Blobgects: Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities
Abstract This article presents an exploratory study of “Blobgects,” an experimental interface for an online museum catalog that enables social tagging and blogging activity around a set of cultural heritage objects held by a preeminent museum of anthropology and archaeology. This study attempts to u...
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crwiley:10.1002/asi.21027 2024-06-02T08:09:33+00:00 Blobgects: Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities Srinivasan, Ramesh Boast, Robin Becvar, Katherine M. Furner, Jonathan 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.21027 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fasi.21027 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/asi.21027 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology volume 60, issue 4, page 666-678 ISSN 1532-2882 1532-2890 journal-article 2009 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21027 2024-05-03T11:32:20Z Abstract This article presents an exploratory study of “Blobgects,” an experimental interface for an online museum catalog that enables social tagging and blogging activity around a set of cultural heritage objects held by a preeminent museum of anthropology and archaeology. This study attempts to understand not just whether social tagging and commenting about these objects is useful but rather whose tags and voices matter in presenting different “expert” perspectives around digital museum objects. Based on an empirical comparison between two different user groups (Canadian Inuit high‐school students and museum studies students in the United States), we found that merely adding the ability to tag and comment to the museum's catalog does not sufficiently allow users to learn about or engage with the objects represented by catalog entries. Rather, the specialist language of the catalog provides too little contextualization for users to enter into the sort of dialog that proponents of Web 2.0 technologies promise. Overall, we propose a more nuanced application of Web 2.0 technologies within museums—one which provides a contextual basis that gives users a starting point for engagement and permits users to make sense of objects in relation to their own needs, uses, and understandings. Article in Journal/Newspaper inuit Wiley Online Library Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 60 4 666 678 |
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English |
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Abstract This article presents an exploratory study of “Blobgects,” an experimental interface for an online museum catalog that enables social tagging and blogging activity around a set of cultural heritage objects held by a preeminent museum of anthropology and archaeology. This study attempts to understand not just whether social tagging and commenting about these objects is useful but rather whose tags and voices matter in presenting different “expert” perspectives around digital museum objects. Based on an empirical comparison between two different user groups (Canadian Inuit high‐school students and museum studies students in the United States), we found that merely adding the ability to tag and comment to the museum's catalog does not sufficiently allow users to learn about or engage with the objects represented by catalog entries. Rather, the specialist language of the catalog provides too little contextualization for users to enter into the sort of dialog that proponents of Web 2.0 technologies promise. Overall, we propose a more nuanced application of Web 2.0 technologies within museums—one which provides a contextual basis that gives users a starting point for engagement and permits users to make sense of objects in relation to their own needs, uses, and understandings. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Srinivasan, Ramesh Boast, Robin Becvar, Katherine M. Furner, Jonathan |
spellingShingle |
Srinivasan, Ramesh Boast, Robin Becvar, Katherine M. Furner, Jonathan Blobgects: Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities |
author_facet |
Srinivasan, Ramesh Boast, Robin Becvar, Katherine M. Furner, Jonathan |
author_sort |
Srinivasan, Ramesh |
title |
Blobgects: Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities |
title_short |
Blobgects: Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities |
title_full |
Blobgects: Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities |
title_fullStr |
Blobgects: Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Blobgects: Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities |
title_sort |
blobgects: digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.21027 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fasi.21027 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/asi.21027 |
genre |
inuit |
genre_facet |
inuit |
op_source |
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology volume 60, issue 4, page 666-678 ISSN 1532-2882 1532-2890 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21027 |
container_title |
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology |
container_volume |
60 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
666 |
op_container_end_page |
678 |
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1800755288534417408 |