A netful of jewels

A NETFUL OF JEWELS: NEW MUSEUMS IN THE LEARNING AGE

A Report from the National Museum Directors' Conference 1999

FORWARD

In recent years museums and galleries have undergone a transformation of image and practice. Visited by nearly a hundred million people each year, museums in the United Kingdom now provide an exceptional diversity of activities, exhibitions and services. As well as being a creative industry in themselves, they are also a vital source of inspiration for the country's creative economy and, through their expanding educational work, increasingly effective seedbeds of creativity for the public.

Three dimensions of national development will have a particularly important role in our future. One is the digital media sector, in which this country is a leading player. A second is the cultural industries, possibly the fastest growing sector of our economy. The third is the world of further and higher education, in which the United Kingdom's expertise is universally respected. These three crucial elements come together in our museums and galleries, whose resources have vast potential for development in the emerging digital cultural universe.

It is vital, for this process to be successful, that the country as a whole takes a long term approach to the fostering of its creative resources. Children, visiting in school or family groups, are the next generation of designers, as well as producers and consumers. For them, museums are open public storehouses of the creativity of the past and a crucial stimulant for the creativity of the future.

This report is timely and urgently needed. It is an enabling report, one that the museum sector hopes will help establish a framework for policy development as well as a renewed sense of priorities.

Lord Puttnam of Queensgate

INTRODUCTION

Museums and Galleries are essential to a prosperous and civilised society. Our museums hold millions of wonderful things relating to our past and our present, to our world-wide connections and our local communities, to science, natural history, and art. They are some of people's best-loved places for enjoyment and informal learning.

Now, information and communication technology offers entirely new opportunities for galleries and museums to contribute to the most important items on the national agenda: to the creation of a learning society, to social inclusion, and to competitiveness.

We believe that museums and galleries should lie at the core of the new learning networks. In Connecting the Learning Society (Department for Education and Employment 1997) the government recognised the vital role of museums in providing content for the National Grid for Learning. Already, innovative uses of the new technologies by museums hint at the extraordinary wealth as yet untapped. Museums can contribute the richness of their great collections, and the knowledge and authority of their expert staff - curators and other professionals - in research, interpretation and presentation.

This report is the first in a series commissioned by the National Museums Directors' Conference. It is the result of close cooperation with the Museums and Galleries Commission and the mda. Many organisations and individuals within the museums sector and beyond have contributed to it.

The report is a step in a process that will depend on a lively dialogue between museums, their funding bodies, colleagues in libraries, archives and the education sector, commercial partners, and of course the public themselves. In it we describe the contribution that museums can make to a learning society, show what needs to be done to achieve this, and present an agenda for action.

Alan Borg
Chairman, National Museum Directors' Conference

SCRAN - the Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network
SCRAN is an £8 million Millennium Lottery Fund project that uses multimedia and Web technology to create 'Scotland's digital heart'. It makes the treasures in Scotland's museums, galleries, libraries, archives and historic buildings widely available for study and enjoyment. SCRAN gives access to hundreds of thousands of images, sound and movie clips, virtual resource packs and more, for schools and libraries in Scotland, and Web users everywhere.

Over 1000 schools have subscribed to SCRAN. They gain access to the full database, including full sized digitised images, and to CD ROMs of SCRAN resources.
http://www.scran.ac.uk

The 24 Hour Museum
The 24 Hour Museum has been created as a popular gateway to museum and gallery websites. Through the use of new technology the 24 Hour Museum transforms the collections of our museums into an educational resource that is available on-line, around the clock. As access to the web becomes increasingly available at the school, library, workplace and home the 24 Hour Museum will provide a one stop shop for interaction with our cultural heritage. Users will be able to prepare for their museum visit and do an 'electronic follow up' afterwards from the comfort of their own armchair. Children of all ages will be catered for with specific museum resources.
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk