Image as Interface: Consequences for Users of Museum Knowledge

Abstract

Photographs of objects are ubiquitous in the work and presentation of museums, whether in collection-management infrastructure or in Web-based communication. This article examines the use of images in these settings and traces how they function as interfaces and tools in the production of museum knowledge. Because images are not only the main material presented but also become multilayered objects on which to act in order to access or produce knowledge, they play a key role in the involvement of users with museums. This development is analyzed in the context of the Tropenmuseum (an ethnographic museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands) based on an ethnographic study of visual practices at and about the museum. Drawing on science and technology studies and new media studies, our theoretically driven analysis demonstrates how images as interfaces provide networked contexts for museum knowledge. The various dimensions of images as interfaces in museums are explored through the questions: How are users engaged by these interfaces? Which skills and strategies are needed for this engagement? What are the consequences of visually mediated interfaces for users of digital knowledge in/about/from museums, archives, and other collections? These developments are discussed in terms of their consequences for how museums view their role.

Harmonized Spaces, Dissonant Objects, Inventing Europe? Mobilizing Digital Heritage

“…In their study of the uses of digital collections in Amsterdam's Tropenmuseum, however, de Rijcke and Beaulieu (2011) show that particularly for curators, digital catalogues can also create a renewed engagement with the objects as images: 'The images are therefore not only the main material presented, but become themselves forms of engagement and of embedding, that shape access and production of knowledge.' The referent object, but also the style and aesthetics of the image begin to play a more important role in platforms set up for interactivity.…”

Untitled

“…As noted, the cataloguing practices surrounding digital collections present challenges for their re-circulation in the multi-vocal, polysemic narratives that Web 2.0 applications seem to promise. In their study of the uses of digital collections in Amsterdam's Tropenmuseum, however, de Rijcke and Beaulieu (2011) show that particularly for curators, digital catalogues can also create a renewed engagement with the objects as images: 'The images are therefore not only the main material presented, but become themselves forms of engagement and of embedding, that shape access and production of knowledge.' The referent object, but also the style and aesthetics of the image begin to play a more important role in platforms set up for interactivity.…”

Matching serious games with museum’s educational roles: smart education in practice

“…Different types of museums display different exhibitions in different museum spaces and consequently they create a different learning atmosphere. Researchers have proposed that the visualization, closeness and even manipulation of emulated items displayed in museums can contribute to visitor learning processes and have a strong impact on understanding and knowledge acquisition (de Rijcke and Beaulieu, 2011). Visiting experiences that allow close interaction with artefacts are deemed to have a much deeper and longer effect on learning than classrooms and textbooks (Akamca et al, 2017;Kang et al, 2009;Terreni, 2015;Williams, 1996).…”