Digital gatekeepers and website visitors of the Acropolis Museum: revisiting gatekeeping theory in the cultural domain

ABSTRACT

Gatekeeping theory has evolved in recent years to encompass new patterns and influences in a rapidly changing digital environment. The boundary between creating and disseminating digital content is increasingly blurred, as organizations adapt both content and services to the shifting needs of their audiences. In the current case study, viewing museums as content and cultural news providers, we examine digital gatekeeping influences that lead online visitors to museum websites. Recognizing vast changes in gatekeeping patterns, we revisit Shoemaker and Reese's hierarchical gatekeeping model, but in a cultural news context where consumers have evolved as gatekeepers and gate checkers. As we survey a multitude of data in this descriptive endeavor, we trace various gatekeeping nodes that lead users toward museum content.

KEYWORDS:

• Gatekeeping
• museums
• cultural content
• cultural news navigation patterns
• wayfinding

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Konstantinos Kyprianos holds a Ph. D. from the Department of Archives, Library Science and Museology at the Ionian University (Greece). Currently, he is an adjunct lecturer in the Dept of Archival, Libraries and Information Studies at the University of West Attica (Greece). His research interests include: semantic web, digital heritage, communication and knowledge management.

Eirini Sifaki is adjunct lecturer in cultural communication at the Hellenic Open University. She holds a Ph.D in information and communication sciences from the University Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle. She is the coeditor of two books: City and Cinema: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches, Athens: Nissos (in Greek) and World Film Locations Athens, London: Intellect. Her research interests and her publications include issues on cultural sociology, film studies and cultural communication.

Philemon Bantimaroudis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, USA (1999). His primary research interests are focused on media theory with secondary applications in culture and politics.

Notes

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