Slides from the fifth session of the course "The Recurated Museum" by Sytze Van Herck & Christopher Morse at the University of Luxembourg (Summer Semester, 2020). Course slides typically begin with a brief summary of the online discussions that occurred before the session.

1. The Recurated Museum:
Collections Communication
& Storytelling
Sytze Van Herck & Christopher Morse

2. Is it enough to preserve and maintain software and digital exhibitions as they are
or would it be enough to transmit them through another medium?
Concerning digital collections, how much can UX design take individual user’s
needs into consideration? Can we target the largest possible user group?
Document/update
software
Preserve digital
original
Digital preservation
is easier
Analyse society, find
universal interest
Chat room/forum, test
prototype
User surveys,
interviews, calls,
eyetracking
Combine online and
physical preservation Photos do not replicate
experience

3. Dark Heritage
cultural heritage that is associated with real and
commodified sites of atrocity, death, disaster, human
depravity, tragedy, human suffering, and sites of barbarism
and genocide (Kuznik, 2018).
● Psychology of fascination with death and the
macabre (Flame, Gianfranco, Alice)
● Ethics of use, access, and its relation to historical
museum practice (Catherine, Anne, Mumina)
● User experience and user studies (Lynn, Catherine)
User-Centered Design
Process
● Expert interviews
● Interviews with visitors (N = 137)
● Visitor observations (e.g. length of stay,
behavior in museum, etc.)
● Interactive digital storytelling game
● Object narratives feature
● Ongoing evaluation
(Katifori et al., 2019)

4. Today’s Evaluation:
Museum of the World
https://britishmuseum.
withgoogle.com/
Digital Assessment
(LINK REMOVED)
Museum of the World
https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/

5. Museum communication and
storytelling
Stories are used to illustrate points, to remember
things, and to engage audiences. However, the
power of storytelling lies in the fact that it provides
methods for emphasising meaning, understanding
and feelings.
Stories [...] sometimes seem to influence our
attitudes, fears, hopes and values much more than
academic writing created to persuade through
argument and evidence.
Stories can be a means of self-expression and
communication for socially excluded community
groups, [...] to increase historical and cultural
awareness of heritage sites, and as creative
teaching and learning in education.
(Nielsen, 2017)

6. Digital Storytelling
combines different media
i.e. still imagery, moving imagery, animation, audio, text, voiceover, and interactivity.
creates participatory experiences in- and outside of the museum.
founded on existing social engagement and
sharing of personal stories on social media.
(Nielsen, 2017)

7. Consuming Curator Knowledge
Disintermediation removing the mediating elements in museums to
place the expert in closer dialogue with the audience
Informalization sharing knowledge through informal conversation
rather than academic publications or tone
Participation audience plays an active and defined part
in the digital product, content or service
(Michaels, 2017)

8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTquRUgu-ng

9. Social Media
channel for content
forum for conversation
livestream events
hashtag campaigns
social listening
to drive action
crowdsourcing
competition
(Blankenberg, 2017)

10. https://twitter.com/TheMERL/status/1081175584540114944

11. Edutainment implies an approach that should be
both, entertaining and instructive. It has been
defined as a hybrid genre that relies heavily on
visual material, on narrative or game-like
formats, and on more informal, less didactic
styles of address.
(Ioannidis et al., 2013)
EDUTAINMENT

12. GAMIFICATION
The application of game-design elements and game
principles in non-game contexts.
A set of activities and processes to solve problems by
using or applying the characteristics of game
elements.
(Huotari, & Hamari, 2012; Robson et al., 2015)

13. SERIOUS GAMES
Serious games generally offer a series of localized
tasks within virtual environments to encourage
learning.
(Morse & de Kramer, 2019)

14. (Morse & de Kramer, 2019)

15. (Morse & de Kramer, 2019)

16. (Morse & de Kramer, 2019)
User Experience (UX) Design

17. DIGITAL STORYTELLING
BEST PRACTICES

18. I. Focus on exhibits
II. Richness of information told effectively
III. Engage visitors through dramaturgy
IV. Preserve authenticity through storytelling
(Ioannidis et al., 2013)

19. FOCUS ON
EXHIBITS
Design a story that highlights the
exhibition, without monopolizing
focus on the technology.

20. CASE STUDY:
Opera: Passion, Power and
Politics
Victoria & Albert Museum (London)

21. Told through the lens of seven premieres in
seven European cities, this immersive
exhibition takes you on a journey through
nearly 400 years, culminating in the
international explosion of opera in the 20th
and 21st centuries.
(V&A Museum, 2017)

22. Opera: Passion, Power, Politics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiEXa7qrH9g

23. [The] team wanted to reach those who had
never attended an opera, connecting each of
the seven works to a broader theme.
“Nabucco,” for instance, was selected for
epitomizing Italian nationalism, and “Lady
Macbeth of Mtsensk,” which was attacked by
Stalin, as an example of political censorship.
(Nayeri, 2017)

24. Scenes from Porgy and Bess
by George Gershwin

25. As you walk between the ‘rooms’ or sections devoted
to each opera, the audio guide automatically senses
where you are and changes the music accordingly. It
not only plays a popular aria or overture or passage
from each opera but also snippets of behind-the-
scenes moments from real productions, with
orchestras tuning up, the floor manager counting
down to curtain up and so on, all of which gives the
listener a real sense of being at the theatre.
(Hawthorn, 2018)

26. Set for Handel's Rinaldo

27. RICHNESS &
ECONOMY
Present rich information about an
object or collection while telling
the story in an effective way.

29. INTERACT &
IMMERSE
Target visitor engagement and
motivation while being mindful of
plot climax, dramaturgy, and
pacing.

30. CASE STUDY:
The Scream VR Experience
Sandra Paugam & Charles Ayats

31. Alone in an empty museum, you find yourself face
to face with the painting. Do you dare touch it?
Take care: demons and phantoms will spring from
the canvas and drag you into the depths of the
artist’s tortured mind.
The Scream VR

33. Interaction:
Painting wall with
hands
Interaction:
Grabbing the
darkness

34. Immersion:
Immersion through
scale
Embodiment:
Ghosts passing
through body

35. CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3

36. INFORM &
ATTRACT
Preserve authenticity and
historicity while still crafting an
attractive story.

37. CASE STUDY:
Pure Land: Inside the Mogao
Grottoes
Sarah Kenderdine

39. Embodiment
through
authenticity
Multimodal
storytelling
experiences

40. Assignments
DEADLINE
19.03 Start the discussion
25.03 Evaluate one of the virtual tours
Watch S02:E01 “The Design of Art” on Netflix
27.03 Send case study and research question for essay

41. https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours

42. Olafur Eliasson creates sensory-rich immersive installations, including a lamp-lit sun at the
Tate Modern and chunks of Arctic ice on city streets.
Olafur Eliasson: The Design of Art
45m

43. Essay
1. Description of the exhibition, its goals, and audience.
2. Critical assessment of the exhibition.
3. Assessment of the evaluation scheme used.

44. Bibliography
Blankenberg, Ngaire. 2017. “Social media and audience development”. In A. Hossaini & N. Blankenberg (Eds.), Manual of Digital Museum
Planning. Rowman & Littlefield.
Eliasson, Olafur. 25 September 2019. “The Design of Art.” Netflix documentary Abstract - The Art of Design. Season 2, episode 1.
HITTING THE RIGHT NOTE AT V&A OPERA EXHIBITION | Hawthorn. (2018). Retrieved March 18, 2020.
Huotari, K., & Hamari, J. (2012). Defining Gamification – A Service Marketing Perspective. Proceedings of the 16th International Academic
MindTrek Conference 2012, Tampere, Finland, October 3–5.
Ioannidis, Y., Raheb, K. E., Toli, E., Katifori, A., Boile, M., & Mazura, M. (2013). One object many stories: Introducing ICT in museums and
collections through digital storytelling. 2013 Digital Heritage International Congress (Digital Heritage), 421–424.
Michaels, Chris. 2017. “Discovering a New Kind of Dialogue”. In A. Hossaini & N. Blankenberg (Eds.), Manual of Digital Museum Planning.
Rowman & Littlefield.

45. Morse, C. & de Kramer, M. 2018. What’s in a Name: Gamifying the Intangible History of Larochette, Luxembourg. Proceedings of the 23rd
International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies (CHNT).
Nielsen, Janne K. 2017. “Museum communication and storytelling: articulating understandings within the museum structure.” Museum
Management and Curatorship, 32:5, 440-455.
Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I. & Pitt, L. (2015). Is it all a game? Understanding the principles of gamification. Business
Horizons. 58 (4): 411–420.
The Scream VR, a documentary experience in virtual reality. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2020.
Wyman, B., Smith, S., Meyers, D., & Godfrey, M. (2011). Digital Storytelling in Museums: Observations and Best Practices. Curator: The
Museum Journal, 54(4), 461–468.

46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEm9Q-X6GwY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiEXa7qrH9g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4LU6JKlL3I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRXPvSSZTCw

47. https://www.netflix.com/title/80057883