Museological Approaches to the Management of Digital Research and Engagement: The African Rock Art Image Project

Abstract

The African Rock Art Image Project at the British Museum has documented and disseminated c. 24,000 digital images of rock art from throughout the continent, donated by the Trust for African Rock Art (TARA). The images were registered into the British Museum's permanent collection and treated as objects in their own right, not just digital reproductions of objects. As a wholly born-digital collection, this led to several opportunities and challenges for documentation, dissemination, and digital humanities outputs, including a fully searchable database, social media, website, 3D modelling and printing, and virtual reality, to name a few. Increasingly, digital technologies are being used in standard archaeological research and practice. From digital photography to larger 3D modelling/scanning, the volume of data being created by archaeologists is increasing exponentially, as is the potential for these outputs to change research and community engagement. But with the massive amounts of data being created, are researchers documenting and disseminating their data to their full potential? Here, traditional museum practices of cataloguing, storing, and public engagement can inform archaeological practice to use these data collections for both scholarly research and community engagement. Through a critically reflective description of the work and challenges of the project, this paper argues that there are significant benefits to be gained by engaging digital rock art projects with established museum thinking and practice.Résumé Le projet BAfrican Rock Art Image Projectd u British Museum a permis de documenter et diffuser environ 24.000 images numériques d'art rupestre provenant de tout le continent, offertes par l'organisation BTrust for African Rock Art^(TARA). Les images ont été enregistrées dans la collection permanente du British Museum et traitées comme des objets à part entière, et non pas seulement comme de simples reproductions numériques. Cette collection entièrement numérique a débouché sur plusieurs opportunités et défis pour la documentation et la diffusion, notamment une base de données entièrement consultable, les médias sociaux, le site Web, la modélisation et l'impression 3D, et la réalité virtuelle, pour n'en citer que quelques uns. De plus en plus, les technologies numériques sont utilisées dans la recherche et la pratique archéologique. De la photographie numérique à la plus grande modélisation / numérisation 3D, le volume de données créé par l'archéologue augmente de façon exponentielle, de même que le potentiel de ces productions à changer la recherche et l'engagement communautaire. Mais avec les quantités massives de données créées, les chercheurs documentent-ils et diffusent-ils leurs de façon optimale? Afr Archaeol Rev (2018) 35:321-337 https://doi

Online Museum Collections as Artifacts: A Case Study of New Guinean Necklaces Illustrating Mathematical Approaches as Diagnostics for Collections Management

“…The latter is rapidly becoming the accessible public persona of many collections, if not 1 University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia of whole museums, and while there may be no substitute for standing beside the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex, many people simply do not have the opportunity. Consequently, online collections play an important role in promoting access and public engagement (Anderson, Galvin, de Torres Rodriguez 2018;Axelsson 2018;Bertacchini and Morando 2013;Clerkin and Taylor 2021;Hurley 2016;Rose 2016;Staubermann 2018). However, the formation, structure, and identity of online collections, and the deep impact that accessing such collections can have on research and engagement needs more attention.…”