Teaching Museum Digital Practice in 2022

The Master of Arts in Museum Studies program at The George Washington University responds to the evolving museum profession by combining hands-on training with future-focused theoretical engagement. Students who enrol in the program gain foundational knowledge about the state of museum work today, practical skills and the ability to critically engage with developments in the field.

In Museums and Technology, we take on an ambitious project to realize these goals. Across the 14-week semester, the class creates a publication about the state of digital practice in museums in 2022. Each student is responsible for creating one 3,000-word publishable piece that explores a specific research area related to the overall topic of museums and digital technology. Submissions can synthesize current readings and practice around a broad area, or dive deeper into a single technology or case study related to the theme of digital practice and its impact on the museum.

This is the third iteration of this publication project. The first, produced in 2019, was designed by Dr Suse Anderson, and informed by her experience co-editing several digitally-informed publishing projects, including CODE|WORDS Technology and Theory in the Museum, which brought together leading museum thinkers and practitioners to explore the impact of digital technology on the nature of museums, and Humanizing the Digital: Unproceedings from the 2018 MCN Confererence, which responded to the MCN annual conference. In many ways, each of these projects within the sector marked a specific moment in time. Likewise, it is intended that each book in the The State of Museum Digital Practice series will stand as a marker of each cohort of students and their concerns and interests in a specific timeframe. The first two versions of this publication buttressed the global coronavirus pandemic, with its huge disruptions to museum practice, education and daily life. This newest publication exists in a world still grappling with the implications of the pandemic, but is already showing signs of concern with different kinds of issues, and new possible futures for museums in their relationships with technology. Students have focused on topics related to digitization, including its ethics and implications, accessibility, the realities of zoom education for museum learning, and emerging technologies, such as virtual reality and NFTs.

Each student is responsible for defining and researching their topic and writing their paper. Suse Anderson, Assistant Professor in Museum Studies is responsible for compiling the final book. Because the project is produced quickly, the editorial hand is only lightly felt, so there may be inconsistencies in style, formatting and approach.

We hope you enjoy this publication, produced by the fall class of 2022.