Investigating the practices of cultural heritage professionals integrating digital technologies in a small museum

This thesis is situated in the discipline of HCI and contributes toward understanding the role of digital technology in cultural heritage interpretation. Cultural heritage professionals (CHPs), including curators and museum educators, are increasingly adopting digital technologies to engage visitors in their museums. The growing availability of and access to technology opens opportunities for CHPs with limited experience of interactive technologies to create content for and configure visitor interactions with technology. This provides avenues for small museums to integrate interactive technologies. However, there remains a gap in understanding how CHPs undertake evolving technology-enabled practices in context. Therefore, this study investigates the practices of CHPs in a small museum, as they become more prominently involved in using digital technologies. The study focuses on CHPs working at The Hunt Museum in Limerick (Ireland) where I have been a volunteer for three years. Based on an extensive ethnographic study conducted over three years, this thesis details the practices of the Hunt Museum CHPs in preparing, creating and adapting museum activities, such as workshops and tours. It further documents the viewpoints of the CHPs in using digital technologies as part of these practices. Using action research, the thesis analyses the CHPs’ journey in shaping existing resources in response to integrating a new interactive technology. I reflect on my role in facilitating this process. The findings suggest that, while lowering the technological barriers is imperative, CHPs also face implications integrating interactive technologies as interpretive aids. Taking control of the interpretive content could require building the skills necessary to design content on a medium CHPs may be unfamiliar with. Moreover, it appears that CHPs need to understand how the behaviour of interactive technologies affects the intended visitor experience. I further argue the need to support CHPs in small museums in addressing these implications associated with technology adoption.