Dear colleagues,

Here you will find a selection of the contributions to our conference 2024.

Session I: Sustainability, climate change and protection, equality and inclusion: in the digital museum world?

Realising the potential of emergent technology for connecting heritage with sustainable development in remote areas

Dr Alan Henry David Miller, University of St Andrews, UK

Abstract

Often digital exhibits are special, often commissioned from specialist organisations for a premium price and only available to prestigious national and international organisations that have the budget to match. Yet development in underlying technologies, mean commodity computers, mobiles and networks are increasingly capable. Consequently, the possibility of immersive and mobile technologies being practical alternatives for community museums is becoming practical. At the same time we are seeing increasing threats to heritage including climate, disasters and conflicts, and the need for sustainable development that is relevant to communities. This paper explores the ways emergent immersive technologies have been used by community museums, to address different aspects of sustainable development and how two Horizon Europe projects CULTURALITY and HERITALISE will help develop tools and platforms that enable community museums to work with virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence to address the preservation and promotion of heritage and in so doing address climate action and wider sustainable development goals.

1. Introduction

This paper focusses on how emergent digital technologies can help to meet these threats and to realise emerging opportunities. Our heritage is an integral part of society, it contributes to our wellbeing, offering a sense of place, it contributes to social cohesion and social cohesion whilst in turn contributing to the economy, particularly in remote areas. There are many threats to our heritage and their are challenges if met that would enable heritage to expand the positive role that it currently plays.

Augmented and Virtual Reality offer new ways of engaging with heritage. As well as digitisation enabling preservation and promotion, they allow objects to be placed in their original contexts through placement in digital reconstructions. Through game technology, digital modelling and virtual reality, visitors are able to experience the past, present and future [KFM∗13], in ways which deepen understanding of the past and enable imagination of alternative futures. Connecting heritage with sustainable developments, speaks both of the relevance of heritage and the potential of creating a better tomorrow. In doing so we will look at the following topics:

1. Opportunities and Challenges: how the changing landscape of technology capability, accessibility and digital literacies is creating opportunities for addressing challenges for promoting and preserving heritage.

2. Sustainability and Heritage: how community engagement with heritage can help address sustainable development goals such as quality education and sustainable communities.

3. Emergent Technologies: offer the opportunity of extending experiential learning and improving engagement with heritage

4. Virtual Museums and their Infrastructure: make it easy to access heritage content and to deploy it across different context – in the museum, landscape and home, and across different platforms, PC, VR, Web mobile

5. Use cases and Projects: examples of community museums in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, engaging heritage.

6. Results and impact, discussion of the results of and impacts of using emergent technologies in community museums.

2. Threats, Opportunities and Challenges

There have been numerous and escalating threats to heritage. These include the experience of the COVID 19 Pandemic, threats related to disasters and conflict as well as threats caused or exasperated by Climate Change.
The COVID pandemic, both threatened public engagement with heritage, by preventing visits to heritage sites and organisations. At the same time it prompted a blossoming of digital engagement with heritage. Many museums took up virtual tours, social media engagement and live online events to continue to engage with audiences. In the process digital capabilities of both audiences and heritage practitioners were better understood, and digital moved permanently into the mainstream of heritage communications.

The climate crises is increasingly being recognised as an existential threat to heritage. Concretely the effects of climate change threaten heritage sites and underpinning communities. Rising sea levels will cause displacement of communities, whilst extreme weather, storms and flooding threaten the integrity of archaeological sites. Desertification and melting sea ice both threaten biodiversity and the cultural landscapes that support tangible and intangible, natural and cultural heritage.

Against this background heritage organisations are increasingly engaging with climate change and promoting, adaptations to climate change, mitigation against climate change and communicates the impact of climate change with the goal of supporting behavioural change such as societal backing of clean energy, to arrest and reverse climate change.

Museums and gallery based organisations play an important role in providing informal life long learning opportunities. In doing so they help shape the collective understanding of the past, our present and potential futures. In the last 20 years we have seen a transformation in the capabilities, accessibility and digital literacies of computers, which offer opportunities to heritage practitioners and organisations.

Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors on microchips doubles every two years. This translates into an exponential increase in the capabilities of computers, mobile devices and networks.

Whilst the accuracy of the law is open to question it is the case that the capability of digital devices have been expanding since the early 70’s. We have seen the extension of the types of applications that are widely available. Message boards, email an messaging move from, textual applications, in the 70s and 80’s were joined by graphical interfaces, windows and graphical web browsers in the early to mid nineties. The 200’s saw widespread streaming and sharing of compressed audio and the rise of MP3s, followed by the domination of Internet Traffic by streamed video, as well as computer games and Virtual Worlds such as Second Life and OpenSim. In recent years we have seen the free availability of high powered game engines, accompanied by widely available digitisation and modelling capabilities. Arguably we are at the edge of widely deployed browser 3D environments and Augmented reality having the fidelity capabilities needed for heritage applications.
We can predict into the future that the somewhat clunky Virtual Reality Headsets, will become smaller and more streamlined. Speaking to the possibility of widening use.

Extension of the capability of digital devices has been accompanied by extension of the availability and use of them. in the last 20 years access to the internet has increased so that now over half the worlds population can access the internet from home or at work. Furthermore for every 100 people in the UK there are now over 110 mobile phone contracts. this trend is a world wide phenomenon, with the digital divide between countries closing significantly.

This suggests that far from digital application being a barrier to people engaging with heritage, abstention from the digital domain and digital life will mean that heritage is edged out by other digital applications. Heritage organisations and practitioners rather have a responsibility for ensuring that heritage is part of peoples digital lives, which can now no longer be considered separate from real life, but rather are simply one of the forms that we live our lives through.

In order for these opportunities to be realised there are several challenges that need to be met. These are largely set out through the Seville Principles for Visualising Archaeology, which can be adopted and adapted for use more widely in the heritage sector.

1. interdisciplinarity: history, archaeology, design computer science geoscience are all relevant.
2. definition of purpose: education, research, entertainment, and reuse need considered
3. complementarity: digital works with the real not against
4. authenticity: based upon fact
5. historical rigour: based uon historic and archaeological research
6. efficiency: solutions need to be cost effective in short and long term
7. transparency: it is clear the level of confidence and accuracy for representations
8. training and evaluation: to develop the capacity of practitioners

3. Sustainable Development and Heritage

The United Nations Agenda 2030 and associated development goals and targets provide a roadmap for achieving a more peaceful and prosperous world focussed on meeting the needs of its people. Engagement with heritage is relevant to many of the goals and targets. Through empowering heritage practitioners HIVE will provide a foundation for contributing to Sustainable Development. Through addressing specific goals and targets HIVE will contribute explicitly to realising goals and targets. The following goals and target are among the most relevant. The United Nations Agenda 2030, provides a road map for addressing poverty.

The heritage sector also has a huge contribution to make in Europe, contributing to the European Green Deal in monitoring, adaptation, mitigation, and communication, promoting climate action to address the climate emergency. Digitisation of heritage artefacts creates a record of the current state of heritage which will be important in monitoring and tracking climate change. Digitisation also provides limited but valuable protection as a digital record of heritage increasingly under threat from flooding, fires and extreme weather events. Developing new ways of sharing will enable rich remote collaborations which mitigate against climate change through reducing the need for travel. Having digital representation of heritage under threat from climate change will enable heritage organisations to create exhibits, achieving engagement with heritage under threat from climate change, and motivating behaviour that addresses the climate emergency.

Heritage connects with many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and targets. Through enhancing engagement with heritage opportunities for promoting sustainable development will be created. Through exhibiting issues specifically connected with sustainable development, quality education, sustainable communities, clean energy awareness and support for UN Agenda 2030 will be enhanced.

Each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals has associated with it specific targets, some of the goals that are most relevant to heritage are given in Table 1.

The uptake of digital technologies during the COVID 19 pandemic, was a turning point for cultural heritage and cultural heritage organisations, through necessity people turned to social media, the web, virtual tours and video conferencing to engage with heritage. This demonstrated how much heritage, including museums and their collections matter to people. As evidenced in [IAJL23]1 collections impact on peoples lives. Our collections matter because they are part of defining who we are and will be part of future generations, connecting achievements of the past with visions of the future. We face many challenges, climate change, loss of biodiversity, inequality, poverty and intolerance, These can be addressed through the New Green Deal, New European Bauhaus and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Collections-based organisations, such as museums, galleries, libraries and archives are an inherent part of meeting these challenges. We can draw upon experience of the past in addressing the challenges embodied in the New Green Deal, circular economy, efficient production, communicating globally and participation in the Climate Pact which are all informed and enriched through the engagement of cultural Heritage. At the same time they can act as inspiration for making places, practices and experiences that are enriching, sustainable and inclusive.

As ICCROM’s Our Collections Matter initiative observes: Heritage collections can contribute to a sustainable future in a significant way, but not without scaling up our efforts to connect them more effectively with the challenges we see around us. Many collections-based organizations are interested in doing so but are not sure where to start or what tools to use. It is time to act together.
The digital transition offers new opportunities for engagement with our collections and heritage. Digitisation enables the creation of online collections with artefacts being represented through images and 3D models. This enables examination and manipulation of the models in ways that do not endanger the original. It facilitates sharing of heritage across boundaries and borders. It provides wider access and a cross-cultural, global collaborative platform to co-create and interact with collections. It allows property for the creation of innovative collections-based activities to concretely support sustainable development across all its dimensions. It can also enable artefacts to be reconstructed to the original state, and to be placed in their original use context enabling them to act more effectively as a gateway into the lives of our ancestors. The digital domain also offers the possibility of sharing resources such as the OCM toolkit 2, through the European data spaces and the forthcoming European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage and other initiatives.

Collections-based interventions will have the potential of bringing together diverse audiences to address the SDGs, through supporting positive attitude/behaviour change towards sustainable development. Through creating will and collecting digital representations of different types of heritage and associate metadata which connects them thematically with the Sustainable Development Goals. It is possible to support, design and create a diverse range of collections-based activities, including exhibitions, workshops, collections-mediated dialogues, decision-making scenarios, virtual reality, games, etc. drawing upon the experience of museums, galleries, libraries and archives addressing Sustainable Development through their collections as well as developing new types of interventions to effectively contribute to the UN Agenda 2030. This experience is being distilled into resources which include guides, reports, software tools and workflows, located in the Our Collections Matter Toolkits.

4. Immersive technologies

Virtual Museum experiences including (XR/AI/Mobile): Development of exemplar projects showcasing use and re use of digital content in the following contexts: Museum without walls, utilising mobile technology to extend interpretation into locales beyond the museum walls. Museum at Home, extending the reach of museum experiences via web applications into the home, schools etc, Immersive VR framework supporting immersive exhibits and exhibitions, personalised interpretation and interaction through large language model enabled characters. Development of authoring and deployment frameworks to support development of MWW, MAH, IE and PE, by small to medium museums and networks of museums. HIVE will develop a Virtual Museum Connect Infrastructure which supports the archiving of resources and their deployment in
exhibitions in the museum, at home and beyond the museum walls. Support for developing and deploying high quality heritage exhibits will make AI and XR technologies available across the value chain and support the reuse of materials.

5. Virtual Museum Infrastructure

Virtual Museum Infrastructure offers the possibility of supporting CH organisations in working with digital representations of heritage across the life cycle of media. From collecting and creating digital media of resources, through archiving with appropriate metadata, into the creation of digital exhibits which bring together galleries, maps, and virtual reality into web based anytime anywhere accessible resources, as well as mobile augmented reality, virtual museum without walls applications extend interpretation through digital enhancement of physical exhibits and the creation of immersive in museum experiences. Developed through the EU-LAC Museums, CINE and CUPIDO EU projects, a virtual museum infrastructure has been widely used in museums across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Incremental increases in the capacity and capability of computers underly the potential for holistic approaches to engagement with heritage which overcome the silos which have previously separated museums, communities, and those creating and working with digital heritage. Developing systems, metadata, and exhibits supports connecting tangible and intangible heritage, locating digital representations of artefacts within representations of their original context, and supports large scale models, placing cultural heritage within its natural environment, enable the connections between heritage to be understood, facilitating richer engagement. Whether it be digital mapping technology, virtual game environments or working with large language models, the capacity and capabilities of computers are opening new frontiers in the way that we can work and engage with heritage.

Virtual Museum Infrastructures facilitate the ability to connect all aspects of heritage together, including landscapes, heritage and people, as each aspect doesn’t occur in vacuum and are influenced by the others. This in turn enables holistic treatment of Cultural Landscapes, where a Cultural Landscape represents the combined works of man and nature. The aggregation of heritage associated with a location and by extension with the community will enable heritage to be mobilised in support of communities’ sustainable development goals.

Digital Representation of Cultural Landscapes: Integration of HIVE, Virtual Museum and GIS technologies to deliver holistic interpretation of heritage which supports reuse of digital assets across the range of deployment scenarios and on the range of platforms. Opensource platform will enable HBIM, Game Engines, Web and App technologies to work together utilising emergent technologies including Large Language models, Virtual Humans, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. This will improve both the quality of engagement with heritage, documentation and the accessibility of heritage.

Connecting Cultural Landscape and Community with Sustainable Development. Through connecting community with cultural landscape, this will enable its heritage to be connected with susttainable development goals of the associated community. Through providing support for working digital representations of Cultural Landscapes heritage organisations will be better equipped to address sustainable development goals for example to deliver Quality Education, contribute to Sustainable Communities, contribute to equality and fairness and enhance the economy.

5.1. Enhanced Museum Experience

Enhancing the museum experience: support for digital content and exhibitions in the museum. This will include framework for immersive and interactive exhibits, as well as support for creation of personalised interpretation frameworks. The framework will enable integration of computer game, HBIM and audiovisual materials into exhibits and exhibitions, offering immersive engaging and interactive experiences that enhance visitors’ experience. The enhanced Museum in this scenario, visitors could use an XR equipment that present 3D representations of CH objects directly in their view. As they move around the physical exhibit space, they could virtually grasp and manipulate the digital object, something not possible with real artefacts, examining its details in real-time. At the same time, the Virtual Heritage Character (VHC), the AI-based virtual human, would engage the visitor in conversation, providing historical context, cultural references, and interactive Q and A. By enabling real-time 3D object manipulation combined with conversational interactions, we aim to set a new standard for cultural engagement, transforming static displays with visitors and heritage objects into dynamic and interactive experiences. This solution would be beneficial beyond physical museums since the methods could be adapted for virtual reality setups, museum at home visits, and museum without walls, ensuring democratic and immersive opportunities to explore a wide range of cultural expressions independent of your geographical location.

5.2. Virtual Museum Without Walls

The Virtual Museum Without Walls, enables museums to extend interpretation beyond their walls to include the surrounding land, city and sea scapes. These make take various forms, for example a trail app, providing guided tours of the local landscape. This may include augmented reality, as well as location aware and orientation aware services. Augmented reality enables objects, buildings and people to appear in appropriate locations, whilst virtual reality enables a virtual binocular type experience, which enables the user to see into the past.
5.3. Museum at Home

The World Wide Web provides a global infrastructure enabling anytime anywhere access to resources. This enables museums to use the Internet to provide museum at home services. This may include virtual tours, via the web or social media, interactive maps, embedded in web pages and interactive galleries, which contain 3D models as well images and videos. The museum at home experience expanded greatly during the COVID 19 epidemic and continues to diversify as technologies develop.

6. Use Cases from Highlands and islands of Scotland

Heritage is important to the Highlands and islands of Scotland, both in terms of contributing to the identity of remote communities and contributing to the local economies through encouraging tourism. In this section we will discuss three case studies, where museums have embraced immersive and mobile technologies to improve access to and engagement with their heritage. These case studies will focus on but not be limited to the West Highland Museum, located in Fort William and the Lochaber area of the highlands, the Timespan Museum, located in the Northern Highlands in Sutherland.

6.1. Finlaggan Lords of the Isles

Finlaggan Trust is located in the Hebrides of Scotland. The site was the seat of the Lords of the Isles from the 12th to 16th Century, ruling an area stretching from Ireland to the Highlands of Scotland.

Important for the development of Gaelic cultural and the formation of both Scottish and Irish national identities. The cultural landscape is made up the striking natural heritage, which is in turn under threat from Climate Change. Islay is vulnerable to both the rising sea levels being a low lying island and to storms, extreme weather and flooding. The decline of Gaelic usage also threatens the intangible cultural heritage of the island. The Trust has engaged in a program of digitisation, creating 3D models of artefacts associated with the site, as well as a 3D reconstruction of the site located in the museum. In addition to the archaeology and general research about the site, there has also been research into characters and dress, and digital avatars populate the site in occupations that are realistic. The Trust has also engaged in outreach work working with the 6 primary schools in the area and the High School, in creating digital resources and virtual tours. The is also strong connection with community and with other museums in the Lordship area and with an international diaspora. Previous work has progressed in digitising, developing digital models of the site and characters on the site as well as interpretation. This has been coupled with working in the community, including schools, developing, virtual museum without walls apps and immersive museum experiences. The nature of the heritage makes Islay a good place to trial HIVE toolkits, services and infrastructure. It will enable us to trial the use of content within multiple contexts. These include: any time anywhere access which allows museum experience to be had at home, in schools or in accommodations, museum without walls allowing access and interaction with both the archaeological site of the seatof the Lordship and with wider Lordship, thirdly it enables interactive experiences to be had in the museum, including immersive experience and AI guided narratives. Additionally, research into dress and activities will enable trialling virtual humans, integrating Large language models whilst addressing correctness, accuracy and relevance to the topic. Building on GIS, Virtual Museum and HHBIM technologies will add richness and depth to interactions with heritage associated with the Cultural Landscape of the Isles. Both climate action and preservation of intangible heritage are important aspects, which can be partially addressed through holistic approach to digitisation and engagement with heritage. FT will connect with Museums in the Hebrides, Ireland and Scotland. This will include The Museum of island life on Skye, West Highland Museum, in the highlands of Scotland, and Donegal County Museum in Ireland. The site has a small museum and visitors centre. It connects with an international diaspora together with museums in Skye, the Highlands and Ireland. Existing digital assets include digital scans of artefacts, and objects, 3D reconstruction of Finlaggan in the 15th Century, as well as intangible heritage related to language and culture. These have been deployed as immersive exhibits in a) the museum as an immersive interactive experience, b) museum without walls mobile app and c) anytime anywhere museum experiences, used in schools. These will incorporate Memory Twin and HHBIM. Audiences include visitors and tourists, community and schools. Through the project aim to explore the development of an Island wide virtual museum supporting re use in context. This will include engagement with historic characters and AI. Developed for use in a small heritage centre, which looks after internationally significant heritage, the use case demonstrates the applicability of HIVE tools for enhancing interaction with heritage objects and visitors in small museums. This will qualitatively extend the accessibility of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Artificial intelligence to museums and CH organisations across Europe and Worldwide. There are several museums connected with the Lords of the Isles (e.g: Museum of island Life on Skye) who would be able to directly take up and replicate content. Further replication will be through connecting with AVICOM and ICOM triennial conference.

6.1.1. Timespan Museum and the Strath of Kildonan

Helmsdale Heritage and Arts Society, commonly known as Timespan, was founded in 1986 with the main aim of providing the community and visitors with an insight into the rich heritage of Helmsdale and its surrounding area. Timespan is in the historic fishing village of Helmsdale on the 58°latitude, on the east coast of Sutherland, in the North Highlands of Scotland. In 2009 an R+D report established a new direction for the art programming, aiming to bridge arts, heritage, and community. Timespan has an international profile for its contemporary art programme, digital heritage, and local history research. We provide a rich cultural programme of events and activities for the 17,000+ people from near and far who visit and engage with us every year. Timespan’s approach is multidisciplinary and intersectional, we work with a broad range of sectors in the cultural and creative fields, and more recently the environmental and wellbeing sector. Our priority is to be a civic and useful village organisation and our communities are central to our programmes and organisation. These principles constitute our Timespan Heritage Manifesto VR Room (Exhibit and Demo): Timespan’s new digital venue will is a crucial asset for developing and testing new technologies and tools for digitising Cultural Heritage objects from diverse collections and making them accessible through VR and AR immersive experiences. The space can accommodate multiple exhibits and has been custom designed for VR, Xbox, and touchscreen interactivity. Timespan Object Collection: Timespan’s collection offers HERITALISE the opportunity to develop resilient object and artefact visualisation techniques for entire objects and incomplete artefacts, and a range of natural material types. These themes can be found in most European contexts and are useful indicators of environmental and social change. Kildonan Landscape and Archaeology: Timespan is a museum without walls embedded in the surrounding landscape of sea, coast, hill, and river. This is our greatest asset stretching back over 6,000 years of human occupation with
the multi-period archaeological remains of buildings, cultivation, ritual sites, and artefact object locations. Helmsdale Fishing Village and Jurassic Coastline: The historic fishing village of Helmsdale was built in 1815 to take centre stage in a thriving Scottish fishing industry with trading networks to the West Indies, Ireland, Baltic, and Europe. The Timespan building was a former curing yard where herring were gutted, salted, and packed in barrels for export overseas. In 2017-2020, Timespan and Open Virtual Worlds created an accurate VR reconstruction model of the village as it appeared in 1890 at the height of the herring boom. Community Groups and Museum Sector: HHAS and USTAN (Open Virtual Worlds team) collaborated on a programme of online public events from May to July 2020 which attracted high audiences and lots of discussion. The events provided an opportunity to share the new digital model reconstructions, 3D objects, and narrated films. The events included Heritage at Home: Digital artefacts from the Timespan collection, A Virtual Tour of Helmsdale Castle, Real Rights Launch, Iron Age Kildonan: Roundhouse Farming Settlement, and Clearances Longhouse Settlement 1813: Digital Reconstruction.
This demonstration site will provide a high degree of replicability. Being a small arts museum in the Highlands of Scotland, digital tools and resources successfully deployed here will also be appropriate for many museums across the European Union, that perhaps do not have the resources of large National or Metropolitan museums.

6.1.2. Clearances and the Strath of Kildonan

The Highlands of Scotland occupy the cooler northern section of Great Britain. Whilst today few people live in many highland areas, many of the Straths and glens supported substantial populations from the neolithic period (3200 BC) thorough to the clearances in the 18th Century. Whilst people faced natural challenges, and they were struggling with survival since suitable lands in the Highlands for cultivation, the parish of Kildonan was able to support a population of 1440 in 1801, but this fell to 257 in 1831 [Jan]. In 1800, Scotland was largely an agricultural society. And in the early 1800s, the textile industry grew. Highlanders before the clearances were largely selfsufficient, producing most of their food, making clothing from wool, and building their own homes. They relied on local resources and shared labour within the community [Rod]. People who lived in the Strath before the clearances cropped and ate oats as their staple since resilient oats could grow even in harsh climates. Their dwellings were made of perishable organic materials such as turf or straw. In those days, Scottish Highlanders recycled their construction materials of their houses annually. After thatch or turf walls were taken down, they could be used for field manure [Dev18]. The Highlands of Scotland occupy the cooler northern section of Great Britain. Whilst today few people live in many highland areas, many of the Straths and glens supported substantial populations from the neolithic period (3200 BC) thorough to the clearances in the 18th Century. Whilst people faced natural challenges, and they were struggling with survival since suitable lands in the Highlands for cultivation, the parish of Kildonan was able to support a population of 1440 in 1801, but this fell to 257 in 1831 [Jan].
In 1800, Scotland was largely an agricultural society. And in the early 1800s, the textile industry grew. Highlanders before the clearances were largely self-sufficient, producing most of their food,making clothing from wool, and building their own homes. They relied on local resources and shared labour within the community [Rod]. People who lived in the Strath before the clearances cropped and ate oats as their staple since resilient oats could grow even in harsh climates. Their dwellings were made of perishable organic materials such as turf or straw. In those days, Scottish Highlanders recycled their construction materials of their houses annually. After thatch or turf walls were taken down, they could be used for field manure [Dev18]. As a small township in the Scottish Highlands, it sits in the lower part of the Strath of Kildonan around a mile from Helmsdale [Ali20], this area was cleared by the representative improvers of the Duke of Sutherland between 1813 and 1819. Several families resisted the clearances since they had lived in the land for generations. However, many longhouses were abandoned and destroyed as landowners evicted tenants to make way for more profitable sheep farming during the Highland Clearances even though these
longhouses are essential for these families to live [Tima]. Today, only clusters of stones left as the remaining ruins of the heritage landscape [Timb]. Historical accuracy of scenes avoids misleading interpretation and dissemination. The integrity of heritage scenes helps users experience a past that truly existed and supports the connections between community and culture.

6.2. West Highland Museum

The West Highland Museum is one of the oldest museums in the Scottish Highlands, situated in Fort William and founded in 1922. The museum’s collections span a wide range of subjects, from archaeology to modern industry, with a special emphasis on the Jacobite risings of the 18th century and Commando training in the area in World War II. Many of our objects are rare and iconic such as the Secret Portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Alexander Carmichael collection is an important collection of objects of Gaelic material culture collected in the C19 and C20th. Since 2020 we have been working with the University of St Andrews to create digital resources both at the museum in the physical space and online. The introduction of our whm100.org gallery, created by the St Andrews team started our journey to digitisation and has been an invaluable resource. The virtual museum has also proven popular with audiences. Both the gallery and virtual museum can be ac cessed directly or via our website. A virtual reality experience was installed in the gallery in December 2022 which recreates the fort at Fort William in 1746 when the fort was under siege by the Jacobites. This immersive experience has proven popular with families and has brought younger audiences in touch with CH, encouraging local families who would not normally engage, to visit us.

Jacobite Collection: Items of material culture associated with the Jacobite Risings of the 17th and 18th century, with particular focus on objects in our collection related to the 1745 Jacobite Rising which started here in Lochaber. Our Jacobite collection has a global appeal and digitisation of these objects will enable online engagement. Alexander Carmichael Collection: The collection includes an eclectic range of objects from the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Objects associated with the Jacobites such as a stool once sat on by Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald’s fan. The collection is an important reflection on the lost Gaelic culture of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Aural Archive: We also hold an important aural archive of recordings of highland life from the 1950s, which provides context for the highland area of Lochaber on the West Coast. The Museum building: The West Highland Museum is a Category B listed building and the site of the old Linen Bank. We plan to digitise the Jacobite and Carmichael collections. The museum is about to embark on an ambitious project to treble its size. This would be a good opportunity to digitise the rest of the building to create a museum of a museum so that the museum as it is now can be preserved in digitised form and explored by members of the public. We will develop exhibits for the museum, web and app, platforms. Through this use case we will explore the digitisation of landscapes, buildings, art works and CH objects together with intangible heritage relating to the lost Gaelic culture of the Highlands and islands of Scotland. Visual and non-visual data for the collections will be ingested into the ECCCH and in this way made available to the Timespan Museum to work with in their collections. Digital exhibits will be created to demonstrate VR kiosks
in two modes. In mode one interactions via touch screen/game controller will be used. In mode two a headset will be combined with screen to give individual immersion and group view. The use cases are highly replicable. West Highland Museum is a relatively small museum with 4 staff members and visitors of some 90,000 a year. Located in Fort William it does not have specialist technology support, and so is a good test for the technologies developed.

7. Projects and prospects

7.1. HERITALISE

The HERITALISE project summary states: HERITALISE mission is to research and develop advanced digitisation techniques and solutions for documenting and representing diverse CH assets, giving a full comprehension of the diverse CH features, visible and non-visible. In addition, AI-powered tools including Machine Learning (ML) will be developed for improved and optimised data post-processing and integration based on standard and expanded methodologies. All this will be connected through a knowledge graph environment that allows the individual aspects known about the CH object to be related and retrievable. As with Wikipedia, by following links it will be possible to learn more about a particular object, what research has been done, and what results have been derived from it. HERITALISE will provide the upcoming ECCCH with a interoperable web-based Ecosystem, advanced input data from improved digitalisation methodologies and preservation supporting tools, which will be achieved by meeting the following General Objectives (GO) and setting the conditions for a wide-scale replicability and scalability across European CH institutions/organisations across European CH institutions/organisations:

GO1: State-of-the-art review of current digitisation standards and methodologies defining the data requirements for Cultural Heritage tangible and intangible objects

GO2: Improve 3D/2D Data acquisition methods and technologies

GO3: Data post-processing methods and technologies will be adopted, including new AI-powered digitisation methods and the development of data fusion techniques to mix various multimodal digitisation approaches (multisensory, multiscale, multispectral, external and internal)

GO4: Development of methodologies and solutions as Hardware (HW) and/or Software (SW) services

GO5: Development of ECCCH-compliant open interoperability components enabling connecting and sharing data and modular services in a distributed web-based architecture

GO6: Increasing the Impact of current and developing digitisation technologies

7.2. CULTURALITY

The CULTURALITY project summary states: The main objective of the project is to contribute to the promotion of cultural and creative tourism activities, considering the different capacities, resources, and specificities (material, creative, human…) of the territories, as a mean to help with the sustainable development of peripheral rural areas, favoring job creation and population settlement. For this, the potential of its cultural heritage will be researched, taking into account both the artisan material culture (techniques, materials, patterns and decorative elements), as well as the intangible culture (music, oral knowledge and culinary traditions) as a resource. To promote non-seasonal tourism as a form of sustainable development with a stable population settlement we are going to research the crafts linked to the territory and their implications, but we will also carry out a documentation of the productive processes. First and foremost, we are going to cater to the necessities of the local communities and pay attention to aspects related to societal groups at risk of exclusion, such as women, the elderly and the youth. All this will be developed from a multidisciplinary perspective, for which we will count on the various teams —most of them linked to different countries— that will be part of the consortium. Each of these partners will contribute to the development, as well as to the final result of the project through input directly related to their area of expertise: for example, among the collaborators we have intellectual teams specialized in the digitalization of heritage, research, or communication and dissemination, as well as as various institutions that will act as a testing ground for the more practical parts of the proposal. However, if something will characterize our work, it will be the constant collaboration between all parties, as well as the exchange of advice and experiences that will help to enrich collective knowledge and guarantee optimal results.

8. Results and Impacts

However, the user experience in virtual reconstruction is limited when they only include static objects and landscapes [MDC18]. In this case, populating virtual humans in historic scenes can enrich the environment and artefacts by enhancing the impressions, becoming informative and immersive. As part of intangible cultural heritage, historical characters represent an important vehicle of cultural diversity. Their existence and authenticity are highly relevant to respond to the cultural identity of communities in terms of historical and social evolution [Len11].

9. Results & Discussion

Exploring the past life of people who lived around the clearance period showcases the intersections among the land, nature, culture, and communities. For instance, their custom of using reusable materials to recycle houses as well as their small-scale farming practices, which relied on crops, lands, and livestock, were relatively sustainable for the environment. However, the evictions on the tenants who lived for generations on the Highland resulted in the wide displacement of communities and an enforced economic shift on sheep farming. The intensive form of land use for short-term profitable businesses on sheep farming destroyed the sustainable use of the land and natural resources, while the clearances brought about significant social change through forcing people off their land and lifestyle to become property or emigrate for survival. In this sense, revisiting the past in the Strath of Kildonan represents the understanding, reflection, and challenges of sustainable development on today and the future.

10. Conclusions

The reconstruction of authentic historical characters using immersive virtual reality strengthens the memory and identity of individuals and lost communities living in the heritage legacy to connect with the cultural learning and engagement.

References

[Ali20] ALISON CAMPSIE: Tour a lost highland settlement destroyed during clearances, 2020. 8
[Dev18] DEVINE T. M.: The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1st ed. Allen Lane, 2018. 8
[Jan] JANE N HARRIS: Kildonan, sutherland – the clearances trail. 8
[KFM∗13] KENNEDY S., FAWCETT R., MILLER A., DOW L., SWEETMAN R., FIELD A., CAMPBELL A., OLIVER I., MCCAFFERY J., ALLISON C.: Exploring canons & cathedrals with open virtual worlds: The recreation of st andrews cathedral, st andrews day, 1318. 2013 Digital Heritage International Congress (DigitalHeritage) 2 (2013), 273–280. 1
[Len11] LENZERINI F.: Intangible cultural heritage: The living culture of peoples. European Journal of International Law 22, 1 (02 2011), 101–120. 9
[MDC18] MACHIDON O. M., DUGULEANA M., CARROZZINO M.: Virtual humans in cultural heritage ict applications: A review. Journal of Cultural Heritage 33 (2018), 249–260. Cultural heritage in times of armed conflicts in the Middle East: Much more than material damage? 9
[Rod] RODDIE MACPHERSON: Farming & clearance. 8
[TH14] TINDLEY A., HAYNES H.: The river helmsdale and strath ullie, c. 1780–c. 1820: A historical perspective of societal and environmental influences on land management. Scottish Geographical Journal 130, 1 (2014), 35–50. 8
[Tima] TIMESPAN MUSEUM: Excavation project design. 8
[Timb] TIMESPAN MUSEUM: Timespan virtual museum. 8

Make it last: Exploring Sustainable Digital Communication

Avigail Rotbain / Sofie Öberg Magnusson

In theory, the digital space of a museum offers endless opportunities for learning and collaboration. In reality, museum websites are often limited to displaying current projects but commonly lacking engaging elements (Kabassi 2016). This paper explores how anchoring a museum’s online presence in co-creation, interactivity, and inclusion, can promote a more sustainable digital paradigm. Such a paradigm would allow the accumulated knowledge and creative outputs to serve as a continuous resource for exploration and learning for both internal and external users.

Introduction

A museum is an institution with numerous stakeholders and a significant degree of responsibility. Its mission encompasses preserving and providing access to the cultural heritage contained within its collections, while maintaining respect for both the origins of these artifacts and the visitors who engage with them. The Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention 2005) asserts that “everyone, alone or collectively, has the right to benefit from the cultural heritage and to contribute towards its enrichment” (Article 4, emphasis added). Furthermore, it stipulates that the signatory parties commit to encouraging public participation in “the process of identification, study, interpretation, protection, conservation, and presentation of the cultural heritage” (Article 12).

In the case of the National Museums of World Culture in Sweden (NMWC), the organization’s mission, as directed by the Swedish government (2007:1185), is to engage in activities that are relevant to all members of society and to collaborate with national and international museums and other organizations to achieve the widest possible geographical reach. Clearly, this goal is challenging to achieve with physical museums alone. The digital format, however, provides opportunities for outreach and accessibility that are unparalleled by the limitations of a physical building.

It is often argued that a digital experience cannot fully replicate the impact of physically visiting a museum, which is undeniably true. However, this perspective may stem from a tendency to view digital museums as merely inferior substitutes for their physical counterparts, rather than recognizing them as a distinct media with unique potential. This perspective also lacks the notion of inclusivity for those who cannot physically visit a museum. The digital medium provides museums with a powerful platform to reach broader and more diverse audiences beyond their physical locations. It facilitates interactive and dynamic engagement with content, allowing museums to continuously update and expand their offerings, enhance accessibility, and promote deeper exploration and connection with their collections and exhibitions (Bocullo 2023; Pioli 2023; Zheng et al. 2024).

Aim and scope

Previous research indicates the need for a digital approach in which cultural institutions aim to design interfaces that are easy to use, interactive experiences, and innovative ways of engaging with communities and individuals (Bocullo 2023; Pioli 2023; Zheng et al. 2024). In a recent case study, Yutong Zheng et al. states that by using interactive segments “users are actively engaged in exploring cultural relics and museum narratives. This not only enriches their knowledge but also fosters a sense of personal connection to the artifacts and institutions.” This approach ensures the inclusivity and sustainability of cultural heritage (Pioli 2023; Zheng et al. 2024). Similarly, Bocullo states that there are missed opportunities to enhance digital accessibility in the cultural sector. She argues that “We already have a technological ability and advancement to develop not just a smart and digital society, but a digital participatory culture as space for co-existing and co-experience for those under physical constraints” (Bocullo 2023).

This paper aims to explore how museums can utilize digital spaces to foster a more sustainable and engaging paradigm for knowledge sharing and cultural heritage preservation. By anchoring a museum’s online presence in co-creation, interactivity, and inclusion, the study examines how digital tools and strategies could extend the reach and impact of museum resources, transforming them into dynamic, continuously evolving assets. Specifically, this paper discusses ways in which a museum’s digital presence could be designed to promote sustainable engagement and interactivity, ensuring that accumulated knowledge and creative outputs remain valuable over time. The scope of this study focuses on the potential of digital platforms to not only replicate but also enhance the physical museum experience by promoting active participation and engagement from a broader audience.

We will examine these aspects of digital presence through two case studies from the NMWC. The first case study explores the intended use versus the actual outcome of a digital resource on sustainable museum practices aimed at museum professionals. The second case focuses on the current and potential future presentation of past exhibitions, with the goal of enhancing their longevity.

Case 1: The digital sustainability platform

The topic of sustainability has become increasingly significant for the museum community, evolving from a peripheral concern to an essential component of museum operations. The 2019 ICOM resolution On Sustainability and the Implementation of Agenda 2030, Transforming Our World underscores the role of museums as trusted institutions with the potential to contribute positively to sustainable development. It highlights both the opportunities and responsibilities museums have to promote sustainability, while also calling for a reduction in the negative environmental impact caused by the museum’s activities.

According to Sarah Sutton et al., museums have a unique opportunity to mobilize the public by “telling the story of climate change and sharing climate solutions in ways that connect to the lives of everyday people. Museums can educate visitors about the full range of causes, impacts and responses to pressing environmental concerns” (Sutton et al. 2017, p.157). The NMWC has embraced this role, actively working to raise awareness and encourage new perspectives on sustainability through various initiatives. One of the most prominent examples is the exhibition Human Nature, a collaborative effort with researchers that focused on SDG 12, promoting sustainable consumption and production. This exhibition aimed to highlight the effects of unsustainable consumption and waste in developed regions while presenting alternative ways of living. Additionally, the NMWC has engaged in other sustainability-related efforts, including educational programs for teachers on the SDGs, public events, podcasts, and research initiatives that address both social and environmental sustainability.

To align with its public information and awareness-raising activities, the organization recognized the need to look inward and strengthen its commitment to social responsibility and minimizing its negative environmental impact. An environmental management system was implemented, leading to the development of new and updated policies and practices. These initiatives were communicated online to ensure that the organization’s dedication to sustainability issues was both visible and accessible to the public on the NMWC website.

Reducing the environmental impact of a museum organization, however, proved to be complex. To browse existing knowledge and learn from good examples, the NMWC organized a national conference for museum professionals in Sweden in September 2019. The aim was to discuss sustainable practices, share experiences, and explore common challenges and potential solutions. The participants proposed creating a shared digital resource that would provide museum-specific information, dialogue and examples related to sustainability and adapted to Swedish conditions. The NMWC committed to developing this platform and began with a pilot study to assess interest and ensure that the content would be relevant and tailored to its intended audience.

The intention with the platform was to establish a joint mission to enhance sustainability efforts of Swedish museums, through creating a website where existing knowledge, good examples, tips and possibilities for collaboration was central. With the COVID-19 pandemic however, the organization faced economic hardships, and the financial and human resources had to be distributed with restraint. This resulted in the digital resource being incorporated as a section within the NMWC’s existing website rather than being developed as a standalone domain. Consequently, the possibilities of creating interactive elements and modes for collaborative editing of the content were abandoned. The result was a standard webpage, thematically organized around various areas of museum activities, featuring texts on how to enhance sustainability within each area.

In the article “Museums and Strategic Silence” (Rotbain & Öberg 2024), we argue that the lack of resources and genuine commitment to investing in the site led it to a state of limbo, where its intended purpose remained unfulfilled, leaving it perpetually “under construction.” As discussed in the article, this could be seen as a deliberate or unintentional strategy to appear committed to sustainability efforts, even though these efforts are relatively modest. Building on that discussion, we further argue here that another reason the site remains underutilized, despite the expressed interest, is a misguided approach to targeting specific groups, combined with an ambiguous and somewhat inaccessible digital structure. In hindsight, it is worth considering whether it was necessary to specifically target the museum community with this information.

As the purpose of the site and consequently the target group had been so distinct, it was naturally treated as something separate from the sustainability information directed toward the public. However, segmenting the information and tailoring it for a specific target group creates navigational challenges and demands additional resources for upkeep, whether the site exists as a separate platform or a sub-category within the general NMWC website.

In retrospect the specific targeting of the museum community might have been an unnecessary delimitation. While some content may be more relevant to museum professionals, there is little reason to separate it from sustainability information intended for the public, even if the original idea of interactivity and co-creation had been included. By presenting the information in a more generalised and inclusive format, the website could facilitate collaboration and interaction not only with museum staff, but also students, researchers, the business sector, and interested visitors. This broader approach would enhance the site’s potential as a knowledge resource, making it more sustainable and effective by expanding the range of users and contributors.

This raises the question of whether such an approach could be applied to other areas of online content as well. Could it be that our enthusiasm for creating tailored content for specific target groups leads to unintentionally excluding those who do not identify with the labels we have created? If so, we may miss out on potential synergies and valuable input. Such an outcome would be contrary to our intentions and the principles outlined in the Faro Convention, as discussed earlier.

The case of the sustainability website highlights the need to reconsider how museums approach target audiences in the digital space. By moving away from narrowly defined target groups and embracing a more inclusive and open-ended design, museums can make their digital resources more accessible and appealing to a wider audience. Accessibility should not be treated as a separate theme but as a fundamental principle that underpins all aspects of museum work, ensuring that every visitor can engage with the content. This shift would not only reduce the unintended exclusions that arise from overly specific categorization but also foster greater engagement and dialogue. By leveraging co-creation and interactive elements, museums can transform their digital presence into a two-way conversation rather than a one-way broadcast. This approach would enhance the sustainability of museum resources by maximizing the use of staff expertise and existing knowledge, broadening the reach of digital content, and encouraging continuous, meaningful interaction with diverse audiences.

Case 2: Reuse and repurpose exhibitions

Historically, there has been an issue of insufficient documentation for exhibitions at Swedish museums, a problem likely prevalent worldwide. Bergvall (2022), Bäckström (2016), and Rotbain (2024) have discussed the persistence of this issue throughout the late 20th century. This lack of documentation extends beyond exhibitions to a broader problem within museum practices. We believe that this is also a sustainability issue. It represents a waste of resources when significant amounts of money and human effort are invested in projects that, due to inadequate documentation, cannot be revisited. This unsustainable practice is particularly concerning for museums, which often operate on tight budgets. When an exhibition is dismantled, the accumulated knowledge and resources are seldom repurposed or reused. This stands in contrast to other cultural institutions, such as the Gothenburg Opera (and many other opera houses and theatres), which maintains a repertoire of performances that can be revisited periodically.

We observe that when museums reuse and repurpose accumulated knowledge and resources, it often happens sporadically or incidentally. Although MNWC, as a state-founded museum, has strict guidelines for archiving documents from the exhibition production, we lack a comprehensive plan for “publicly archiving” or reusing these materials – whether in the physical museum space or digitally.

Is it possible to reuse or repurpose analog exhibitions in a digital environment? At the NMWC, digital promotional and informational texts for exhibitions were previously archived on an external website under a “Previous Exhibitions” page. This approach is common on many museum websites. However, when NMWC launched a completely new website in 2020, this concept was discontinued. The decision was based on the argument that the information was irrelevant, cluttered the site, and made it difficult to navigate. Only after repeated requests from external users and appeals from museum staff was the concept reinstated, albeit with minimal attention.

While this documentation enhances accessibility, its primary purpose is to entice and inspire people to visit the exhibition. Once the exhibitions are no longer on display in the physical space, the content loses much of its value. The texts and images fail to offer in-depth knowledge or post-exhibition analysis. Instead, they may be perceived as simply showcasing a successful track record of exhibitions, without offering any digital content truly worth exploring.

One possible way to achieve a form of reuse is by developing an easy-to-use standard model. The “Previous Exhibitions” section of the Wellcome Collection in the UK could serve as a source of inspiration for such a template at NMWC. Like most museums, the Wellcome Collection provide the original web text used to promote the exhibitions while they were on display. However, it also includes a “Highlights” section for each exhibition, featuring a slideshow of 7–15 images from the exhibition space, objects, or historical photographs, each accompanied by a short text. At the Wellcome Collection, this is done during the promotional stage while the exhibition is still running.

To further develop this idea, a similar approach could be taken during the post-exhibition evaluation process, incorporating feedback or ideas from the audience. Since these photos and most of the texts are already created during the exhibition production or as part of promotional social media content, only a smaller curatorial effort would be required to implement this.

The digital space facilitates greater co-creation and interactivity. While we occasionally make changes to physical exhibitions based on input and feedback, this typically happens only when shed light on questionable or even inappropriate aspects of the display. In contrast to the physical exhibition, digital exhibitions have the potential to be more dynamic. Their ongoing accessibility makes them valuable sources of information and inspiration for students, artists, and others, allowing for continuous discussion of the objects and exhibitions. We can also receive input on digital exhibitions, just as we do with physical ones. In the digital space, feedback can come from a wider audience, and updates or modifications can often be made more quickly and with fewer resources than in a physical setting. This environment encourages continuous dialogue and co-creation. Additionally, the use of standardized templates for digital exhibitions streamlines the update process, making it easier for more staff members to learn and use the tools effectively.

The NMWC have sought to work more sustainably with the knowledge produced in our physical exhibitions. Over the past few years, the NMWC has produced numerous exhibitions customized to be displayed at its museum’s both in Gothenburg and Stockholm. The assumption is that most visitors are locals and rarely travel between the two cities to visit both sites. Although much of the physical production must be created from scratch, the intellectual content can be reused with minimal additional resources. This approach could also be applied to the digital space, which has the potential to reach an even larger audience.

The smaller format and readily curated databank of digital exhibitions can also be utilized in physical spaces. There are occasions when a small exhibition or a single showcase is needed quickly – such as in response to a current event or when a small space becomes temporarily available due to shifts in planning. In these cases, substantial resources are often devoted to creating something new on short notice. Although the results are frequently of high quality, the resource allocation can be unsustainable for something that is only displayed for a few months. By leveraging a databank of small, concise exhibitions or themes from larger exhibitions, it would be possible to repurpose elements from previous exhibitions with fewer resources.

Discussion

The NMWC may need to rethink how we approach target groups. In the first case of the sustainability website, its impact was limited because it targeted only museum professionals, despite the fact that many others are interested in topics related to museums and sustainability. Similarly, most of NMWC’s digital resources are designed for very specific audiences. Much of the digital material is created for school education, with tags such as “for upper secondary school.” This makes it far less likely that someone who is not a teacher or a student in a particular grade would explore the content.

In physical exhibitions, we take a different approach. Although exhibitions are often planned with target groups in mind, these groups are usually broader and more diverse. There is also no sign at the entrance stating, “For ages 8–12” or “For young men unfamiliar with museums,” as this would clearly discourage many potential visitors. The same principle should apply to the digital space: while we may have specific target groups in mind, we should also avoid labels that may exclude others.

The digital format naturally lends itself to being dynamic and adaptable, making it easy to implement changes and updates. However, keeping digital content “alive” is not just an opportunity – it’s a necessity to maintain its relevance and appeal to visitors. Simply creating and uploading digital content without revisiting it is like setting up a permanent or temporary physical exhibition and then neglecting it, without paying any attention to its upkeep or incorporating feedback from visitors. Interactivity and co-creation could serve as valuable tools in this context, allowing digital visitors to provide comments and feedback that guide the evolution of the digital exhibition or content. This approach also opens up opportunities for third parties to further develop the content beyond the museum walls, whether that be through art, research, or initiatives we cannot yet foresee.

There is much discussion about how museums can operate more sustainably, addressing everything from waste materials to social sustainability. However, an often overlooked waste of resources is the accumulated knowledge within museums. Instead of continually reinventing knowledge that is already acquired or curating exhibitions from scratch when we already have relevant content, we could focus on reusing and repurposing our existing knowledge and materials and widen our view of who it is for.

In conclusion, rethinking how we approach target groups and embracing a more inclusive and adaptable digital strategy could enhance the reach and impact of our museum’s digital presence. By broadening our focus beyond narrowly defined audiences and utilizing digital formats to engage a wider community, we can foster a more sustainable and participatory approach to cultural heritage. This shift not only preserves resources and knowledge but also enriches the museum experience for all, ensuring that our digital content remains vibrant, relevant, and inclusive.

References

Bergvall, Margareta. 2022. ”Människan och den långa historien”. In Nordbäck, Carola & Rotbain, Avigail (eds.). Ekokritik och museipedagogik: i skuggan av antropocen.

Bäckström, Mattias. 2016. Att bygga innehåll med utställningar: utställningsproduktion som forskningprocess.

Bocullo, Donata. 2023. “Navigating gaps in museum accessibility discourse and practices: conceptualisation of humanistic and sustainable participatory culture for all”. In Challenges and social responsibility in business. International Applied Research Conference Proceedings.

Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention). 2005.

Förordning (2007:1185) med instruktion för Statens museer för världskultur.

Kabassi, Katerina. 2016. “Evaluating websites of museums: State of the art”. Journal of Cultural heritage.

On sustainability and the implementation of Agenda 2030, Transforming our world. 2019. ICOM Resolution No.1.

Pioli, Marta. 2023. “Cultural heritage 2.0. Digitalisation as a new form of communication.” Universitá Ca’Foscari Venezia.

Rotbain, Avigail. 2024. ”The Nazi’s mummy: the afterlife of a woman from Taltal”. Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals.

Rotbain, Avigail & Öberg Magnusson, Sofie. Forthcoming 2024. “Museums and strategic silence: a case study of sustainability shortcomings”. ICOM Paraguay.

Sutton, Sarah W. & Wylie, Elizabeth & Economopoulos, Beka & O’Brien, Carter & Shapiro, Stephanie & Xu, Shengyin. 2017. “Museums and the future of a healthy world: Just Verdant and Peaceful”. Curator: The Museum Journal: Volume 60, issue 2.

The Wellcome Collections: Exhibitions | Wellcome Collection (retrived 22-08-2024).

Zheng, Yutong & Jia, Wenqi & Zhang, Meng Ting & Wang, Ruijie. 2024. “Enchancing Cultural communication and Sustainability in Museum-Based Creative Products Through Digital Integration.” In F. Ying et al. International Symposium on World Ecological Design.

Communicating Environmental Crisis through Immersive Experiences: Indonesian Museum’s Perspectives¹

Salsabilla Sakinah, PhD Student at the School of Journalism, Media and Culture Cardiff University

Introduction

Amidst the global environmental crisis, a pertinent discussion is taking place around the role of museums in shaping society’s norms and values. Approaching the 21^st century, in line with the growing movement of decolonising the museums that challenge the museums’ inherent colonial policies, principles and practices, the push for the social role of the museum was strengthened and the notion of museum activism emerged as a post-colonial vision (Brown and Mairesse, 2018; Chipangura and Marufu, 2019; Anderson, 2020; Bekenova, 2023). Janes and Sandell (2019:1) described museum activism as “divergent expressions of the museum’s inherent power as a force for good… that is intended to bring about political, social and environmental change”. Resonating what Vergo (1989) argued earlier regarding the urgency for museums to re-examine their role within society radically, Janes and Sandell (2019:17) urged museums to ask themselves questions, such as: “why does your museum exist, what changes are you trying to effect, what solutions will you generate, and what are your non-negotiable values?”.

As Janes (2009:55) argued, this world faces many environmental and social problems, an endless list of issues that he referred to as ‘a troubled world’, and museums are responsible for acting upon that. The responsibility is principally based on the assumption that the museum has the cultural authority – the “signifying power of culture” (Sandell, 2002:3) – to communicate narratives about humanity and to “provide cultural frameworks to identify and challenge the myths and misperception that threaten all of us” (Janes and Sandell, 2019:7), which echoes what Dana (1917) stated previously concerning the way museums could serve the public.

Most existing debates concerning the activist museum’s practice revolve around social justice issues (Merriman, 2020:180). However, in recent years, a burgeoning interest has materialised in the museum world in becoming more involved in the discourse of climate change and environmental emergencies. Regarding the public-funded museum, the public supposedly expects the museum to spend public funds for the public’s good on issues such as the environment (McGhie, 2020:655). But even with the non-public funded museums, demonstrating engagement with the world’s biggest problems, which impact people both now and in the future (Janes and Grattan, 2019; Decker, 2020; Merriman, 2020), is a strategic way to attract more public attention. Practically, every museum can engage people as regards climate: art and historical museums may tell the stories about how people facing the effects of climate change, science and natural history museums may provide context and supporting data for the narratives, while children’s museums may engage the younger ones with such complex issues (Sutton, 2020). Nonetheless, it must also be acknowledged that museums are still not considered as one of the key leaders concerning this issue (Decker, 2020) and are scarcely recognised in recent climate change books (Sutter, 2020).

While most existing studies about climate change and environmental crisis representation in museums come from the Global North, very little comes from the Global South perspective. Therefore, this paper focuses on the specific environmental-thematic museums in Indonesia, one of the biggest developing countries in the Global South.

Immersive Experiences in the Environmental-Thematic Museums

In Indonesia, the largest archipelagic country whose environment is significant to the wider world (Jotzo, 2012:93), several museums are specifically established to address environmental topics. This paper discusses four of these environmental-thematic museums –namely Museum Kehutanan dan Lingkungan Hidup (the Museum of Forestry and Environment), next referred to as MLHK; Museum Air (the Museum of Water), next referred to as MA; Museum Listrik dan Energi Baru (the Museum of Electricity and Renewable Energy), next referred to as MLEB; and the Ozone Heroes Exhibit at the Indonesia Science Center, next referred to as OHISC. It examines how these museums communicate the topic of environmental protection through immersive experiences and how they position these practices in relation to broader environmental activism. It presents primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with museum professionals from these institutions, which has been analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

As their name suggests, each museum highlights different environmental emergency issues. MLHK focuses on forestry and biodiversity issues, MA focuses on rainforests and water crisis, MLEB focuses on renewable energy, and OHISC focuses on ozone layer depletion. Interestingly, in different ways, all the environmental-thematic museums above mention how they want visitors to have some ‘immersive experience’ when visiting the environmental-thematic exhibition.

The immersive museum experience is currently becoming popular in Indonesia. However, as observed by Gröppel-Wegener and Kidd (2019) defining ‘immersive experience’ is something far from straightforward: “No clear definition exists; yet, we all seem to have an idea of what we are talking about when we use that word ‘immersive’” (Ibid.:3). Moreover, finding an equivalent word for ‘immersive’ in Indonesian is tricky. Thus, some of the museums used the English word ‘immersive’ but in an unsure tone, such as a staff member of OHISC:

Well, the main thing is how to make the display, the simulation, become interactive, and visitors can, umm what is it, immersive? (P-04)

When asked to describe this ‘immersive’ experience, P-04 referred to the giant dome where people can enter inside as the highlight of OHISC. The interior of the dome was painted with the environmental landscape to create the illusion of 360° views. In addition to the regular lighting, the dome is also equipped with UV lighting, and visitors can press a button to switch between the two types of lighting. When the regular lighting is on, and the UV lighting is off, the paintings look normal: healthy humans, animals, plants, and a good environment overall. But when the regular lighting is off, and the UV lighting is on, which illustrates the UV that enters the earth because of damage to ozone layers, the paintings change cancerous skin on humans, sick animals and plants, fire on buildings, and so on.

In a separate interview session, the designer of the OHISC elaborated further on how they chose the design of the giant dome as a specific space to convey an immersive experience:

So it’s more like an experience inside where you can experience the two modes, from the normal one to the damaged condition due to the ozone layer. And the most possible way to do that is by using the UV lamp. Actually, at first we wanted to make it look as if the dome was open then there was hot air coming in. But that seemed too difficult. And too much. Well, so this is the most visible way to experience it. (P-15)

As shown by the excerpt, the designer explained that they wanted to make people ‘experience’ something vividly when designing the giant dome. They even had an idea about creating a hot air flow inside the dome to make people experience the effects of global warming and trigger multi-sensory experiences, though, in the end, the idea was not implemented due to technical difficulties.

Whereas, the other museums did not use the word ‘immersive’ but used other words to describe the immersive experiences. A staff member from MLHK, for example, used the Indonesian word ‘menghayati’:

The theatre space is used so people can ‘menghayati – (Indonesian language)’ the film. (P-01)

Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia², an official Indonesian-Indonesian dictionary developed by the Indonesian government agency defines the word ‘menghayati’ as ‘mengalami dan merasakan sesuatu (dalam batin)’, or in English words ‘experiencing and feeling something (in the soul)’. Meanwhile, the Indonesian-English Cambridge Dictionary³ translates the word ‘menghayati’ as ‘to live (a certain kind of life)’. As an Indonesian native speaker, I would add the word ‘intensely’ to emphasise how people ‘experience, feel and live something’, as that is how Indonesian people – according to my experience and subjectivity – usually use the word ‘menghayati’.

By using the word ‘menghayati’, the museum staff member implied that MLHK wants to communicate the stories of the environmental crisis through a site-specific space – the movie theatre space in MLHK – which can make people intensely experience, feel, and live the story in the film. Unlike playing the movie on a TV or computer screen in the gallery where people can watch and go and can be easily distracted at any point, playing the film in a particularly dark room such as the movie theatre space makes visitors stay watching the film from the beginning until the end, thus allowing for a greater chance of immersion.

Another example is how the museum staff members from MA described the immersive experience, which is some life-size dioramas and 360° projections to depict the environmental situation, as something that vividly resembles the real thing:

There is a room that depicts the water crisis, with the floor made to look like cracked soil, and we also have visuals like that. We have a projector that displays it. (P-13)

The rainforest gallery has a really good diorama where it can actually rain. (P-13)

It really looks like an actual forest. (P-14)

Using those words, the museum staff member emphasised that the museum wants to communicate the environmental crisis stories through an embodied experience. Like the giant dome in OHISC, the life-size dioramas and 360° projections in MA were specifically designed to convey the immersive experience. In this particular space, people can enter and be surrounded by audio, visual, and other sensory experiences, such as the sound of splashing water, which make an intense impression of experiencing an actual situation. As Gröppel-Wegener and Kidd (2019:5) noted, immersive experiences “privilege multi-sensorial encounters” because “such sensory stimulation brings participants into an immediate and felt entanglement with the practice, whether positively or negatively experienced” (Ibid).

Quite different from other museums, which use a specific physical space to convey immersive experiences, MLEB utilises the digital technology of augmented reality (AR) to add another layer to the real objects:

So, you can scan the AR code on an object; then, a narrative and an audiovisual will appear. (P-06)

Nevertheless, the augmented reality experience is still bound to a physical space, as the AR narrative and audiovisual can only appear if visitors point their device to a specific object.

Museum as an Educator and the Immersive Experience as a Learning Facilitator

The critical question, then, is why those museums use immersive experiences to communicate the story of the environmental crisis. The answer to this question is arguably can be traced back to the main thinking that a museum is an educational institution, but not a boring one. All the professionals from across the museums heavily describe their role and agency as environmental educators, with ‘educate’, ‘education’, and ‘educational’ as the most common keywords the museums use to describe their primary mission.

Our goal in MLHK is to educate people since early childhood. (P-01)

This is indeed our responsibility in the educational aspect. We are directly under PLN, under PLN Corporate University which has a main responsibility to educate. So, we are educators. Our museum guides are called educators. (P-07)

So, it is not just for swimming in the Waterboom Jogja; there is also an educational aspect. (P-13)

Education is indeed a vital part of the museum practice. The latest museum definition by ICOM stated that education is one of the main experiences offered by museums. Similarly, the Indonesian government’s law on museums (PP No. 66 Year 2015) also emphasises that education is one of the main tasks of museums.

Interestingly, the museums also emphasised that they do not want to resemble the boring and monotonous voice delivered by schools as the formal educational institution, with too many texts and too much passive mode of teaching:

If everything is written on the information board, it will be monotonous. It will be so difficult to read. (P-01)

The visitors to the museum are mostly school children who are still studying, from elementary school to high school. It will be monotonous if there are too many technical writings. (P-15)

We want visitors who come to the museum not to be 100% studying. If, for example, we give 100% to learning, it will be monotonous. Like at school, where you just learn all the time. (P-08)

Therefore, the museums think they need to incorporate something more enjoyable, interesting, and not boring: things besides the monotonous text displays. This could be audio, visual, games, real things (or something resembling them), or a combination of multiple media:

Not only are there displays, but there are also visuals, so the museum is not boring. (P-13)

Well, children usually love what looks like a real thing, such as in the museum there is a submarine. Well, maybe it was made like that to make it more interesting. (P-14)

What we want is, we really want to show, so people can feel the experience. How it looks like if the ozone is impacted by the UV. It can become really scary. The depictions are scary, but children are attracted to them. So that children are interested in the pictures, the visuals, the interactives. (P-15)

We hope the game will allow children to enjoy learning about ozone. (P-04)

Well, for the one… the teak tree talking, that was the audio. The mission at that time was because usually children like to gather in the middle; it’s like they are told a tell; they listen to this teak tree telling stories about itself and what’s around it. So it’s very interesting; they feel like they’re being told by a collection that can talk. (P-01)

At the very basic, the museums’ effort to consider more about what will make their exhibits enjoyable, interesting, and not boring for visitors can be seen as a consequence of the shifting paradigm from the object-centred ‘old’ museum practice to the audience-centred ‘new’ museum practice, a movement that has grown massively since the 1970s. However, to some extent, this also implies that the museums actually want to apply a more active and visitor-centred learning mode, and this is the thinking process behind incorporating experience-based learning, particularly immersive experience, in the museums. Begun by the ‘hands-on’ spirit in science museums but recently also developed by history museums to build a reconstruction and simulation of the past, Henning (2006:71) observed this as a part of museums’ attempts to establish a balance between the ‘object lessons’ and the ‘learning through experience’ notion. By experiencing something, the museums wish that visitors bring longer-lasting memories of what they learnt in the museum, as stated by a museum staff member:

The main thing is how to make a science attraction interactive so the visitors can be immersed. Visitors can be a part of the science props. So they get the impression that, hopefully, it will not fade. It will not be forgotten. (P-04)

In practice, immersive experiences help museums deliver learning about abstract subjects by allowing people to experience something that happens in other places far away from them, something that people might have never seen or known before. For example, although people might have experienced many of the environmental crisis phenomena, such as the hotter temperatures from air pollution in Jakarta, as told by P-02, the bigger picture and the cause of the environmental crisis issues is often something that cannot be seen directly, such as the ozone layer depletion. Here, immersive experiences play a part in bridging the broad distance between the global environmental crisis and people’s everyday lives by visualising abstract things to make it easier for visitors to learn about them:

So, some contents in Ozone Heroes itself actually are contents that, how to say it, quotes, a bit abstract. So perhaps it needs some approach, how to deliver the information with that limitation. (P-04)

Because climate change, ozone, the ozone layer, and the ozone hole are all 25 thousand meters in the sky that we can’t see, can’t touch, can’t feel. So how can you feel that? Using the dome we want to try to project, oh, this is the shape of the earth inside, here are pictures of living creatures, there are humans, there are trees, there are forests. (P-15)

Environmental Education Vis-À-Vis Activism

Within the education framework, all of those museums expressed their intention to influence visitors in various ways. They want to influence the cognitive aspect by ‘giving’ and ‘providing’ information, particularly by ‘telling’ people the consequence of human actions on the environment:

Our goal is to educate from an early age, that, if you do this, the results will be like this. (P-01)

Perhaps we are mostly inviting, like telling, if, for example, we don’t protect the environment, the effect will be like this. (P-05)

Some museums want to elicit certain emotions in visitors. One of the emotions is surprise, such as noted by the staff from MA:

Maybe there are the urban people, well, they can be surprised because water crisis can be that scary, with the cracked soil. (P-13)

Another example of eliciting certain emotions is when the MLHK staff members talked about making visitors ‘emotionally drained’:

Because, yeah, it’s quite emotionally draining for the children to watch the film. Especially the last film, right P02? (P-01)

Yeah, the high-school students, in our last film about animal conservation, they cried after watching the film. Because they just found out how cruel it is at the bird market. Yes, I said. Indeed yes. And the film was not made randomly; there is research on that. (P-02)

While they did not specify what they mean by ‘emotionally draining’, P-02 emphasised that the ‘emotional drain’ was evidenced by ‘cried’ because ‘they just found out how cruel it is’. This implies that the emotions that the museum attempts to elicit are grief and anger. The emotion of grief and anger was intentionally provoked to achieve a particular objective as further elaborated by the P-02:

Like, what we call it, brainwashing, something like that. Brainwashing from the film. We make their mindset open first; oh, apparently, that’s how it is. From there, we give them an explanation, like, come on, do you want to join us and be a part of us to protect the environment? (P-02)

Meanwhile, other museums specifically tell visitors what they want people to do, and what attitude and behavioural change they wish visitors to have, such as switching to renewable energy (MLEB), choosing types of equipment that are free from CFCs and HCFCs (OHISC), and using water more efficiently (MA).

As environmental educators who aim for cognitive, emotional, attitude and behavioural effects on visitors through education, the museums indirectly are a part of environmental activist practice. Nevertheless, this idea of a museum in environmental activism is not without challenges. Although participants from all museums expressed that they want to achieve a wider change in society, which resonates with the idea of museum activism, the idea of ‘museum as an activist’ or activist museum practice is something new and unfamiliar in the context of Indonesian museums, which is evidenced by similar confused responses by the professionals across the museums to respond to my last question during the interview session which was “do you consider what the museums do as a practice of environmental activism?”

After the initial confusion, some museum staff members expressed doubt and mentioned that the label ‘activist’ is perhaps ‘too heavy’ for museums to carry because there is an assumption that activists are those who do the ‘real action’, which is often not the case for museums. There is also debate about whether the real activists should be unpaid or voluntary. Some participants stated that they are not activists because they do things for work and they get paid for it. Moreover, the museums’ content is also influenced by the perspective of the funder/owner, and there may be some potential conflicts of interest which may inhibit the museums from being the ‘real’ activists.

Conclusion

The results indicate that Indonesian museums heavily position themselves as environmental educators, using immersive experiences as learning facilitators. They hesitated to call their work ‘activist’; however, this is for reasons that will be elaborated on in the paper. The finding is significant as it illustrates the intertwined relationship between education and activism when museums communicate the topic of environmental protection through immersive experiences.

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1 Data presented in this paper is a part of the author’s ongoing PhD research project. The research project is funded by the Center for Higher Education Funding (BPPT) Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP).

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