The personalization of publicity in the museum

Abstract

This paper canvases the relationship between new technology and museums, art galleries and libraries in the context of a so-called participatory culture. It draws on interviews, observations, intercept surveys and ethnographies of a range of cultural institutions in Australasia to examine how the online migration of public space impacts on engagement with these bodies. The aim is to explore the ways in which museums are transforming their practices in response to audiences who are accustomed to the two-way dialogue of Web 2.0 and their smartphones. How museums and their audiences perceive these types of physical and online interactive encounters is both a theme and a tension that balances opportunities for the public to talk back to the institution and each other. In this article, I consider how the intersection between audience authentic enjoyment of museums and use of their mobile devices onsite is not only instrumental to the survival of these institutions, but reflects an embedded commodification of people and their activities online.