Kiersten F. Latham

Museum object as document: Using Buckland's information concepts to understand museum experiences

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to understand the meaning of museum objects from an information perspective. Links are made from Bucklands conceptual information framework as a semiotic to museum object as “document” and finally to user experience of these museum “documents”. The aim is to provide a new lens through which museum studies researchers can understand museum objects and for LIS researchers to accept museum objects as another form of document to be studied.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual and comparative analysis of Bucklands information typology as a semiotic. Outcome of analysis forms a model of understanding the museum object as a “document” that is accessed by users on a continuum of experience.Findings – Michael Bucklands information typology is insightful and useful for a broad understanding of what all heritage institutions have in common: the physical object. Buckland helps us see the museum as an information system, the museum object as a document, and the multidi...

Numinous experiences with museum objects

ABSTRACT It has been over a decade since Cameron and Gatewood (2000, 2003; Gatewood & Cameron, 2004) conducted their immensely intriguing research on numinous experiences in museums. Inspired by this pioneering work, the current study was undertaken to investigate more deeply these kinds of experiences with museum objects. The essence of this encounter, as revealed by a phenomenological investigation, is comprised of a holistic uniting of intellect and affect, with a direct link to the tangible and symbolic nature of the object, a feeling of being transported, and intensely profound connections with the past, self, and spirit. These experiences are interpreted as document-centered flow experiences that fall more into the category of mystical experience than traditional learning experience. Further understanding of numinous encounters in museums can help museum practitioners make intentional choices about objects, design, and format that can serve to stimulate, connect, and inspire our museum audiences.

The Poetry of the Museum: A Holistic Model For Numinous Museum Experiences

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore a certain kind of museum experience—the numinous experience—a deeply connective, transcendental encounter one may have with a museum object, site, or exhibit. A model, borrowed from reader response theory, is illustrated in order to aid in the exploration of these deeply moving museum experiences. Louise Rosenblatts Transactional Theory of the Literary Work is an effective model—even beyond the world of reading text—in understanding these encounters that may occur between an object, a museum visitor, and the situation in which they come together. In the art world, these moments are well-known as aesthetic experiences. It is through Rosenblatts model of experiencing the poem, a broad understanding of an aesthetic encounter, that we can begin to place the numinous experience into the broader range of human experience with material culture.

The Objects of Experience: Transforming Visitor-Object Encounters in Museums

What if museums could harness the emotional and intellectual connections people have to personal and everyday objects to create richer visitor experiences? In this book, Elizabeth Wood and Kiersten Latham present the Object Knowledge Framework, a tool for using objects to connect museum visitors to themselves, to others, and to their world. They discuss the key concepts underpinning our lived experience of objects and how museums can learn from them. Then they walk readers through concrete methods for transforming visitor-object experiences, including exercises and strategies for teams developing exhibit themes, messages, and content, and participatory experiences.

Document phenomenology: a framework for holistic analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance document ontology and epistemology by proposing a framework for analysing documents from multiple perspectives of research and practice. Design/methodology/approach Understanding is positioned as an epistemic aim of documents, which can be approached through phenomenology. Findings A phenomenological framework for document analysis is articulated. Key concepts in this framework are include intrinsic information, extrinsic information, abtrinsic information, and adtrinsic information. Information and meaning are distinguished. Finally, documents are positioned as part of a structural framework, which includes individual documents, parts of documents (docemes and docs), and systems of documents. Research limitations/implications Scholarship is extended with an eye toward holism; still, it is possible that important aspects of documents are overlooked. This framework serves as a stepping-stone along the continual refinement of methods for understanding documents. Practical implications Both scholars and practitioners can consider documents through this framework. This will lead to further co-understanding and collaboration, as well as better education and a deeper understanding of all manner of document experiences. Originality/value This paper fills a need for a common way to conceptualise documents that respects the numerous ways in which documents exist and are used and examined. Such coherence is vital for the advancement of document scholarship and is the promotion of document literacy in society, which is becoming increasingly important.

What is the Real Thing in the Museum? An Interpretative Phenomenological Study

This article describes a study of the different ways museum visitors understand their experience of the real thing (TRT) in the museum context. Many professionals and scholars claim that the uniqueness of the museum – in relation to other leisure and educational experiences and offerings – centers on being the keepers of ‘real things.’ Having an insight into the visitor perspectives of what they consider real is important and relevant to museum professionals as well as other cultural heritage workers as it can assist them to better respond to visitor experiences of TRT. The study used an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach to inquire into the qualitatively different ways of understanding the experience of TRT in the museum. The research resulted in four ways of understanding an experience of TRT in museums: through aspects of the self, in relation to others, through the presence of the actual physical thing, and through ones surroundings.

Re-positioning information science

During the twentieth century there was a strong desire for information studies to become scientific, to move from librarianship, bibliography, and documentation to an information science. In 1968 the American Documentation Institute was renamed American Society for Information Science. By the twenty-first century, however, departments of (library and) information science had turned instead towards the social sciences, but have not been successful in providing a coherent explanation of the nature and scope of the field. The accepted view of Information Science as an emerging, scientific discipline closely tied with Information Technology and, mainly, textual data, will be challenged. Three brief presentations proposing different foundations and directions as a basis for a moderated discussion: There are other options: The development of Information Science in France has been radically different and has from the start been steeped in the humanities. The scope and focus should be broader to include, for example, the cognitive and aesthetic experiences of museum visitors? If Information Science is really concerned with influencing what people know, what kind of science can Information Science be?

Encountering the muse: An exploration of the relationship between inspiration and information in the museum context

How are information and inspiration connected? Answering this question can help information professionals facilitate the pathways to inspiration. Inspiration has previously been conceptualized as a goal or mode of information seeking, but this says little about the nature of inspiration or how it is experienced. In this study, we explore the connection between information and inspiration through a qualitative approach, using the museum as our setting; specifically, the researchers’ own visits to three separate museums. We use collaborative auto-hermeneutics, a methodology specifically suited to such a reflexive exploration, to document and analyze three individual museum visits. The following research questions were the main driver for this exploratory study: What is inspiration, and How are inspiration and information related? In answer, we present an inductive definition of inspiration as a kind of information, and we discuss how this definition fits in with the information science literature as well as offer some practical applications.

OKF-Ref: using the object knowledge framework to understand the reference experience

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to offer a platform for thinking about the reference interaction experience by borrowing from museum studies literature, particularly from a holistic understanding of the museum visitor’s experience. Design/methodology/approach – The goal of this paper is to offer a platform for thinking about the reference interaction experience by borrowing from museum studies literature, particularly from a holistic understanding of the museum visitor’s experience. Findings – Object knowledge framework-reference (OKF-Ref) enables reference staff to connect patrons with resources to enable deeper thinking and research. Practical implications – OKF-Ref seeks to permit reference transactions as experiences rooted in synchronous individual, group and material potential connections made between resources and information seekers. Originality/value – New considerations in lived reference experience encourages reference librarians to think about the whole experience of reference interactions,...