Languages and Context Issues of ICTs for a New Role of Museums in the COVID-19 Era

Abstract

The rapid spread of the COVID pandemic is deeply changing people’s lives and upsetting consolidated models and lifestyles. The social distancing measures for the reduction of contagion have been heavily affecting people’s daily experiences, such as for example the public’s relationship with cultural resources. Museums, in particular, are paying the highest price for that, forced to find new forms for heritage fruition, thus representing an emblematic case. Taking its steps from the analysis of the pandemic’s effects on global museum heritage and of museums’ response, the article focuses then on ICTs’ role as communication languages between heritage and its audiences in the solutions adopted, and on their suitability to the changed context. Finally, reflections on structural and contextual aspects of the dialogue between cultural resources and their public, beyond strictly technological matters, are proposed, to highlight the real extent of the challenges facing the museum sector.

Teaching controversial socio-scientific issues in online exhibits of science museums: Covid-19 on the scene

“…Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, virtualizations began to play a leading role in socio-cultural relationships, among which museum visits stand out (Lerario, 2021 ), and lockdown measures adopted as public health policies in many countries led some museums to use online platforms for connecting with their audiences in the midst of the health crisis (Vayanou et al, 2020 ). According to the International Council of Museums, ICOM, at least 50% of museum institutions sought digital communication channels (e.g., social media, live streams, and online educational actions) during that period (International Council of Museums, 2020 ).…”

Graphic Representation of The Degree of Historical-Archaeological Evidence: The 3D Reconstruction of The “Baker’s House”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lifestyle of the people, thus impacting the sites of archaeological heritage [44,45]. Currently, new technologies are important in the communication between the heritage and the public [46,47,48]. Therefore, the historical-archaeological evidence scale tested in the 'Baker's House' of Torreparedones allows people to re ect on the structures of the past, observing the preserved remains in situ, the virtual 3D reconstruction performed and the degree of veracity of such reconstruction.…”

The Communication Challenge in Archaeological Museums in Puglia: Insights into the Contribution of Social Media and ICTs to Small-Scale Institutions

“…This process has been developing in parallel with a progressive evolution affecting their deepest essence, related to a rethinking of the role and significance of the museum institution, that has gone on to enrich its functions for decades-with respect to the original ones of conservation and exhibition of objects-through a growing openness towards a more and more informed, interested, and exigent audience and towards its contributions. Such evolution has also been widely analyzed [6][7][8][9] and, on the other hand, was already reflected in the ICOM definition of museum in 2007 [10].…”

“…At the global level, then, it can be said that the digital transformation of the museum sector was a physiological evolution already consolidated at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, at least in some contexts; rather, the pandemic emergency has probably only accelerated the digital transformation, making it urgent and undelayable. Actually, the crisis itself and the will to respond to it, proposing and imposing on museums new responsibilities in the social sphere (as wellbeing facilitators [15,16] and resilience activators [9], by mitigating users' uncertainty and isolation feelings), with the need to maintain remote communication above all for these new tasks, have dramatically brought to light the persistence of long-lasting structural criticalities.…”