Alexandra Bounia

Media framing of a cultural disaster: the case of Ancient Olympia

Abstract The archaeological site and the museum(s) of Ancient Olympia attract thousands of visitors in southern Greece every year, as this popular destination encompasses not only extraordinary natural scenery, but also a cultural treasure – it is the cradle of the Olympic Games. In summer 2007, forest fires that swept throughout the Peloponnese, with a devastating impact in the whole region, reached the outskirts of Olympia and seriously threatened the archaeological site and the surrounding museum infrastructures. The current project investigates the impact of a natural disaster on media portrayals of Ancient Olympia. The authors used framing theory to measure how national newspapers reported the natural disaster and assessed media framing choices through which the Olympic site and the museum(s) were described. They conclude that the media covered Olympia because of the disaster but coverage of the museum(s) and their activities during this time was minimal. The organization needs to reconsider its media relations strategy while promoting its unique cultural assets.

Resisting Institutional Power: The Women of St. Barnabas

ABSTRACT This article examines the relation between museums exhibiting sacred objects, visitors, and politics. More specifically, it explores the reasons why a minority group of visitors might resist, or even reject, the institutional power of a museum. St. Barnabas Icon Museum, located in the northern part of Cyprus, and a minority group of its visitors—the Women of St. Barnabas—serve as our case study. The two main communities of the island (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots) perceive the museum in dramatically different ways and use it to support their own claims. The Women of St. Barnabas, a group of Orthodox Christian, Greek Cypriot women, reject the museum and insist on using it as a religious instead of a secular space. The authors argue that apart from religious reasons, political beliefs predominantly shape this groups perceptions and uses of the museum.

Digital Applications in Museums: An Analysis from a Museum Education Perspective

This chapter discusses digital applications for museum education. It presents a qualitative evaluation study that was carried out on digital applications created/produced by Greek museums and other cultural institutions during the past few years. The study was based on contemporary theoretical approaches in the field of museum education and aimed to explore the extent to which these approaches are taken into account when designing a digital application for museum education use. The research highlighted the fact that there is a growing interest in developing ICT applications on the part of the museums, but also that there are many possibilities regarding interactivity, active involvement, collaboration and creative expression that are still open for consideration and exploitation by cultural institutions.