Museum Informatics and Collaborative Technologies: The Emerging Socio-Technological Dimension of Information Science in Museum Environments

The museum offers a starting point from which to examine the fundamental nature of collaborative work and interdisciplinary scholarship. This article examines the socio-technological impact of introducing advanced information technology into the Spurlock Museum, a museum of world history and culture at the University of Illinois. It addresses the implementation of such methodologies as computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the museum environment. Discussions are illustrated with examples and scenarios drawn from the Spurlock Museum and emphasize the intimate relationship between the museum’s social structure and information systems. Viewed in a holistic fashion, such studies of collaborative activities within the museum will help shape the future of museum informatics, an emerging sub-discipline of the field of social informatics.