Welcome to the website for the University of St Andrews postgraduate module, The Digital Museum: Past, Present and Future. During this course, students will experiment with different technologies, culminating in a final digital project exploring the intersection between digital theory and practice, and showcased here.
As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered cultural institutions globally, the attention of museum professionals and audiences turned to the digital. Some flourished in the new digital-only landscape; others struggled. This module critically analyses the adoption of digital technologies in museums, looking to the past to understand the present, and why the pivot to digital was more successful in some cases than in others. Contemporary issues in the sector relating to digital practice and skills – access, inclusion, decolonisation, curatorial authority – will be examined through case studies and in conversation with practitioners. The final section of the module will look to the future in anticipation of new trends and problems that the next generation of museum professionals will encounter.
