic structuring; social, intellectual and spiritual. In the original there are 5: physiological
(breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion), safety (security of body, employment, resources, reality, the family,
health and property), love and well-being (friendship, family, sexual intimacy), esteem ( self-esteem, conﬁdence, achievement,
respect of others and respect by others) and self-actualisation (morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem-solving, lack of prejudice
and acceptance of facts)

Maslovian Creatures
Building and
physical spaces
Gallery
and Exhibition
Thinking
SocialCultural
Basic
Intellectual & Spiritual
Hierarchyof‘Need’
Social
Physical
This is Maslow simpliﬁed to 3 layers, a basic structuring; social, intellectual and spiritual. In the original there are 5: physiological
(breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion), safety (security of body, employment, resources, reality, the family,
health and property), love and well-being (friendship, family, sexual intimacy), esteem ( self-esteem, conﬁdence, achievement,
respect of others and respect by others) and self-actualisation (morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem-solving, lack of prejudice
and acceptance of facts)

When Exploring and Experiencing
Museums We’ll Still Do 4 Things
There are many ways of imagining and thinking about the learning and being cycle. This one is drawn from the work of David Kolb
but actually has a number of roots or antecedents; certainly for example in the work of Freud and Piaget. In the Museums and
Resilient leadership programme we link this to Daniel Kahneman – thinking fast and thinking slow; System 1 and System 2.

When Exploring and Experiencing
Museums We’ll Still Do 4 Things
Experience Reﬂect Think
Act
Visit
There are many ways of imagining and thinking about the learning and being cycle. This one is drawn from the work of David Kolb
but actually has a number of roots or antecedents; certainly for example in the work of Freud and Piaget. In the Museums and
Resilient leadership programme we link this to Daniel Kahneman – thinking fast and thinking slow; System 1 and System 2.

And We’ll Do These Over and
Over In a Discovery Cycle

And We’ll Do These Over and
Over In a Discovery Cycle
Experience
Reflect
Think
Act
Experience
Reflect
Think
Act
Experience
Reflect
Think
Act
Visit

We Do This in the Museum As a
Physiological and Sensory ‘Melody’
These moments of physiological and cognitive intersection or in some ways analogies to Maslow's 'peak experiences' – they might
be moments of epiphany or insight. They are certainly points at which there is an intersection between thinking, feeling and doing.
These intersections might be solo, social or in a group and may be triggered by a variety of elements within the museum or gallery
experience.

We Do This in the Museum As a
Physiological and Sensory ‘Melody’
0
50
100
150
200
Talk Walk Stand Hear Read Touch Interact Smell
Visit
These moments of physiological and cognitive intersection or in some ways analogies to Maslow's 'peak experiences' – they might
be moments of epiphany or insight. They are certainly points at which there is an intersection between thinking, feeling and doing.
These intersections might be solo, social or in a group and may be triggered by a variety of elements within the museum or gallery
experience.

We Could Measure This
But We Have Crude Methods - Currently
This is a concealed prediction within the presentation – here I'm imagining that biofeedback and biometric devices will become much
more sophisticated and that the consistent digital trend of miniaturisation, computing power increase and energy use reduction will
continue. In a way this is a ‘digital imagining’ of what is called Proprioception; the process by which the body can vary muscle
contraction in immediate response to incoming information regarding external forces, by utilising stretch receptors in the muscles to
keep track of the joint position in the body. Proprioception goes well beyond bodily positioning because it includes our sense of self
drawn from multiple sensory inputs. In the graph above I'm imagining that we can digitally monitor in the future a variety of actions
and track them within the gallery or museum, thus understanding the complexity at the movement and sensory level of the individual
visitor response to exhibitions and rich media.

We Could Measure This
But We Have Crude Methods - Currently
Talk Walk Stand Hear Read Touch Interact
Smell
Visit
This is a concealed prediction within the presentation – here I'm imagining that biofeedback and biometric devices will become much
more sophisticated and that the consistent digital trend of miniaturisation, computing power increase and energy use reduction will
continue. In a way this is a ‘digital imagining’ of what is called Proprioception; the process by which the body can vary muscle
contraction in immediate response to incoming information regarding external forces, by utilising stretch receptors in the muscles to
keep track of the joint position in the body. Proprioception goes well beyond bodily positioning because it includes our sense of self
drawn from multiple sensory inputs. In the graph above I'm imagining that we can digitally monitor in the future a variety of actions
and track them within the gallery or museum, thus understanding the complexity at the movement and sensory level of the individual
visitor response to exhibitions and rich media.

As This Happens We Move Up
and Down the Maslow Hierarchies
Also an imagining - here the basic idea is that the physical form of the exhibition in the museum or gallery, its building layout and
signing system, all support the exploratory/experimental behaviour characteristics of the species; us.

As This Happens We Move Up
and Down the Maslow Hierarchies
Talk Walk Stand Hear Read Touch Interact Smell
Also an imagining - here the basic idea is that the physical form of the exhibition in the museum or gallery, its building layout and
signing system, all support the exploratory/experimental behaviour characteristics of the species; us.

The Physical and Intellectual Design of
the Museum Should Facilitate These
Movements

The Physical and Intellectual Design of
the Museum Should Facilitate These
Movements
Building and
physical spaces
Gallery
and Exhibition
Thinking
SocialCultural
Basic

As We Do This We Use
Different Ways of Knowing
Multiple Intelligences; the Work of Howard Gardner. Gardner’s work is highly recommended because he points out eloquently how
limited and un-inclusive (wasteful of talent) traditional views of IQ and schooling are. The command and control, broadcast and
reception, 'empty vessel to be filled by education' view is disabling. I agree. One of the reasons that I got involved in museums in the
first place is their emphasis on learning, not education. However, one of the striking characteristics of most museums is how limited
they are from the Multiple Intelligences perspective – they still privilege what Gardner calls the 'lawyers mind' over a creative, flexible
and essentially experimental learning process.

These Are Idiosyncratic
These 3 Pie chart slides simply suggest that our diﬀerent intelligences can be thought of as a diﬀerent distribution, weighting or
emphasis in our exploratory learning-and-doing cycles.

Our Cognitive Signature
Until quite recently (and the advent of the digital signing device) a glance at the delivery man’s clipboard would reveal the particular,
idiosyncratic nature of each human signature. In a way our cognitive diﬀerences have a similar, signature like, form. All signatures
are the same; they fall into a common class of ‘identity markers’ and yet they are all distinct.

The Museum Design Should
Let These Flow
Talk Walk Stand Hear Read Touch
Interact Smell
Here is the ideal, cognitively appropriate, fitting all learning styles museum. There is effortless movement between the three levels of
the simplified Maslow pyramid, a melody of actions and an engagement with experience and discovery which is fulfilling and
generative for the learner. This museum does not exist. However, were it to exist the visitor/discoverer/learner would have an
experience of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls ‘flow’. In his seminal work, Flow: ‘The Psychology of Optimal Experience’,
Csíkszentmihályi outlines his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow; a state of concentration or complete
absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else
seems to matter.The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of
intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times,
characterised by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfilment and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.)
are typically ignored.

Let These Flow
Interact Smell
This

Let These Flow
Interact Smell
This
Support This

Let These Flow
Interact Smell
This
Support This
To Allow This

Museums (Like Schools) Do Not Fit Our
Physiological and Cognitive Processes
Most museums however are ‘wall bound’, anti ﬂow physical ‘devices’.

And they often look like this – this is the National Museum of Bahrain.

This is a shop in Manama the capital of Bahrain – it's interesting how the taxonomic imperative which is expressed by the Museum is also the underpinning of retail.

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia

Very temporary exhibition of edible collection. Edible Harrods, London

Are We Thinking?
It is perhaps going too far to suggest that museum going and shopping share an easy browsing mode and that museum visiting is no
more thoughtful than idly cruising the display cases and aisles of a shop. Yet there is something profoundly similar between the
Department store and the Museum, in layout and structure. Departments are like galleries and galleries are like the departments of a
store.

Are We Thinking?
Or Shopping?
It is perhaps going too far to suggest that museum going and shopping share an easy browsing mode and that museum visiting is no
more thoughtful than idly cruising the display cases and aisles of a shop. Yet there is something profoundly similar between the
Department store and the Museum, in layout and structure. Departments are like galleries and galleries are like the departments of a
store.

Does the Museum Fit
Us?
Is our adaptability actually a problem?

Does the Museum Fit
Us?
Or Do We Fit Ourselves to the Museum?
Is our adaptability actually a problem?

Trend 1
We’ll Live Longer
Ageing in the Digital Age

This animation draws on the work of Hans Rosling at Gapminder

Aubrey de Grey….
6 Ages of Man and Woman
'I think we're in striking distance
of keeping people so healthy that
at 90 they'll carry on waking up in
the same physical state as they
were at the age of 30, and their
probability of not waking up one
morning will be no higher than it
was at the age of 30….'
Aubrey de Grey is a controversial researcher into ageing who believes that ageing is like a disease and is therefore curable. Some are appalled by the vision that he paints
of human beings living into their 90s and beyond. Some are captivated by the idea of an extended and fruitful life.

Aubrey de Grey….
6 Ages of Man and Woman
'I think we're in striking distance
of keeping people so healthy that
at 90 they'll carry on waking up in
the same physical state as they
were at the age of 30, and their
probability of not waking up one
morning will be no higher than it
was at the age of 30….'
Aubrey’s words were spoken by a Macintosh
Aubrey de Grey is a controversial researcher into ageing who believes that ageing is like a disease and is therefore curable. Some are appalled by the vision that he paints
of human beings living into their 90s and beyond. Some are captivated by the idea of an extended and fruitful life.

This is an illustrative graphic only and looks at the population in the United Kingdom over the period between 1950 and 2100.

As We Age ‘Cohort Overlap’
Decreases
Decades 1915-25 1925-35 1935-45 1945-55 1955-65 1965-75 1975-85 1985-95 2005-05 2005-15
Overlap
Decades
100 yrs
old
1
90 yrs
old
2
80 yrs
old
3
70 yrs
old
4
60 yrs
old
5
50 yrs
old
6
40 yrs
old
7
30 yrs
old
8
20 yrs
old
9
10 yrs
old
10
The cohort gap. As we age the number of our contemporaries decreases and this graph looks at a potential future. What it illustrates is that 100-year-old man or
woman shares direct, lived life, with a decreasing number of others. In the most extreme case a 10-year-old’s many generations separated from 100-year-old man or
woman. What this has meant is that our cultural and social bonds and networks gradually shrink because on the whole they are maintained through ﬁrst and second
person contact. Hitherto, our ability to connect with the personal 'deep past' of the single human life has been very limited. As we age shared memories decrease in
number (there are fewer people to share them with) and one hypothesis is that this is a cause of a weakening sense of identity.

As We Grow The Neural
Network Grows
This slide and the next three suggest a simple graphic view of our growing neural network as we transition from childhood through
adolescence to adulthood. We are used to the idea of the learning, growing and maturing brain

As We Age
We are also used to thinking that ageing is attended by decline; that we lose mental acuity as we get older.

It Shrinks
Is this inevitable?

These slides is an animation which shows a visualisation of the growth of a network. It stands a proxy for the development of our
own neural structures - the complex networks we create as we experience, reﬂect, think and act. Inevitably for such a social creature
these networks are socially rich.

The network is a map of
our identity
These slides is an animation which shows a visualisation of the growth of a network. It stands a proxy for the development of our
own neural structures - the complex networks we create as we experience, reﬂect, think and act. Inevitably for such a social creature
these networks are socially rich.

Image is hugely important in the structure of memory and images of people are critical to many aspects of memory, connection and
identity.

People are important but so are things; as museums abundantly demonstrate

But we have an over abundance of things - capitalism has its downsides

Longevity seems like a good
thing but may present huge
challenges to our sense of self

As We Age ‘Cohort Overlap’
Decreases
Decades 1915-25 1925-35 1935-45 1945-55 1955-65 1965-75 1975-85 1985-95 2005-05 2005-15
Overlap
Decades
100 yrs
old
1
90 yrs
old
2
80 yrs
old
3
70 yrs
old
4
60 yrs
old
5
50 yrs
old
6
40 yrs
old
7
30 yrs
old
8
20 yrs
old
9
10 yrs
old
10
As we age we not only lose human and cultural connection, we have a decreasing ability to carry a personal object store with us
which might trigger memory and connection. Identity resides in both social networks and personal object collections.

Trend 2
From Analogue to Digital
We’ll cease to speak of the Internet in 10 years time. Just as we have ceased to speak of electricity, gas or the telephone. They have
become, at least in the ‘developed’ world, commonplace; literally utilities

Trend 2
From Analogue to Digital
It Starts in 1936
We’ll cease to speak of the Internet in 10 years time. Just as we have ceased to speak of electricity, gas or the telephone. They have
become, at least in the ‘developed’ world, commonplace; literally utilities

These 3 images show Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing and the Manchester Mark 1 - which was one of the earliest stored-program
computers, (Manchester, England 1948). The analogue diﬀerential analyser which Vannevar Bush stands before has to be re-set each
time a calculation is made. The stored programme digital computer is capable of many things (not anything) - what Turing called a
Universal Machine.

Trend 3
Computing Power Rises
Cost Falls
When Turing’s insights are applied in the Post Second World War period remarkable things happen; engineering, technology,
computer science, commerce and marketing converge and there is a revolution.

Trend 3
Computing Power Rises
Cost Falls
Moore’s Law
When Turing’s insights are applied in the Post Second World War period remarkable things happen; engineering, technology,
computer science, commerce and marketing converge and there is a revolution.

Millions of Instructions Per Second Versus
Cost
Electromechanical
10
-6
10
-4
10
-2
1
10
2
10
4
10
6
10
8
10
10
Relay
Vacuum Tube
Transistor
Integrated Circuit
1900 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 20001910
Looking over the Century; from les than an instruction a second to 10 Billion a second. This changes almost everything

Millions of Instructions Per Second Versus
Cost
0
3.5
7
10.5
14
0 2.5 5 7.5 10
Electromechanical
10
-6
10
-4
10
-2
1
10
2
10
4
10
6
10
8
10
10
Relay
Vacuum Tube
Transistor
Integrated Circuit
1900 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 20001910
Looking over the Century; from les than an instruction a second to 10 Billion a second. This changes almost everything

And so…..
Falling Cost
Rising Power

And so…..
Falling Cost
Rising Power
Equals a Revolution

Worldwide Internet Usage
2000 - 2014
350 Million 3 Billion
World Bank Figures for Internet take-up

Worldwide Internet Usage
2000 - 2014
0
750,000,000
1,500,000,000
2,250,000,000
3,000,000,000
2000 2014
Africa Asia Europe North America
Latin America Oceania Australia
350 Million 3 Billion
World Bank Figures for Internet take-up

Internet Penetration Rates
Africa Asia Europe Middle East North America Latin America Oceania Australia
72%
52%
87%
48%
70%
34%
26%

3 Convergent Forces
These three forces are taken from Schmidt and Rosenberg’s new book 'How Google Works' (2014)

3 Convergent Forces
1. The Internet has made information and
knowledge either free or very cheap - practically
everything is online

3 Convergent Forces
1. The Internet has made
knowledge
2. Mobile devices and networks have made global
reach and continuous connectivity continuously
available

3 Convergent Forces
1. The Internet has made
knowledge
2. Mobile devices and networks
reach and
available
3. Cloud computing has put sophisticated tools and
applications at everyone's disposal

This Changes
Almost Everything

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City Mapper Talks to:
• Apple Maps
• Google maps
• Waze
Uses:
• Open Street Map
• TfL data feeds
• Citymapper software
• GPS
• The Phone
Travel - this is one of the most interesting convergence examples; it shows the use of APIs - Application Programming Interfaces -
which mean that diﬀerent data streams and diﬀerent imaging systems can be brought together in a seamless experience. In this case
City Mapper. The Flow maps show London transport and movement systems ‘at play’

Museums in The Internet
Century
Consequences

Museums in The Internet
Century
Consequences
The Knowledge Process

Co-ordinates in Space and
Time
Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis
We are used to thinking of the curatorial 'epistemology' as being fundamentally linked to provenance. Diagrammatically this is
represented here as spatial coordinates; where something was made.

Curatorial Co-ordinates in
Space and Time - Provenance
Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis
And of course when it was made. The curatorial mantra of 'where, when, why and by whom?' is a familiar one

Curatorial Co-ordinates in
Space and Time - Provenance
Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis
Time FuturePast
And of course when it was made. The curatorial mantra of 'where, when, why and by whom?' is a familiar one

Fixed Sequence Museums
Gallery
Effect
Primary
Effect
Effect
Primary
Effect
Effect Effect
Primary
Primary PrimaryPrimary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Secondary
Secondary
Secondary
Secondary
Secondary
Secondary
This often causes us to develop new museums with linear ﬂow galleries where cause-and-eﬀect sequences are neatly organised

Linear Cause and Effect
Provenance of the Object. The neat intellectual organisation of the curatorial mind is then mirrored by the equally neat physical
organisation of the gallery by the designer

Cause Cause
effect
effect
object
effect objecteffect
cause effect effect effect
object

Cause Cause
effect
effect
object
effect objecteffect
object
Curatorial

Cause Cause
effect
effect
object
effect objecteffect
object
Curatorial
Design

Internet Co-ordinates
Become Relational
Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis
In the Internet age the four co-ordinates, X, Y, Z & T acquire a ﬁfth dimension – R = relation

Become Relational
Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis
Time FuturePast

Become Relational
Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis
Time FuturePast
R Axis Relationship

It’s a Linguistic Model
This digital expression of the associative and network nature of knowledge is in eﬀect a linguistic one

It’s a Linguistic Model
Cause Cause
effect
effect
object
effect objecteffect
object
This digital expression of the associative and network nature of knowledge is in eﬀect a linguistic one

Coded Relationships Are a
Grammar
Cause
Cause
effect
effect
object
effect
object
effect
cause
effect
effect
effect
object
Grammar oﬀers a coded structure for the production of meaning

A Finite System Generating
Infinite Results
Cause
Cause effect effect object
effect
object
effect
cause
effect
effect
effect
object
Wilhelm von Humboldt observed that grammar was a finite system capable of generating infinite results. The slide shows a notional
cause-and-effect 'grammatical structure' and the famous tree diagram from Noam Chomsky’s 1957 Syntactic Structures

From To
Authority Network
Transform table

From To
Authority Network
Single Knower
Knowledge
Community
Transform table

From To
Authority Network
Single Knower
Knowledge
Community
Fixed Fluid
Transform table

From To
Authority Network
Single Knower
Knowledge
Community
Fixed Fluid
Linear Iterative
Transform table

From To
Authority Network
Single Knower
Knowledge
Community
Fixed Fluid
Linear Iterative
Curator Cultural Coder
Transform table

Museums in The
Internet Century
Although there is a great deal of talk about 3-D printing in reality manufacturing in the 21st-century will go substantially beyond the
idea of additive manufacture to complete local design, development and production. We can imagine universal factories (or factories
of universal creation) offering in physical form the same kind of flexibility that the stored program computer offers digitally

Museums in The
Internet Century
Things
Although there is a great deal of talk about 3-D printing in reality manufacturing in the 21st-century will go substantially beyond the
idea of additive manufacture to complete local design, development and production. We can imagine universal factories (or factories
of universal creation) offering in physical form the same kind of flexibility that the stored program computer offers digitally

From Subtractive to Additive
These two images contrast old school subtractive manufacturing with future additive manufacturing. Interestingly the computer-
controlled machining workstation on the left uses code just as the additive manufacturing printing workstation on the right.

From Subtractive to Additive; Usage
: G0 Xnnn Ynnn Znnn Ennn Fnnn Snnn
: G1 Xnnn Ynnn Znnn Ennn Fnnn Snnn
; Parameters
: ''Not all parameters need to be used,
but at least '''one''' has to be used''
: '''Xnnn''' The position to move to on
the X axis
: '''Ynnn''' The position to move to on
the Y axis
: '''Znnn''' The position to move to on
the Z axis
: '''Ennn''' The amount to extrude
between the starting point and ending
point
: '''Fnnn''' The feedrate per minute of
the move between the starting point
and ending point (if supplied)
: '''Snnn''' Flag to check if an endstop
was hit ''('''S1''' to check, '''S0''' to
ignore, '''S2''' see note, default is
'''S0''')''<sup>1</sup>
; Examples
: G0 X12 ''(move to 12mm on the X
axis)''
: G0 F1500 ''(Set the feedrate to
1500mm/minute)''
: G1 X90.6 Y13.8 E22.4 ''(Move to
90.6mm on the X axis and 13.8mm on
the Y axis while extruding 22.4mm of
material)''
These two images contrast old school subtractive manufacturing with future additive manufacturing. Interestingly the computer-
controlled machining workstation on the left uses code just as the additive manufacturing printing workstation on the right.

Additive and Subtractive 3D
Printed Car
This 3-D printed car is actually a ‘transitional object’ because it is built from both additively and subtractively made parts

The Internet of things currently often means sensors or location devices attached to existing objects. But this represents only a low
level of intelligence

Internet of Things (IoT)
The future will see these technologies miniaturised and made as part of the product

Internet of Things (IoT)
1. Embedded devices 2. Communication 3. Cloud
Sensing Remembering Readable Connected
The future will see these technologies miniaturised and made as part of the product

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction
1936
One might subsume the eliminated element in the
term 'aura' and go on to say: that which withers in
the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of
the work of art. By making many reproductions it
substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique
existence.
What bothered Walter Benjamin about the age of mechanical reproduction was the loss of the individuality of the work of art; its
unique place in space and time conferred by its singular production by an artist. He uses the term 'aura' to suggest what was lost in
the transition from individual creation to machine made reproduction

Granny
One of the intriguing things about the Internet of things which goes beyond the embedding sensors for location and operation, is the
idea that future objects may carry with them a digital aura. That, in fact prosaic objects will acquire through their use a personality – a
form of digital memory made possible by the application of Moore’s Law; computing power becoming so cheap that it is possible to
embed digital intelligence in every object. To see how this might work we need a grandmother. So purely for illustration purposes,
here is a famous granny.

So here is granny’s mug, a mug of the future.The mug is digitally enabled – it carries sensors, location awareness chips and it can
intersect with a similarly digitally enabled house. When the grandchildren visit they are able to use devices like their phones to
release the memories which the mug has.

Y Axis

Y Axis
X Axis

Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis

Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis
R Axis Relationship

Y Axis
X Axis
Z Axis
Time FuturePast
R Axis Relationship

Can We Grow Granny’s
Neural Network?
If all objects are digitally enabled and carry memory and indeed to a limited extent their own identity and personality, would they then
have their own digital auras? They ‘know’ where they have been, what they have done and what has been done with them… and
these auras might be revealed using digital discovery devices like phones or tablets

By Finding Digital Auras?
For Walter Benjamin the aura of a work or art stems from its unique place in time and space - each work is an original, unique. The
great work of art is unique for everyone. In the digital era the idea that objects might be digitally enabled produces a reversal of
Benjamin’s contention; each object will be unique and personal in a new way - it will have its own ‘digital aura’

Enhanced by The Knowledge Graph?
In the Internet Century granny’s biological networks may start to shrink in old age but if she can be connected with objects with heir
own digital auras then her identity can be preserved or even developed, albeit in a completely new way.

If at Home Why Not in
the Museum?
So, here is the question; could the 21st-century Museum be an object, a structure, a system to think with? Could it be organised in a
structured yet ﬂuid way such that visitors could use it not just to understand themselves and their place in the world but to reﬂect on
problems, shape decisions and enact solutions?

Can the Internet Century Museum
Be an Identity Rebuilder?
Decades 1915-25 1925-35 1935-45 1945-55 1955-65 1965-75 1975-85 1985-95 2005-05 2005-15
Overlap
Decades
100 yrs
old
1
90 yrs
old
2
80 yrs
old
3
70 yrs
old
4
60 yrs
old
5
50 yrs
old
6
40 yrs
old
7
30 yrs
old
8
20 yrs
old
9
10 yrs
old
10
The grey boxes are the epistemological territory for this 21st-century museum. Not only could it help with the identity issues noted
above in the presentation but it can also act as a knowledge networker and therefore as an agent of change

The 21st Century
Fluid
Coded
Networked
Mediated
Museum
Responsive
Scaleable
Cognitively appropriate

Like This
What might the future Museum actually look like? The ﬁrst thing we need to do is to dispense with all of those walls. So here is the
physically ﬂuid warehouse style Museum of the future. In this museum objects large and small are capable of being physically moved
using robotic platforms. An Amazon distribution warehouse in shown for illustration purposes only.

I Want to Connect 50 Years
Bring Me 4 Objects
When we visit the museum with granny we are able to call up small objects using the robotic delivery system. In the future these
objects will come complete with their own digital aura because they will have been created with digital intelligence. Pre digital aura
objects will have an attached digital aura via the newly redeﬁned curatorial process

This Museum is Organised
by Search
and Reorganised by Search
Because the 21st-century Museum is organised by search not by a fixed taxonomy it is in effect continuously organised and
reorganised as it is used by visitors. The visitor and the curator-coder are now in dialogue via the intermediary of the museum
exhibition floor and open storage

This Museum is Organised
by Search
and Reorganised by Search
The hardware is relevant only at the access level
Because the 21st-century Museum is organised by search not by a fixed taxonomy it is in effect continuously organised and
reorganised as it is used by visitors. The visitor and the curator-coder are now in dialogue via the intermediary of the museum
exhibition floor and open storage

Digital + Physical
Digital and Physical Become Equivalent
This leads to an epistemological equivalence between the digital and the physical. The digital ceases to be a mere representation of
the physical and becomes a thing in itself.

This short movie shows an aspect of this 'Museum of the Future' thinking as applied by Local Projects to the Cooper Hewitt Museum
in New York.

Subjects Objects
Sites
Collections
database
Text
Stills
Movies
Curator
Author
Thinking
Feeling
Sensing
Socialising
Internalisation
Reﬂection
Action
Mediated Museum
Publish
Web desk
Web hand
Web gallery
Web site
Audiences
Wiki
Experience
capital
Feedback
Improve
This ﬂowchart of the mediated museum – the Museum of the 21st-century starts to sketch out how the system will work. It has been
criticised for omitting the role of the designer.

Transform table – from old to new

Old New

Old New
Permanent Exhibition Exhibition

Old New
Temporary Exhibition Exhibition

Old New
Linear Narrative Meaning Clusters

Old New
Fixed Iterative

Old New
Fixed Iterative
Make once Re-make always

The Iterative Interactive
Mediated Museum
Gently ﬂows the museum

Museums in the Internet Century – the challenges and opportunities for museums in the digital age

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Museums in the Internet Century – the challenges and opportunities for museums in the digital age