CONTACT: Communicating Organizations in Networks of Art and Culture Technologies

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The cultural sector is in a changing process characterized by a deep-reaching impact on society and new relations between culture, business, and consumption. A large part of what we call the cultural sector in Western society is related to the knowledge p roduction, communication, and representation practices of museums and CHOs, which are charged with collecting and preserving cultural objects and narratives. Therefore, the capacity of museums and cultural heritage organizations (CHOs) to use technologica l innovation to support meaningful interactions between their publics and their collections is an important societal challenge. However, many issues still have not been fully imagined, understood, or critically explored in relation to the communication a nd knowledge practices (Cameron & Kenderdine, 2007). This is apparent in the large contrasts between the rapid pace with which young people take up media, technologies, and literacies today and the much slower pace of transformative change in museums and CHOs. In Norway, there is a lack of innovative use of ICT in mediating cultural heritage. In the CONTACT project we investigate the potential of ICTs to impact the organizational and communicative practices of museums and CHOs in their work of engaging audiences, particularly youth. We explore through the design of participatory media and innovative communication services the challenge of transforming digital knowledge environments, relationships with audiences, and institutional practices. This challen ge is particularly pressing in Norway in light of ongoing museum construction and expansion plans that will influence the cultural heritage field and its communicating practices for many future multicultural generations. CONTACT aims at situating Norway at the international forefront of research in the field of digital cultural heritage communication.