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Leiden University
Cultural Heritage in the Post-Pc Era
Student: Sjoerd Bakker Programme: Book and Digital Media Studies Supervisor: Prof. dr. A.H. van der Weel Second Reader: Drs. G.J. Nauta Date: 23-05-2012
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Contents
1 Introduction........................................................................................ 3
1.1 Oh, What a Digital World................................................................. 3
1.2 Post-pc......................................................................................... 4
1.3 Post-pc and Cultural heritage........................................................... 5
1.4 Thesis and Research Questions ........................................................ 7
1.5 Limits to the Scope of This Thesis..................................................... 7
1.6 Approach ...................................................................................... 8
2 The Network Society ............................................................................ 9
2.1 The Network Society ...................................................................... 9
2.1.1 Real Virtuality .......................................................................... 9
2.1.2 The Space of Flows ................................................................. 11
2.1.3 Timeless Time........................................................................ 12
2.1.4 Conclusion............................................................................. 13
3 Post-pc and the Network Society ......................................................... 15
3.1 The Forrester Report .................................................................... 15
3.1.1 The Technological Changes ...................................................... 15
3.1.2 The Social Changes................................................................. 17
3.1.3 Computing in the Post-pc era ................................................... 18
3.1.4 Conclusion............................................................................. 19
4 Cultural Heritage in the PC Era ............................................................ 20
4.1 A Short Definition of Digital Media .................................................. 21
4.2 Digitized Heritage ........................................................................ 22
4.2.1 Digitized Cultural Heritage: Authority, Context and Essence.......... 23
4.2.2 A Digitized Collection: Wartime Posters...................................... 25
4.3 The Virtual Museum ..................................................................... 27
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4.3.1 The Virtual Museum: Information, Education and Interaction ........ 27
4.3.2 The Virtual British Museum ...................................................... 29
4.4 Conclusion .................................................................................. 31
5 Post-pc and Cultural Heritage.............................................................. 33
5.1 Characteristics of Mobile Applications .............................................. 34
5.2 Case study 1: Erfgoed.mobi........................................................... 35
5.3 Case study 2: Xwashier ................................................................ 37
5.4 Case study 3: Google Goggles ....................................................... 39
5.5 Case study 4: Voetbal van Toen ..................................................... 40
6 Discussion ........................................................................................ 42
6.1 Contextuality and Discoverability.................................................... 42
6.2 The DEN Foundation’s Inventory of Mobile Services .......................... 44
6.3 Limitations of Mobile..................................................................... 45
7 Conclusion........................................................................................ 47
Bibliography........................................................................................... 50
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1 Introduction
1.1 Oh, What a Digital World
Few topics are as popular a source of discussion as technology. The day to day
advance of technological possibilities is something that affects many aspects of
our lives and, consequently, it is nearly impossible not to have an opinion on the
subject. There are those who see the uses of a certain technological innovation
and those who do not; those who are cautious towards a new invention, be it
justifiably or not, and those who embrace it. There are the techno-fetishists, who
preach the gospel of technological progress and rush to the store every time a
new gadget hits the market, and there are the people who consciously ban all
forms of modern technology from their lives. For the great majority, however,
the issue of technology and the place it has in their lives is not so black and
white. In our modern society it is impossible to avoid some forms of technology.
Some are forced upon us by governments, social circumstances and peer
pressure, others we use because they make our lives easier or more enjoyable.
No matter what the motivation is behind the adoption of new technologies, no
new technology has ever been heralded universally as a positive development.
The computer, perhaps the most socially disruptive invention of the 20th century,
is one such technology that has never ceased to spark discussion.
The history of the computer is a long one. During that history it moved
from big rooms in large institutions onto hundreds of millions of desks around
the world. The impact on mankind of the increasing ubiquitousness of computers
and its ensuing technologies, like the internet, cannot be denied. Computer
technologies have changed the way we work, study, communicate, stay informed
and entertain ourselves; not just by offering efficient ways to perform existing
tasks, but also by enabling completely novel tasks, products and services. Web
design, videogames, Wikipedia and Facebook would not only by impossible
without computer technologies; they would be unimaginable.
If the history of the computer is a long one, its future will be even longer.
Their move from their separate rooms to the desktop may be completed, as,
arguably, is the move from the desktop to our laps. Increasingly, however,
computers are migrating to our pockets. For a long time, the mobile phone has
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had limited computing capabilities. Aside from making telephone calls, it could
function as a calculator, a storage device for names and phone numbers and, if
you were lucky, you could play primitive videogames on them. As technology
progressed these functions were elaborated and new capabilities were added.
The result of this is that modern mobile phone, or smartphone as it has come to
be called, is a computer in every sense of the word. Even though it has to cope
with reduced specifications, it can be used to perform most of the tasks that can
be done on a traditional personal computer.
The mobile phone of today, however, is not just a smaller computer. The
inclusion of camera’s, gps receivers and a multitude of other sensors, combined
with large screens and internet connectivity, have opened up a world of new
possibilities. Many even go as far as to argue that smartphones are at the
vanguard of a new era, the post-pc era.
1.2 Post-pc
The term post-pc has as many definitions as there are people eager to define it.
Most interpretations agree that it has something to do with smartphones and
their bigger counterparts: tablet computers. The term post-pc has been in use
for over a decade, but it was during the introduction of the iPad in April of 2010
that Steve Jobs mentioned that Apple likes “to talk about the post-pc era,”1 and
in doing so brought the term to the forefront of the debate.
In coming to his own interpretation of the term post-pc Jobs likens
personal computers to trucks and post-pc devices to cars. “When we were an
agrarian nation,” he says, “all cars were trucks because that's what you needed
on the farms.” Cars as we know them today, he argued, became prominent when
people moved to urban centers and fewer people had use for trucks.2 What Jobs
means by this analogy is that, in the future, fewer people will have use for the
raw power that a fully-fledged PC can offer and, consequently, they will opt for
more dedicated devices like, in this case, the iPad. That Jobs has the average
consumer in mind as the target audience for post-pc devices (and indeed all
Apple products) can be deduced from his statement that he prefers to sell his
products to individual consumers because in that case “every person votes for
1 Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301‐13860_3‐20006526‐56.html (visited: 24‐10‐2011). 2 Ibid.
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themselves,” as opposed to professionals who are forced to use the device that
their IT department prescribes.3
Besides the truck/car analogy, another difference between pc and post-pc
computing is given by Jobs: "You have a much more direct and intimate
relationship with the Internet and media and apps and your content.”4 Jobs does
not explain what he means by this, but a recent Forrester report on the post-pc
era can give an insight about how post-pc devices are changing the face of
computing. In short, the report describes how traditional Pcs are stationary,
formal, arm-length and abstracted, whereas post-pc devices are ubiquitous,
casual, intimate and physical.5 What this means is that Pcs are desk-bound
machines that are unintuitive and require the user to physically sit behind them.
Post-pc devices, on the other hand, can be used anywhere, anytime and feature
an intuitive (touch-screen) user interface.
The key properties of post-pc devices mentioned above are “anywhere”
and “anytime”. The implications of a world where everyone is connected to the
internet through a powerful device that is location aware cannot be ignored, in
fact, it is fast becoming reality. In April of 2011 the market research company
GfK Group announced that smartphones had been outselling regular mobile
phones in The Netherlands since March of 2011. In addition, they predicted that
by the end of 2011 there will be over a million tablets and e-readers sold.6 Many
businesses and organizations see the rising market share of post-pc devices as
an opportunity to present themselves on new platforms. Cultural heritage
institutions are no exception.
1.3 Post-pc and Cultural heritage
The shift from pc computing to post-pc computing has not gone unnoticed by the
heritage sector. The 2010 Horizon Report: Museum Edition placed mobiles at the
“one year or less” Time-to-Adoption horizon.7 The 2011 edition places mobile
applications and tablet computers at this horizon.8 Many institutions have indeed
already launched their first post-pc services and many more have plans or are
3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Rotman Epps 2011: 6. 6 Source: http://www.nu.nl/internet/2484488/meer‐smartphones‐dan‐normale‐telefoons‐verkocht.html (visited: 26‐10‐2011). 7 Johnson et al 2010: 9‐12. 8 Johnson et al 2011: 10‐13.
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working on such services. The Museums & Mobile 2011 survey shows that 53%
of the responding museums either offered mobile services or had plans to start
offering them in the future.9 10 These results also include other mobile products
and services, such as audio tours, and can therefore not be said to represent
existing post-pc services and plans for post-pc services. However, when asked
which terms describe their current and future “mobile interpretation tools,” 54%
of the museums currently offering mobile products and 69% of museums that
are planning to offer such products indicate that they (will) require that visitors
use their own mobile technology.11 When these figures are combined with the
rise in post-pc device ownership it becomes increasingly likely that, in the future,
more and more museums will be developing services and products for such
devices.
Whether the above holds true for archives and libraries is difficult to
determine as similar surveys for these types of heritage institutions do not exist.
A recent inventory of mobile services aimed at offering access to cultural
heritage by the Dutch DEN Foundation failed to locate any applications or other
services created by libraries (excluding public libraries) and archives.12
Internationally, albeit to a lesser extent than museums, there are several
libraries and archives that have developed applications and other mobile services
for post-pc devices.
As with the adoption of the computer and, some years later, the internet,
heritage institutions today are struggling with the adoption of the possibilities
that post-pc devices offer. In the 80’s the questions were: Should we use
computers? And how? In the 90’s the questions were: Should we be online? And
how? Needless to say, the questions facing many heritage institutions today are:
Should we use mobile (post-pc) devices? And, more importantly, how? That
these questions are relevant can be seen in the changes the two earlier shifts in
technology resulted in. The computer and the internet have made undeniable
marks on the way in which cultural heritage is consumed. At the time these new
9 A further 36% (the remaining 11% being the vendor/researcher category) indicated that they had no plans to develop mobile products or services, however this does not mean that they had no wish to develop these services. The great majority of these institutions receive less than 50.000 visitors a year and may simply be lacking the means to develop mobile services. 10 Loïc 2011. 11 Ibid. 12 Source: http://www.den.nl/art/uploads/files/Publicaties/SamenvattingInventarisatieMobieleDiensten.pdf (visited: 26‐10‐2011).
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technologies were being adopted by the cultural heritage institutions they did not
have much of an idea of how they would change their industry in the long run,
nor could they have. At the dawn of the post-pc era the heritage industry finds
itself at yet another technological turning point and the outcome is, once again,
unknown.
1.4 Thesis and Research Questions
It is impossible to accurately predict the way in which the cultural heritage sector
will be affected by the increasing shift towards a post-pc era. However, it is
possible to study the effects that the employment of post-pc devices has on the
practice of making cultural heritage available to the general audience. In this
respect it is important to note that this will not be a study of the responses of
users, but rather a study of the new opportunities that are the result of the new
technologies.
This thesis will argue that using post-pc technologies to make cultural
heritage accessible to the general audience will bring about new opportunities
with regards to contextuality, discoverability and communication. In order to
come to this conclusion the following questions will be answered:
What is the post-pc era? What is its theoretical foundation?
How are other digital technologies being used to make cultural heritage
accessible?
What are the possibilities of current mobile devices?
How are institutions currently employing post-pc devices in their efforts to
make cultural heritage accessible?
What are the limits of post-pc devices?
1.5 Limits to the Scope of This Thesis
The sheer variety of possibilities of post-pc devices necessitates a limited scope
for this thesis. The Forrester report classifies smartphones, tablet computers and
game consoles (like the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect) as post-pc
devices. Because these devices are very different in nature this thesis will only
focus on smartphones.
It is not the aim of this thesis to question whether digital media in general
are a good or a bad influence on society. Although critics of the increasing
digitization of our world certainly hold valid point this thesis is not intended as a
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cautionary tale. Digital media are here to stay and the digital landscape will
forever be changing, for better or worse. The current situation will therefore be
treated as a given, a foundation on which to build.
1.6 Approach
A proper definition of “the post-pc era” is indispensable for the writing of this
thesis. However, as opinions vary greatly and no workable definitions have been
found in scholarly work, an authoritative definition is quite illusive. The concepts
of the post-pc era that will be introduced in the third chapter are reminiscent of
some parts of Manuel Castell’s theory of the Network Society. For this reason the
second chapter will detail some of Castell’s concepts that lie at the basis of his
theory of the Network Society. This chapter will serve both as a foundation and a
theoretical justification of this thesis’ use of the term post-pc.
Chapter three will deal with the term post-pc as it is used in a recent
report by the Forrester market research company. A working definition that is
relevant for heritage institutions will be constructed. Also, the state of the art
concerning post-pc devices will be summarized and, finally, the predictions for
sociotechnical change in the post-pc era will be assessed as far as they are
relevant for the cultural heritage sector.
Chapter four will take a look at the way in which cultural heritage is made
accessible in the pc era. For a description of the changes the post-pc era brings
about in the ways in which heritage is made accessible it is important to paint a
picture of the present situation. In this chapter two ways in which heritage
institutions are making use of digital media will be studied using an assessment
of some scholarly literature and two examples as a guide.
Chapter five will contain four case studies of ways in which post-pc
technologies are being used to enable access to cultural heritage. An effort will
be made to ensure that the selection of the cases is broad in both the typology of
the heritage and the possibilities of the mobile service.
The sixth chapter will discuss the findings from the previous chapter and,
because there will only be room for four case studies, they will be placed in a
broader perspective by viewing them in the light of the inventory of mobile
services compiled by the DEN Foundation mentioned above. The chapter will be
concluded with a short discussion of the limitation of mobile devices. The seventh
and final chapter of this thesis will sum up the findings of the previous chapters.
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2 The Network Society
The theoretical foundation on which this thesis is built is two-part. The first and
most universally established part are some of the theories that lie at the basis of
Manuel Castells’ Network Society, which will be discussed in this chapter. The
second part (chapter 3) is not as widely accepted as Castells’ theories as it will
deal with the highly contested subject of the post-pc era. In this thesis the term
post-pc era will be interpreted as one of the manifestations of the Network
Society and for this reason a thorough understanding of its concepts is required.
2.1 The Network Society
Castells defines the Network Society “in the simplest terms” as:
[A] social structure based on networks operated by information and
communication technologies based in microelectronics and digital
computer networks that generate, process, and distribute information on
the basis of the knowledge accumulated in the nodes of the networks.13
Simple as these terms may be, the concepts that lie at the basis of this definition
are anything but simple. The most relevant concepts for the purposes of this
thesis are: Real Virtuality, the most important one; and its results: The Space of
Flows and Timeless Time.
2.1.1 Real Virtuality
Every cultural expression, from the worst to the best, from the most elitist
to the most popular, comes together in this digital universe that links up in
a giant, non-historical hypertext, past, present, and future manifestations
of the communicative mind. By doing so, they create a new symbolic
environment. They make virtuality our reality.14
These are the words Castells uses to describe the main characteristic of the
concept of Real Virtuality, an all-encompassing medium in which all messages
have their place. For a proper understanding of the concept, however, it is best
to describe how it came into existence.
13 Castells 2006: 7. 14 Castells 2010: 403.
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The Mass Media culture is both the opposite of the culture of Real Virtuality
and one of the sources out of which it developed. The Mass Media culture, as
Castells interprets it, came into being with the diffusion of the television. He
argues that earlier forms of mass media such as radio and newspapers changed
with the arrival of the television set in homes around the world. Radio became
more flexible and pervasive, film adapted to the television audience and
newspapers specialized and provided in-depth additional information for
television watchers.15 As a result of this centralized position of the (relatively
few) television networks, the messages they sent were aimed at the masses and,
as such, “were tailored to the lowest common denominator.”16 In this situation
only a selection of all possible information is being transmitted to the audience.
Information that is omitted by the media companies will not move outside
interpersonal networks, “thus disappearing from the collective mind.”17
This situation started to change with the arrival of a series of technological
innovations in the 1980s that allowed individuals to filter, moderate and focus
their information intake, such as Walkmans (individualization), VCRs
(customization), and the proliferation of television channels (segmentation).18
But the real shift towards mass self communication, as Castells calls it, came
when the World Wide Web became an increasingly widespread phenomenon in
the 1990s.
Castells interprets the World Wide Web as a “network of networks” on
which every individual and organization can present itself and communicate their
messages to everyone with access to the web.19 Mass self communication
became a possibility when the mildly segmented mass media converged with the
World Wide Web, and was dubbed multimedia. Castells discerns four features of
multimedia:
1. Widespread social and cultural differentiation, which leads to the
segmentation of the audience, but also to the diversification of the
media by the audience.
2. Increasing social stratification among the users, which entails a
separation between those who use the multimedia to its potential and
15 Ibid: 358. 16 Ibid: 359. 17 Ibid: 365. 18 Ibid: 366‐367. 19 Ibid: 383.
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those who are unable to do so and remain under the full influence of
the mass media.
3. Integration of all messages in a common cognitive pattern, which leads
to different communication modes borrowing codes from each other
and starting to be less discernible as a specific traditional
communication mode. Meanwhile, the messages sent through
multimedia do not lose their distinctiveness.20
4. The capture of all cultural expression, in all its diversity, which results
in the end of the separation between the traditional forms of media,
culture and information.21
Multimedia, because of these features, is a prerequisite for the formation of a
culture of Real Virtuality. Castells refers to the fourth feature as being the most
important, as it is what ultimately describes the culture of Real Virtuality best: as
a culture “in which the digitized networks of multimodal communication have
become so inclusive of all cultural expressions and personal experiences that
they have made virtuality a fundamental dimension of our reality.”22
2.1.2 The Space of Flows
Even though the concept of Real Virtuality is the most important one for the
purposes of this thesis, both the Space of Flows, which will be dealt with here,
and Timeless Time, which will be dealt with next, cannot be ignored. Castells’
concept of the Space of Flows is not applicable to the topic of this thesis in its
entirety. The support that he bases his reasoning on is largely compiled of
examples from urban planning, architecture, transportation and other topics that
do not (directly) relate to the present issue. The most important and useful
aspect of the Space of Flows is the overarching theme of simultaneity.
The new communication system that is implied in the term Real Virtuality
brings with it, as Castells argues, a transformation of space and time. In this
transformation, the Space of Places is replaced by the Space of Flows, in which
“[localities] become disembodied from their cultural, historical, geographical
meaning, and integrated into functional networks, or into image collages…,”23 In
20 In a later article Castell’s modifies this point and he acknowledges that most media retain their characteristics and that “the Internet does not integrate everything.” Castells 2010: 428. 21 Castells 2010: 401‐403. 22 Ibid: xxxi. 23 Ibid: 406.
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short, the Space of Places, in which everything has a fixed location is replaced by
a situation wherein this is no longer the case.
In the chapter on the Space of Flows in his 1996 work The Rise of the
Network Society Castells gave a lengthy explanation of the concept, using
examples from industrialism, urban society, everyday life and architecture.24 In
the preface to the 2010 edition of the same book, however, he admits that the
concept was often misunderstood, possibly because of the “obscurity” of the
phrasing, and that what he meant was that:
“[Space] is not a tangible reality, […]. It is a concept constructed on the
basis of experience. […] If we look at space as a social form and a social
practice, throughout history space has been the material support of
simultaneity in social practice.”25
This means that in the past social interaction, or indeed interaction of any kind,
was largely limited by the vicinity of those involved in the interaction.
Today, however, this is no longer the case. Space is no longer the
“material support of simultaneity in social practice,” it has been replaced by
flows, more particularly: flows of information. To compare, the definition Castells
gives for the Space of Flows is almost the same as that of the Space of Places.
However, in his modern concept of spatiality the simultaneity of social practice is
no longer restricted by locality. Developments in communication systems, like
“electronics-based digital communication, advanced telecommunication networks
[and] information systems” are the cause of this.26 These technologies have
created a situation in which it is possible for information to travel in an instant.
To paint a complete picture of the Space of Flows would exceed the scope
of this chapter. It is the aspect of simultaneity that best exemplifies the post-pc
era.
2.1.3 Timeless Time
The concept of Timeless Time, like the Space of Flows, is closely linked to the
communication system that is the culture of Real Virtuality, and like the Space of
Flows the description of it that is offered by Castells is too broad to be detailed in
this chapter. Here too it is one overarching theme that is the most important
aspect to take away: timelessness.
24 Ibid: 407‐459. 25 Ibid: xxxi. 26 Ibid: xxxii.
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The best description Castells gives of timelessness that is relevant for this
thesis is as follows:
[The] mixing of times in the media, within the same channel of
communication and at the choice of the viewer/interactor, creates a temporal
collage, where not only genres are mixed, but their timing becomes
synchronous in a flat horizon, with no beginning, no end, no sequence.27
It is obvious that timelessness in the description above does mean the non-
existence of time; time will always remain a factor in peoples’ lives. Witnessing
real-world events and accessing the information that is present in the Space of
Flows will always remain a time-bound activity. In short, it means that, in the
Network Society, the way in which people divide their time is, for a substantial
part, no longer limited by traditional chronologies. Many activities will no longer
happen at set times, they happen when people want.
Timeless Time, or timelessness, does not stand on its own. Castells argues
that it is caused and structured by the Space of Flows. “The Space of Flows,” he
writes, “dissolves time by disordering the sequence of events and making them
simultaneous...”28 Aside from proving the interconnectedness of the two
concepts, it shows that Timeless Time, too, is a result of the innovations in
communication systems.
2.1.4 Conclusion
The Space of Flows, Timeless Time and the culture of Real Virtuality, are
concepts that cannot be seen in isolation. The technological innovations that
have made the culture of Real Virtuality possible have also created the Space of
Flows, which, in turn, has enabled people to undertake many previously time-
bound activities at moments of their own choosing. In fact, the culture of Real
Virtuality can only exist in the Space of Flows and can only obey the laws of
timelessness.
The culture of Real Virtuality already exists in the western world and it is
becoming ever more real. The growing popularity of smartphones, tablet
computers and other post-pc devices is both evidence that this culture is on the
rise and part of the reason it is rising. The flows of information are becoming
27 Ibid: 492. 28 Ibid: 497.
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ever broader and ever more inclusive. The new devices are being used to tap
into these flows. How this happens is subject of the next chapter.
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3 Post-pc and the Network Society
It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine who coined the term post-pc.
Arguably, the generic nature of the term is to blame for that. In and of itself, the
term is vague and simply means anything that comes after the pc, which can be
anything. As such, it could be coined by anyone imagining what could supersede
the personal computer and could, consequently, be as old as the pc itself.
However, it is not the purpose of this chapter to lay bare the origins of the term
post-pc. It is the purpose of this chapter to prove that the post-pc world is, in
essence, an advanced part of the Network Society that Castells envisioned.
A 2011 report by the market research company Forrester has tried to
define what the post-pc era really means. Of course, as is the case for all market
researchers, Forrester anticipates many opportunities for businesses that heed
their advice, but the report is founded on some interesting notions and basic
twenty-first century truisms. These new insights are especially helpful when
attempting to envision the concepts of Real Virtuality, the Space of Flows and
Timeless Time at work.
3.1 The Forrester Report
The Forrester report “What the Post-pc Era really Means” describes the
emergence and the chief characteristics of the post-pc era. The creation of the
post-pc era, Sarah Rottman Epps, the author of the report, argues, is facilitated
by a combination of social and technological changes. The report’s official
definition reads: A social and technological phenomenon in which computing
experiences become ubiquitous, casual, intimate, and physical.29 Below, the
social and technological changes are briefly summarized, as well as their
connections to Castell’s Network Society.
3.1.1 The Technological Changes
The Forrester report lists four main technological changes that have helped the
post-pc era to come into existence (see figure 1).
1. The development of different form-factors (tablets, smartphones);
2. Flash memory, which allows for an “instant-on experience”;
29 Rotman Epps 2011: 4.
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3. Continuous connectivity through broadband networks (WI-FI, 3g);
4. Cloud computing, which enables users to access their data on various
devices.30
Figure 1. Technological and social factors create post-pc computing31
These four technological changes, along with several social changes that will be
discussed below, allowed for a world in which computing can take place at any
time (because devices are always on and connected) and in any place (because
data is everywhere and devices can be taken anywhere).
When the above is seen in light of the Network Society it becomes
apparent that it is these changes that allow for a further development of
Timeless Time and the Space of Flows. The post-pc devices, especially the
smartphones that are the topic of this thesis, are communication devices. It was
the development of the first communication devices that allowed for social
interaction to take place simultaneous. The modern communication devices have
taken this a step further. Whereas the use of traditional telephones and
computers was roughly restricted to the room where the device was located, the
modern devices, which are always on and connected, allow users to
30 Ibid: 7. 31 Ibid: 5.
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communicate anywhere with their own device. This was also possible with
traditional mobile phones (feature phones), but post-pc devices enable users to
communicate in an almost unlimited number of ways, whether it be by a
tradition phone call or by Facetime, by Facebook or Twitter, by e-mail or instant
messaging.
3.1.2 The Social Changes
The technological changes discussed above are both a catalyst for social change
and a result of social demands. Whichever came first, the changes or the
demands, has been the topic of heated discussion for a long time. In reality, the
outcome of this discussion is of little consequence for the topic of this thesis. The
changes and demands are here and all that is left to do is to define them.
The changes that were listed in the report are the following (see figure
one):
1. In a digitized and online world there is a greater need for additional
connected devices.
2. As social interacting shifts towards social networks, the need to access
those networks anywhere increases.
3. The divide between work and personal time is blurring, because of this
people need devices that enable them to use their time efficiently.32
These social changes exemplify the three concepts of the Network Society that
were discussed in the previous chapter. In short: the digitized world in the first
change can be said to be the culture of Real Virtuality, and the need for
connected devices to tap into this culture. The Space of Flows makes its
appearance in the second social change, as the social interaction is no longer
limited by physical boundaries and can be conducted anywhere and in any way.
Finally, Timeless Time can be seen in the final social change. When there is no
longer a set time for conducting tasks there will be a need for devices that
enable an individual to perform these tasks whenever he or she wants.
Of course, the social changes above do not have a one-on-one relationship
to each of Castells’ concepts. The three concepts cannot be viewed in isolation
and, because of this, the same goes for the social changes that are discussed
above.
32 Ibid: 7‐8.
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3.1.3 Computing in the Post-pc era
The most important point put forward by the Forrester report is the way in which
the social and technological changes will change, and are changing, computing.
Forrester has defined four ways in which post-pc computing is different from pc
computing (see figure 2)
Figure 2. The post-pc era defined.33
Here, too, the effects of the Network Society can be seen. Although the pc era
was already a Network Society (when Castells published first his book in 1996 it
was still very much the pc era) the table above shows an advancement of the
Network Society. The pc, while a device that allows for Timeless Time and the
Space of Flows to exist, is called stationary (fixed) and formal (defined start and
end), whereas post-pc devices can be used in any place and at any time.34 In
other words, the post-pc devices and many of the actions performed on them are
even less bound by time and place as they enable the user to access information
anywhere and at any time.
The two other words that the author of the report uses to describe
computing in the post-pc era, intimate and physical, are not so much caused by
the social changes as they are facilitated by technological progress and, because
of this, are not directly tied to Castell’s notions of the Network Society. They are,
however, essential for a proper understanding of post-pc devices. Advancements
in miniaturization of electronics allow for the creation of smaller devices that,
33 Ibid: 6. 34 Ibid: 4.
19
aside from allowing them to be used anywhere, can be used in an intimate (close
to the body) manner. Similar advancements in sensory and touchscreen
technologies have enabled manufacturers to develop post-pc devices that
respond to touch, movement, sound, light and other external factors, thus
allowing for the device to be manipulated through physical interactions like touch
and movement.35
3.1.4 Conclusion
The Forrester report offers a glimpse of what Castells’ Network Society looks like
today. Of course, Castells’ concept of the Network Society is far larger than post-
pc computing alone. However, for the purposes of this thesis, the report sums up
quite efficiently the ways in which the advance of the Network Society through
the arrival of post-pc devices has not only changed the where and when of
computer usage, but also the way in which people communicate, stay informed
and entertain themselves. These changes touch upon nearly every aspect of
people’s lives and have enormous consequences, not only for the businesses
which are the key demographic of Forrester’s market research, but also for the
way in which our cultural heritage is consumed.
35 Ibid: 4.
20
4 Cultural Heritage in the PC Era
In order to envision the situation that will occur as the post-pc era becomes ever
more present, it is important to understand how the cultural heritage sector has
adapted to past paradigm shifts. There is no need to delve too deeply into the
past to see the sector’s adaptive capacities at work. In previous decades,
museums, libraries, archives and other heritage institutions have had to deal
with the rise of digital media, a massively disruptive development. Some
institutions were eager to embrace new possibilities, others had the digital
revolution forced on them. One thing is certain: the adoption of digital media is
never straightforward or easy.
Among the many tasks of archives, (heritage) libraries and museums
alike, two stand out: preserving heritage collections and enabling access to these
collections. The rise of digital media enabled institutions to carry out both of
these tasks in new ways. Digitization of cultural heritage collections is often part
of the preservation strategies, and the internet allows institutions to make their
collections available to a wider audience. Considering the fundamental
importance of these tasks, the two manifestations of digital media usage in the
heritage sector that will be discussed below are: digitized collections and virtual
institutions as they are presented on the internet.
The digitization of cultural heritage predates the rise of the (modern)
digital media by many years, but before the global embrace of digital media the
uses for digitized cultural heritage were limited compared to today. Digitized
cultural heritage was often only accessible on the premises of the institution or
access was limited to employees and researchers. Today, in the age of the
internet, digitized cultural materials are often made accessible through the
websites of cultural heritage institutions. Consequentially, the increased
accessibility in itself is an impetus for institutions to digitize their collections.
The rise of the digital media has affected the heritage sector in many other
ways. Another important change can be seen in the way that institutions reach
their audience. The World Wide Web has enabled institutions to communicate
with groups of people they previously could not reach. Through websites, e-mail,
social media and other online services, institutions can now manifest themselves
to a potentially worldwide audience, as opposed to earlier times, when they had
21
to rely on advertisement, word-to-mouth and reputation to attract an audience
to their physical location. Today, a museum does no longer need its audience to
be within its walls in order to enlighten them.
The improved accessibility, both because of the negation of geographical
boundaries and the improved access to the cultural heritage itself, has resulted
in a significant increase of the possibilities for heritage institutions to carry out
their task and to put their collections on display. The effects of this will be
discussed in the two subchapters with the aid of some scholarly work that has
been done on the issue and two examples that will serve as an illustration of the
matters discussed in the literature.
4.1 A Short Definition of Digital Media
The term digital media has an enormous number of definitions. Most people have
at least a basic grasp of what the concept entails, namely: a digital manifestation
of “the traditional media,” or: digital devices on which information and
entertainment can be consumed. Neither of these definitions, however, is
sufficient for the purposes of this discussion. Because post-pc devices are
themselves new forms of digital media it is useful to determine a short, but more
exact, definition of digital media.
“Digital media” is not a new term; the first computers were created over
half a century ago. The designation “new media” that is often assumed to be
synonymous with digital media does therefore not seem accurate. However,
Caroline Basset defends the practice of equating new media with digital media by
pointing out that digital media are continuously being renewed and improved and
that, as a consequence, they are always “new media”.36 Following this line of
reasoning it can be said that when discussing digital media usage in the current
situation, the proper route to take is to define the term as it is in use today and,
for the time being, disregard definitions from earlier decades.
Whereas some argue that the term digital media is impossible to define
because of its ever changing properties (its eternal renewal), Niels Ole
Finnemann argues otherwise. He agrees with the fact that digital media are
“malleable” and “flexible,” but maintains that the “invariant” and “significant
properties, distinctive to digital media,” can be defined. Unique to digital media,
Finnemann argues, is the combination of “the storage capacities of print media
36 Basset 2010: 139.
22
with the transmission speed of electronic media [which] opens up an indefinite
array of new mixtures…” This combination of storage capacity and transmission
speed ultimately is the cause for the computer’s “hypertextual, interactive and
multimodal features.” When, in turn, these features are combined a “repertoire
of ways to communicate not available in any previous matrix [of media]”37
emerges.38
To the hypertextual, interactive and multimodal features of the computer,
Finnemann adds five features of the internet that, when put together, make up a
very good definition for the purposes of this thesis.
1. It is a medium for both public and private communication and a
variety of intermediate spaces.
2. It allows for a variation of reach, from the local to the global.
3. It is a medium for differentiated communication, as both senders
and recipients may select and differentiate among a huge repertoire
of possible connections (one-to-one, few-to-many, and network-
and group communication).
4. It offers constant availability, with optional combinations of live,
synchronous, nearly synchronous, and asynchronous
communication.
5. It brings corporations, public institutions an all sort of civic groups
and individuals into the same platform, thus affording both new
forms of surveillance and of collaboration.39
So, the short version of Finnemann’s definition is that digital media is a means of
extensive, computerized, democratic and continuous communication that can
communicate all previous media as well as entirely new media. The features in
the list above accurately describe media that make Castell’s notions of Timeless
Time and the Space of Flows possible.
4.2 Digitized Heritage
Ever since the storage and imaging technologies have allowed it, heritage
institutions have been digitizing their collections. In many respects digitization of
cultural heritage is one of the first ways in which digital media have been used
37 Finnemann discerns five different matrices of media: oral societies, script cultures, print, analog electronic media, and digital media. 38 Finnemann 2011: 83. 39 Ibid: 83‐84.
23
by heritage institutions. Their motives for doing so vary from safeguarding the
contents of precious documents for future generations to increasing access. What
the implications of these activities are is a matter of discussion among scholars.
Below, the following definition of a digitized collection will be used: an entire or
substantial part of a heritage collection that is presented online as a collection
without additional information that has specifically been added for the benefit of
the general public.
4.2.1 Digitized Cultural Heritage: Authority, Context and Essence
In discussing the practice of digitizing cultural heritage scholars pay much
attention to the consequences for the perception of cultural heritage. Some make
a big issue of the negative effects it will have on the authority of the physical
object, while others praise the effort for democratizing the access to cultural
heritage.
One cautious scholar is Yahuda E. Kalay, who makes a cost-benefit
analysis for the digitization of cultural heritage in order to answer the following
question: “is [the] change beneficial, or does it destroy the very culture it
attempts to assist?”40 Naturally, the answers to this question can never be free
from the suspicion of subjectivity, but it is important to remain critical and not be
swept away by enthusiasm caused by the possibilities of the digital age. Kalay’s
main concern is the presumed lack of authority that is attached to digitized
heritage. He argues that heritage that is disseminated through digital media
causes problem for the audience with regard to “authenticity, interpretability,
guidance and contextuality – or rather, lack thereof.” Authenticity is a problem,
according to Kalay, because people, used to special effects in films, tend to
disbelieve the things they see on a screen. The problem of interpretability arises
when, without experts to interpret the heritage for them, people will not
understand much of what is offered to them. Guidance is an issue because the
audience is given free rein and has no one to guide them through the wealth of
digitized heritage and consequently become lost. Finally, contextuality is lost
when individual pieces of heritage are seen outside of their historical or cultural
context.41 It seems that Kalay’s issue’s with digitized cultural heritage stem from
the possibility of mass self communication, the possibility of individuals to tailor
40 Kalay 2008: 3. 41 Ibid: 7.
24
information they receive to their needs, that is part of Castells’ notion of Real
Virtuality. Because this allows people to bypass traditional channels they will, in
the case of digitized heritage, not always have the benefit of those who interpret
the heritage. Kalay’s opinions may seem a little dramatic, but he does tone down
his pessimism. In the end he calls for cultural heritage experts and new media
specialists take heed of the effects of their respective tools on the heritage they
work with.42
Neil Silberman intends to answer another question. He tries to determine
to what extent digitized cultural heritage will aid in capturing the essence of the
physical heritage. He argues that digital media will not bring about a “definitive,
objective reconstruction of the past and focus instead [should be] on its role as a
tool of historical reflection in contemporary society.” Because, as Silberman
writes, the past is “one of the most virtual of all realities […] an untouchable
phantom [that] can be experienced only in retrospect” objective reconstruction is
impossible.43 In short, the essence Silberman speaks of is, in its purest form, the
experience of the past as it was experienced in the past. This essence cannot
truly be captured by even the most detailed digital rendition of historical sites or
artifacts.
Silberman does not argue against striving for objective reconstruction, but
he does call on the heritage sector not to lose sight of the essence that can be
captured. Presentation has always been in the hands of scholars and other
specialists, but interpretation, he argues, “denotes the totality of activity,
reflection, research and creativity stimulated by a cultural heritage site.” This can
come from anywhere and from anyone and it is this that, according to Silberman,
fosters understanding of why the past is important. This understanding is what
Silberman means by essence. Digital media should be used by heritage
institutions to offer “information avenues of two-way communication” alongside
the traditional efforts of objective reconstruction in order to accommodate this.44
In other words, it is what is done with a digitized collection that makes it truly
valuable, not the effort of digitizing collections in itself.
Kalay and Silberman seem to be contradicting each other. Kalay laments
the loss of authority and interpretability caused by digitized heritage while
42 Ibid: 9. 43 Silberman 2008: 82‐83. 44 Ibid: 88‐90.
25
Silberman rejoices in the possibility of opening up the interpretation to those who
did not previously have a say in it. However, upon closer inspection, Kalay’s
conservative views have much in common with Silberman’s views. Kalay makes
much of the importance of context, which he feels is lost in digitized heritage
because there is no authority to guide the audience and help them interpret. The
essence that Silberman writes about is, in reality, also a form of context which
he too feels is being lost in the way digitized heritage is currently presented. To
conclude: digitizing cultural heritage is a worthwhile activity, but without
consideration for the context much of the value is not translated to the digital
image.
4.2.2 A Digitized Collection: Wartime Posters
The Dutch Institute for War,
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
(NIOD) owns a collection of
wartime posters dating from the
Second World War, which has
been digitized and made
available through the Dutch
digital heritage aggregator the
Memory of the Netherlands
(Geheugen van Nederland).45 In
total, the collection consists of
4980 images of wartime posters
printed by both the Nazis and
the Dutch. This digital collection
is a good example of heritage
that is in danger of losing its, as
Kalay would label it, authority,
interpretability, guidance and
contextuality. Because, as
discussed above, the former
three issues can said to be
45 Source: http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/nl/collecties/oorlogsaffiches_1940‐1945 (visited 04‐04‐2012).
Figure 3. An example from the collection of Wartime Posters including metadata.
26
subsumed by the last, the focus here will lie on the context.
When the digital collection of wartime posters is viewed through Kalay’s
eyes it can be imagined that some things are certainly lost when viewing these
images on a website. The metadata that accompanies each image often does not
tell the viewer more than can already be deduced from the contents of the poster
(although creator and place of creation are also added), so the viewer is left to
interpret the poster on his own. There is also no form of guidance in place; the
nearly 5000 images do not seem to be ordered chronologically or thematically.
Whether the lack of guidance and interpretation does anything to lessen the
authority of the collection is difficult to determine, but it certainly does point out
a lack or context. Unless a viewer is looking for something specific, an individual
poster or a theme, the act of viewing the collection without the aid of proper
contextual information does not amount to much more than watching pictures.
The original context of these posters, or the essence as Silberman would
call it, is impossible to capture. The original context would be, for instance, a wall
in wartime Amsterdam where it could be seen by people living in the occupied
city. Naturally, in the way that the posters are presented on the website none of
this original context is left, but it is unlikely that this has been the aim. Some
effort has been made to give some context to the collection; there is an
introductory text, information about the collection and how it was formed, and a
few images are supplied with a more detailed description. The new essence that
Silberman speaks of however, the interpretation of other people, does not play a
role in the digitized collection as the possibility of two-way communication is not
provided.
Wartime posters, when they are presented on a modern website, could not
be further removed from their original context. As a means of conveying a sense
of history these posters should be accompanied by at least some additional
information or, alternatively, the possibility should be in place for the audience to
append stories or information of their own. The contextual information that is
currently supplied is of little use to an audience that is in search of historical
context. The importance of context, be it in Kalay’s or Silberman’s interpretation,
becomes clear in digital collections like these.
27
4.3 The Virtual Museum
The virtual museum has no fixed definition. A virtual museum could be a
museum’s website on which parts of its collection is displayed or a website
unaffiliated to a physical museum. The virtual museum can make use of
elaborate 3D environments, high-quality digital images and video, curated by
professionals, or it can be a modest affair build by a passionate amateur. Most
online virtual museums46 have only one thing in common: they display
collections of cultural or historical materials on the internet.47
Despite the vague notions of what the virtual museum entails exactly,
much has been written about the subject. The scholarly work that has been done
is often limited to papers describing the motives for, and the formative process
of a virtual museum. Many scholars, however, have also examined the
implications of the virtual museum for the heritage, the institutions and the
visitors. Below is a review of some important scholarly work that has been done
on the virtual museum.
4.3.1 The Virtual Museum: Information, Education and Interaction
The virtual museum or, as the terms are often used interchangeably, the digital
museum is a topic that has garnered a lot of attention from scholars over the
past two decades48. The rise of the personal computer and the subsequent
advent of the World Wide Web have had enormous effects on the way museums
reach out to their visitors. Today, it is common practice for a museum, or any
other cultural institution, to at least have a website. The contents of these
websites vary widely; some contain only information for visitors (such as opening
hours), others deliver an online experience of the physical museum. The
International Council of Museums (ICOM) divides virtual museums into three
categories: brochure museums, which are websites to service the physical
visitor; content museums, where collections are presented online; and learning
museums, which aim to educate virtual visitors.49 If a website’s contents,
however, do not exceed the contents of a brochure it could be argued that a
46 There are numerous other versions of the virtual museum (i.e. dvd’s and virtual reality environments), but, as these do not fall under the definition of digital media that will be used in this thesis, these will not be discussed here. 47 Huhtamo 2002: 121. 48 The digital revolution in the heritage sector predates the 1990’s, but as the focus of this thesis lies on ‘modern’ uses of digital media the uses of digital media before the 1990’s will not be discussed. 49 Quoted in Styliani et al. 2009: 521.
28
brochure museum is not a virtual museum any more than a physical brochure is
a paper museum. The discussion below will therefore only focus on the content
museum and the learning museum, although the exact terminology used by
individual scholars is different.
In 1997, when the internet revolution had just taken hold, Susan Keene
published an article in which she argues that the purpose of a museum is to
“enlighten, inspire and hopefully entertain people” and that it uses its collection,
information, displays and staff to do so. The virtual museum, she argues, will be
able to do the same thing, but in a digital world. Keene discerns seven
characteristics of the digital world: “unlimited users”, “broadcast or narrowcast”,
“two-way communication”, the combination of different forms of media, the
worldwide linking of information, new possibilities for publishing, and the uses of
screens of different sizes.50 With the exception of the former two, these
characteristics are very similar to the characteristics of digital media that
Finnemann has found which proves that, even in 1997, the heritage sector had a
very clear view of what the digital age entails.
Because Keene wrote down her thoughts about the virtual museum in
1997, many of her ideas will be considered self-evident in the present day.
Nevertheless, one observation will always retain its significance: the potential of
the information dimension of an institution’s collection. The contextual data
about collections in the form of textual information, video, images, people and
events, which before had only a limited place in the museum can be combined
with the museum’s artifacts online.51 In this manner the virtual museum
distinguishes itself from the physical museum, where this is possible only so far
as space allows. A similar and additional sentiment is expressed by Styliani et al.
who argue that because of the added contextual layer virtual visitors can enjoy
an exhibit in a more interactive and flexible way.52 The addition of a wealth of
contextual data enables the creation of virtual learning museums and enriches
virtual content museums.
If Keene is critical about one aspect of the digital museum it is about the
possibility that the virtuality will cause the social aspect of the museum visit to
50 Keene 1997: 299‐300. 51 Ibid: 301. 52 Styliani et al 2009: 524.
29
suffer.53 A study by Galani and Chalmers, however, suggests that digital media
can be beneficial to the social interaction between virtual visitors.54 Their study
looked at the possibilities of simultaneous visits to a museum by physical and
different kinds of virtual visitors, a practice that is still technologically
problematic and, as a result, uncommon today. The positive outcomes of their
study do suggest, however, that virtual visitors can and will engage in social
interaction when offered the opportunity. The current possibilities of social media
like Facebook and Twitter and the rise of user generated content, still largely
unknown at the time of Galani and Chalmers’ study, will be an inexpensive
means to foster social interaction among virtual visitors. The online platform
Museum Analytics tracks the social media activities of heritage institutions
worldwide and from its data it can be deduced that especially the biggest
institutions are garnering very much online attention with thousands of replies
to, for instance, Facebook content.55
In short: the virtual museum is a website that displays historical or
cultural artifacts with additional contextual information, in any shape or form, for
the benefit of the general audience. The virtual museum offers the unique
possibility of exhibiting the context of an institution’s physical collection in far
more detail than is possible within the walls of a museum. Social interaction may
suffer, but with the ascent of social media and innovative social experiments this
too can be circumvented to some extent.
4.3.2 The Virtual British Museum
Virtual or digital museums that are covered by the discussion above are
surprisingly difficult to find. A simple Google search for virtual museum yields
nearly eight million results, but most of these are no more than standard
websites covering cultural themes under the banner of the virtual museum.
Perhaps it is because the internet is by now fully integrated into society that
museums do not feel the need to advertise their online services and that what
would have been called a virtual museum half a decade ago is now simply
business as usual for a cultural institution.
One museum with a website that includes much of what is discussed above
is the British Museum. Nowhere on this website do the words “virtual museum”
53 Keene 1997: 305. 54 Galani and Chalmers 2008. 55 Source: http://www.museum‐analytics.org/ (visited 04‐05‐2012).
30
occur, but parts of the website certainly do contain many aspects of the virtual
museum as it is generally perceived.
The website of the British Museum features a wealth of information, albeit
in a somewhat disorganized manner. There are educational games for children,
online tours, video channels, galleries and highlights from the collection
organized by culture and theme. These resources are all available but are not
always easily found on the website. Most of them can be located through the
Explore section of the website, which would be the logical starting point to
explore the website, but much contextual information can also be found in other
places on the website.
Figure 4. The Explore section of the British Museum's website56
The contextual dimension of the collection is presented in the ways Keene
predicted. For instance, 5000 highlights from the collection are presented with a
few paragraphs of contextual information. These highlights can be browsed
according to people, culture, location and material. In addition to this there are
several video and audio fragments in which information is given about objects,
exhibits and events. Even though much of this contextual information could
conceivably be distributed on the grounds of the British Museum, the sheer
56 Source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore.aspx (visited: 19‐03‐2012).
31
volume would make it impractical to do so and it would be impossible for visitors
to absorb it all. For this reason the website is the most logical place to present
this material and, even though it is not labeled as such, it is very much a virtual
museum.
The social aspect of a visit to the virtual British Museum is limited. While
social media does play a role on the website, it is limited to the possibility to
follow the British Museum on sites as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Youtube; and
to share the entire website through a personal social media account. When this is
contrasted with a website like Europeana57, where it is possible to share
individual items from collections with friends, it could be argued that the lack of
social interaction is a missed opportunity.
The perfect virtual museum, like the perfect physical museum, does not
exist and consequently, the virtual British Museum is far from perfect. It offers a
wealth of contextual information in many forms that could impossibly be
displayed within the walls of the museum. The lack of social media integration is
a disappointment and here the British Museum stands to gain a lot. Nonetheless,
the volume of contextual information and the hyperlinked webpages provide an
informative and educational experience.
4.4 Conclusion
The uses of digital media in the heritage sector are too diverse to summarize
here, but some generalizations can certainly be made. The rise of digital media
and the resulting development of the internet has created a situation in which
many forms of communication are fused into one and which is increasingly a
two-way means of communication. Moreover, since this is available to the
majority of the population in the western world, people can determine for
themselves what information they consume.
The challenges and possibilities that this new situation offers have been
taken up by heritage institutions worldwide which have started developing new
ways to communicate and share their collections with their audiences. This is
impossible to achieve without making use of the most important aspect of digital
media: the ability to transmit limitless amounts of contextual information. The
importance of contextual information can be seen in the way digitized heritage
57 http://www.europeana.eu/portal/ (visited: 19‐03‐2012)
32
materials, like the collection of wartime posters, do not seem to capture the
historical or cultural significance of the collection.
Because of the nearly endless possibilities, digital media usage by cultural
heritage institutions will remain a hit-and-miss practice for some time. The two
possibilities that cannot be ignored, however, are the potential for social
interaction among and with digital visitors and the possibility to augment the
digital collection with information that is impossible or impractical to present next
to a physical display. In this way the virtual institution is not a replacement of
the physical institution but rather an addition to it.
33
5 Post-pc and Cultural Heritage
In the previous chapters the groundwork has been laid that is necessary to
develop reliable ideas concerning the opportunities that the post-pc era offers for
enabling access to cultural heritage. Chapter two and three have dealt with the
concept of post-pc and tested it using Castells’ theories concerning the Network
Society, and chapter four examined the influence of older digital media on
cultural heritage consumption. Two important ways of digital media usage were
examined: the virtual institution and the digitization of collections. In this
chapter one more element which needs little explanation is added: the physical
environment.
One key factor of the post-pc era is the possibility to use computing
devices everywhere. When the possibilities of geolocation and mobile internet
access are considered in combination with the physical world in which the device
and its user are located, it stands to reason that the physical environment has at
least an indirect influence on the usage of the device. Considering this, it is
vitally important to involve the factor of the real world in any discussion of the
usage of post-pc devices.
This chapter will discuss the convergence of the four concepts and factors
introduced above: the physical environment, virtual institutions, digitized
collections and post-pc devices. It is what happens when these four factors meet
that will ultimately shed light on the opportunities of the post-pc era. In order to
examine the consequences of this convergence a short look will be taken at some
important characteristics of mobile applications. After this, four mobiles services
will be examined in some detail. The cases have been selected to reflect a broad
view of the heritage sector and try to cover many different types of heritage. To
ensure that not only the most advanced mobile applications are paid attention to,
an effort has been made to select examples varying in scope, platform and
production cost. For logistical reasons only services that are available in the
Netherlands have been selected. The aim of the case studies is not to study how
the applications work, but rather how they make use of the possibilities that the
post-pc era offers.
34
5.1 Characteristics of Mobile Applications
When attempting to study mobile digital heritage services it is important to
determine first what some of the main characteristics of mobile services are.
Because the possibilities of mobile devices are so diverse it is impractical to look
at all characteristics. The focus in the following paragraphs will lie on some
important characteristics of successful applications.
Chapter 3.1.3 discussed the changes the post-pc era will bring where
computing is concerned. The Forrester study argues that the key characteristics
of post-pc computing are “ubiquitous,” “casual,” “intimate” and “physical.” In
summary, this means that mobile computing will take place everywhere and at
any time and, because of this, is casual in the sense that it has no formal start
and end. Because of the small size of post-pc devices the computing takes place
close to the body, making it intimate, and the accumulation of sensors
(touchscreen, sound, proximity, movement) makes manipulation through
physical gestures a possibility. These characteristics are necessarily quite broad
and they translate to an extremely large number of possible applications. The
characteristics of post-pc computing come together in the applications and other
services that are designed to run on mobile devices and are, as such, not
necessarily characteristics of applications in themselves. Mobile computing, for
instance, may happen everywhere and at any time, but one specific application
may not be designed to be used at any place and at any time. Because of this, it
is important not to blindly equate the characteristics of post-pc devices with the
characteristics of the applications.
Technology blog The Next Web ran an article by Matt Brian, in which an
effort is made to determine which characteristics make a good application great.
The piece is useful even though it deals primarily with applications that are
worldwide successes such as Angry Birds and Shazam (which reach levels of
popularity that even the most ambitious heritage applications will likely never
reach). Brian identifies four areas that deserve the attention of developers, two
of which are relevant to this thesis. Firstly, Brian argues that an application
should play to the strengths of mobile: “Communications, Spontaneous, Geo-
sensitive, Short periods of use and Focused activity.” These strengths echo
Forrester’s characteristics of post-pc computing and supplement them by
including the communicational and geolocation capabilities of mobile devices.
Secondly, an important area of interest Brian defines is the needs of the user.
35
When developing an application a keen eye needs to be kept on what the users
expects from the final product. Naturally, this is valid for every product, but
because the threshold to download applications is very low the same is true
when it comes to deleting applications.58
In the introduction to the book Mobile Apps for Museums Nancy Proctor
mentions all characteristics mentioned above, but she also adds one important
aspect. “Mobile is Social Media,” Proctor writes, as she argues that mobile’s
“individual, intimate, immediate and ubiquitous access” enables people to
connect to “communities and conversations in global, social networks…”.59 Of
course, this is foremost a characteristic of post-pc computing and not directly of
mobile applications. However, the users will need to connect to their social
networks with the means that are offered to them by the applications. It can
therefore be argued that the social aspect is also an important, albeit optional,
characteristic of mobile applications.
Naturally, not all characteristics mentioned above appear in all applications
and many more characteristics could be identified. Nevertheless, for the time
being it is enough to conclude that good applications make use of the strengths
of mobile and are designed with the user in mind. In addition, many applications
will also allow users to connect to social networks.
5.2 Case study 1: Erfgoed.mobi
The web application Erfgoed.mobi is an initiative from ab-c media, a Dutch web
developing company for museums, archives and monuments. The aim of the
application is to enable people to view historical images that are connected to the
place where they are located. Through geolocation, the location of the user is
determined and based on this location a number of images are presented. The
user can then chose which pictures to view full-screen. The images are extracted
from image databases that are owned by participating heritage institutions.60
In practice, the application does not always function properly, but in
general reliability is quite good. When a location is visited, however, the
application sometimes returns thousands of images. Particularly in well-known
(historical) streets, like de Oude Gracht in Utrecht, this can be an overload which
58 Source: http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/07/16/mobile‐apps‐a‐look‐at‐what‐makes‐a‐good‐app‐great/ (visited: 22‐04‐2012). 59 Proctor 2011 60 Source: http://weblab.ab‐c.nl/mobiel (visited: 12‐04‐2012).
36
might cause the user to become lost in the volume of images. For this reason,
the application is at its strongest in lesser known areas where the number of
images that are presented is lower.
When an image is viewed in the application it is supplied with a minimum
of contextual information. Often, the year in
which the image was created is given, along
with one or two sentences about what it is that
the user is seeing. This contextual information is
the same information that is available to a user
at home, searching through the image database
on his or her pc and, consequentially, like the
collection of wartime posters discussed above,
the collection runs the risk of losing much of its
potential value. Viewed behind a computer this
is certainly the case, but when the collection is
viewed at location an important new layer of
context is added that previously was nearly
impossible to deliver: the connection to the
physical environment.
When a user visits a neighborhood in
Utrecht, for instance, he is provided with images that are directly relevant to his
physical location. In this manner, photographs of the old neighborhood are
placed in a situation which approaches its original context; the place where they
were taken. A photograph will no longer be viewed in isolation as it becomes part
of the physical place. The orientation of the photographed object becomes clear,
as well as its physical relation to other objects and the size of the physical
object.
This contextual flow does not only run from the physical environment to
the images on the smartphone, it also works the other way around. The images
can also serve as contextual information to the physical environment. A visit to a
historically or culturally significant place gets augmented with the on-the-spot
availability of images that shed light on its history. Buildings that may have been
affected by modern times can be seen in their historical state and images of daily
life in an old neighborhood offer a glimpse into the lives of inhabitants long gone.
Figure 5. A screenshot of Erfgoed.mobi in action.
37
Both flows of contextual information, from the image to the environment
and vice versa, would have been difficult to realize without the aid of the unique
capabilities of mobile devices, such as geolocation. The use of a paper medium is
possible, but this severely limits the number of images that can be enjoyed. This
would also mean that the material would have undergone a process of selection
which, while certainly useful for identifying the most significant images, would
lead to a lessening of the user’s ability to discover the most interesting images
for him- or herself. The web application does not offer any means of sharing
these images with social networks.
5.3 Case study 2: Xwashier
Xwashier (Xwashere) is an online platform instituted by the now defunct Dutch
Museum of National History (Nationaal Historisch Museum). This extensive
website offers information about 45 historical sites throughout the Netherlands
aimed at the casual visitor. The website61 contains written information and high-
quality video (presented by a well-known
historian) that was commissioned by the
Museum of National History as well as images
and archival footage from the collections of
other institutions. Each historical site has a
main page which prominently contains the
high-quality video and links to archival
footage and additional information about
people associated with the site. Finally, there
are links to some local institutions.
The Xwashier iPhone application62
offers exactly the same content and is, in
fact, just another means of accessing the
website discussed above. The application,
however, does make use of some of the
iPhone’s hardware capabilities. Through geolocation the location of the user is
determined and the historical sites in the vicinity are presented. The user can
then chose to be directed to the site through the use of Google Maps. Once
61 Source: www.Xwashier.nl (visited 15‐04‐2012). 62 Source: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/Xwashier/id436744605?mt=8&ls=1 (visited 15‐04‐2012).
Figure 6. Xwashier provides its users with high-quality video.
38
arrived on the site the user can scan a marker using the built-in camera, thereby
adding the location to his collection of visited sites. This last functionality will be
discussed in more detail below.
As expected, the information from the website can be used on site to gain
some straightforward contextual information. There is no great abundance of
information available and it will take the user no more than fifteen minutes to
read and view all of it. If as a means of gaining contextual information the
application does not offer much, it does attempt to do something novel and quite
unique. It tries to engage the audience by offering means to upload images and
by making the visiting of historical sites into a game.
The game element is a key feature of the Xwashier application. The 45
historical sites throughout the Netherlands are all provided with a marker, a kind
of logo, which the users of the application can scan using the device’s built-in
camera. When they do so, the location will be saved on their profile. The
organization behind the Museum of National History actively encouraged the
audience to collect as many locations as possible by offering prizes to those to
reach certain targets first. The prizes, however, have long since been given out,
which only leaves the game element. Since the number of check-ins has slowed
down to a trickle63 in recent months it could be argued this is not quite
successful. A reason for this lack of success lies in the fact that the application
relies heavily on a physical infrastructure (the markers) that is difficult to
expand, especially since the demise of the Museum of National History. The,
often large, distance between the markers may also be a threshold for people to
actively strive to add new locations to their profile.
Aside from the innovative game element the application also offers users
the ability to share locations on their Twitter and Facebook accounts and to
upload images of the locations to prove that they were there. This tentative
attempt at providing a means of two-way communication has resulted in 152
images being uploaded, but the stream of user-generated content too has all but
dried up.
The innovative ideas behind the Xwashier application showed great
promise, not in the least because of its usage of geolocation and the possibility to
share content on social networks. The cancelation of the Museum of National
63 Source: http://www.Xwashier.nl/zij‐waren‐hier/ (visited: 01‐05‐2012).
39
History and the reliance on a physical infrastructure, however, has made it very
difficult to develop the application into something successful.
5.4 Case study 3: Google Goggles64
Google Goggles is not an application that was specifically designed with offering
access to cultural heritage in mind. The application, developed by Google, is a
piece of image-recognition software that uses
the built-in camera of mobile devices to take
pictures of a diverse range of objects and offer
additional information about the pictured object.
The additional information could come in the
form of a link to the producer of a product,
information about a landmark or book that was
recognized or the translation of the text on a
traffic sign. Since its release, two large
museums, the Metropolitan Museum in New York
and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles,
have collaborated with Google to make their
collections recognizable by Google Goggles.
Both the Metropolitan Museum and the
J. Paul Getty Museum have made a large
number of objects from their collections
available for Google Goggles to recognize.65
When an image is taken of one of the objects in the collection of these museums,
Goggles returns a link to the part of the museum’s website that offers in depth
information about the artwork. This works for the original artworks within the
walls of the institutions, but also for all kinds of reproductions outside the
institution. Because the software also works with reproductions the software will
direct people who may be unaware of the institution to its website, thus
increasing the reputation of the institution. This is beneficial to the institution, 64 Source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.unveil&feature=search_result (visited: 01‐05‐2012). 65 Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/about‐the‐museum/now‐at‐the‐met/from‐the‐director/2011/google‐goggles and http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/connect‐with‐art‐using‐google‐goggles‐and‐our‐new‐mobile‐collection‐pages/ (visited: 01‐05‐2012).
Figure 7. Google Goggles identifying a painting.
40
but the application also works with cultural and historical objects that are not in
the collections of these two museums. The application will return Google search
results with similar images or, in the case of landmarks, it will name them and
display them on a map.
Previously, when someone had seen something of interest about which
no immediate and easily retrievable information was available the opportunity of
learning more about it would often be lost. Google Goggles’ capability of
recognizing reproductions of artworks, (architectural) landmarks and a range of
other objects allows users to discover information about cultural and historical
objects that appeal to them immediately and without much effort. This allows for
existing contextual information to be accessed easily, much like in Erfgoed.mobi
and, to a lesser extent, Xwashier, but in a way that is less limited by theme or
content of the application.
For now, sadly, the technology of Google Goggles is not perfected yet.
Though it does show promise, many objects and landmarks are not recognized
correctly, which may be cause for disillusion among users. Google Goggles does
work well with QR codes, which are often used by cultural organizations to
provide a link to digital information about physical objects. For the future,
however, image-recognition could be a very good means for individuals to
choose the heritage that they find interesting and learn more about it as the
possibility presents itself, and not only on cultural outings.
5.5 Case study 4: Voetbal van Toen66
The application Voetbal van Toen (Soccer of the Past), which focuses on the early
years of the Dutch National Soccer team (1894-1956), is an initiative of the
Dutch National Archives and was developed in cooperation with the KNVB, the
Dutch Soccer Association. The application is divided into three parts: a hall of
fame, featuring heroes of Dutch soccer; an archive, containing information about
all matches played from 1894 until 1956; and a quiz, in which users can test
their knowledge of soccer history. The first two sections contain information
about the players or the matches and images from the archive of the Dutch
Soccer Association.67
66 Source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dekaps.na (visited: 01‐05‐2012) 67 Source: http://www.gahetna.nl/voetbalvantoen (Visited: 17‐04‐2012)
41
Aside from internet connectivity Voetbal van Toen does not make use of
any of the features that are typical of the modern smartphone. In fact, the uses
of the application could be translated to a standard website without any loss of
functionality except, obviously, portability.
Disregarding the quality of the content, this
neglect of using the capabilities of the
smartphone provides an example of how the
employment of post-pc devices to offer access to
cultural heritage can fail.
Voetbal van Toen does not take advantage
of the possibilities that are unique to mobile
media. The link to the physical space that is
present in both Erfgoed.mobi and Xwashier does
not occur, not does it make use of other
advanced possibilities of mobile devices like
Google Goggles. In short, the application does
not play to the strengths of mobile, as Brian
argues it should do. As a result, there is no
identifiable reason for it being published in the
form of a mobile application. Furthermore, by
publishing it as a smartphone application the
effective reach is limited to smartphone owners. Consequentially, had the
National Archives instead decided to publish the product as a traditional website
that is optimized for mobile usage the functionality would have remained the
same while the reach would have been much larger.
The Voetbal van Toen application is a prime example of how developing
applications for mobile devices while neglecting to use the possibilities of these
devices will result in a lack of added value. The fact that users are able to
consume the heritage on a mobile device does not augment the heritage itself.
Figure 8. Users of the application can view informationabout historic matches.
42
6 Discussion
6.1 Contextuality and Discoverability
Because of the versatility of mobile devices the diversity in applications is
enormous. Consequently, it is difficult to come to broad generalizations about the
characteristics of these applications. The same is true when the scope is limited
to include only the mobile services that are developed with cultural heritage in
mind. When examining some of these applications a little more closely, however,
it is possible to determine some important effects of these characteristics on the
cultural heritage they provide access too.
The first and foremost effect of the use of mobile devices to access cultural
heritage is that it enables a direct link between the cultural heritage and the
physical environment to be established. This link between the physical and the
digital results in two flows of influence: one running from the digital to the
physical, the other from the physical to the digital. The contents of these flows
consist mainly out of contextual information.
Xwashier and Erfgoed.mobi both augment the physical environment with
contextual information, albeit in different ways. Xwashier supplies its audience
with different forms of contextual information both on- and offsite. The manner
in which this is done is reminiscent of the characteristics that Susan Keene
ascribed to the virtual museum. In a sense, the application has taken the virtual
museum out of the confines of the personal computer, thus enabling the user to
take the virtual institution to where the heritage is located. On location, the
audience will have the physical heritage presented to them by means of the
media that the institution has selected.
Erfgoed.mobi takes a different approach, as it is not based on the virtual
museum, but finds its roots in the digitized collections of cultural heritage. In this
case, the contextual information is not specifically defined as such. The
collections of digitized cultural heritage need to be experienced in unison with the
physical environment for the contextuality to emerge. In this manner, the
contextual information is not predetermined; it takes an effort on the audience’s
behalf for the contextuality to be discovered. When the contextuality does
emerge, however, it flows in two directions: from the physical object towards the
43
digital object and vice versa. This way of presenting digitized cultural heritage
returns some of the context that, in Silberman’s and Kalay’s view, is often lost in
digitized cultural heritage. However, because the contextuality is very much a
creation of the individual, Kalay’s worries about the authority of the digitized
heritage remain unresolved.
While not an application that was primarily intended for the enjoyment of
cultural heritage, its possibilities do deserve mention. The possibility of image-
recognition allows people to instantly retrieve information about cultural and
historical objects that they find interesting. Previously, without some basic
information about the object (who, when, where) the opportunity of finding out
more about it would often be lost as soon as the object is out of sight. With the
aid of image recognizing applications, people will be able to discover cultural
objects during their daily routines, when they are not actively engaging in
cultural activities. This discoverability is a different sort of discoverability that is
facilitated by mobile services like Erfgoed.mobi.
In the examples discussed above, the social aspect of consuming cultural
heritage is little better developed than it is the case in a traditional pc-based
virtual museum like the website of the British Museum. Proctor’s claim that
“Mobile is Social Media” is certainly true; mobile devices are heavily used as a
window into a variety of social networks, but the same is true for traditional
personal computers. This may be a reason why in the examples discussed above
there is little opportunity for extensive social interaction. In addition to its limited
social media possibilities, Xwashier does allow for user-generated content to be
created and, consequentially, does enable a reasonably extensive opportunities
for two-way communication.
Voetbal van Toen is an example of an application that has not taken heed
of Brian’s advice to make use of the unique capabilities of mobile devices. The
application shows that without making use of these capabilities nothing of value
will be added and that, as a result, the experience of the cultural heritage will not
be altered (for the better or worse).
To conclude, the two most important opportunities of mobile presentation
of cultural heritage that can be deduced from these case studies are the
contextualization of heritage in the physical space, the contextualization of
digitized heritage and the improved discoverability of cultural heritage.
44
6.2 The DEN Foundation’s Inventory of Mobile Services
In 2011 the Dutch DEN foundation conducted an inventory of mobile services
offered by Dutch Heritage Institutions. In total 28 applications, mobile websites
and augmented reality layers were found and their properties catalogued. The
study made a distinction between two types of services: location-based services
and content-based services. The location-based services focus on supplying the
user with content on location while the content-based services focus solely on
supplying the user with content.68 This means that out of the case studies
contained in this thesis only Voetbal van Toen is content based, Xwashier and
Erfgoed.mobi are location based and Google Goggles does not seem to fall in
either category. The study further pointed out that a large majority of the
services studied made use of the device’s geolocation capabilities which is
corroborated by the fact that most interviewed institutions indicated that they
intended to make use of the unique capabilities of mobile devices.69 Whether this
means that all these institutions are aware of the possibilities regarding
contextuality and discoverability as discussed above cannot be determined.
The possibility of two-way communication is only available in Xwashier,
which enables users to share locations and to add simple content. The inventory
by the DEN Foundation identifies three additional mobile services that allow users
to share content with their social networks and an additional three applications
that allow users to add content. Two of the latter applications and one additional
application also allow users to comment on the heritage material that is
presented through the service.70 Even though not all of these features can strictly
be labeled as two-way communication, it does signify that the possibility of
communication between users and between users and non-users is present in
several services. The most significant effect of this is that people will be able to
react to heritage in physical spaces at the moment they are experiencing it. This
means that transmitting the essence that Silberman speaks of is, at the very
least, a possibility.
68 Source: http://www.den.nl/art/uploads/files/Publicaties/SamenvattingInventarisatieMobieleDiensten.pdf (visited: 26‐10‐2011). 69 Ibid. 70 Ibid.
45
6.3 Limitations of Mobile
It is the aim of this thesis to discuss post-pc devices in the context of enabling
access to cultural heritage. When discussing new technologies it easy to become
lost in premature enthusiasms about the novel and exiting possibilities. While the
main purpose of this thesis is to look at these “novel” and “exiting” possibilities,
it is also important to be aware of some limitations that are inherent to mobile
devices and which may cause the new possibilities to fall flat.
The casual nature of the usage of post-pc devices that is identified in the
Forrester report means that, while they are used throughout the day, users use
their devices for short periods of time. Research by Anti Oulasvirta and his
colleagues shows this to be true: “smartphone use is significantly shorter in
duration, more evenly spread throughout the day, and nearly twice as abundant
[as laptop usage] (in terms of total time spent using the device).”71 This differing
usage pattern of mobile devices and pcs indicates that the tasks performed on
them will be different. Naturally, this comes as no surprise, but because usage of
smartphones is shorter it might also indicate that they are less suitable for
searching through the large amounts of contextual information about cultural
heritage that they have access to. What this means is that the services that are
developed for the purpose of heritage consumption need to be tailored to casual
and short-term usage and offer immediate access to the contextual information
that may be relevant to the user without him having to search for it.
Another of Oulasvirta’s findings is that smartphone usage is largely defined
by habitual usage that is triggered by specific contexts. Smartphone users
typically perform the same tasks over and over again during the day, for
instance: checking e-mail, social networks or the news; thus boosting overall
usage time. These activities are often induced by the context the user finds him-
or herself in, for example during bus trips or during lectures.72 In short, besides
the casual nature of smartphone usage, which causes problems of its own,
smartphone usage is largely tied to a user’s habits. It is easy to see how this
behavior is at odds with using smartphones to access to cultural heritage. Unless
accessing cultural heritage through a mobile device becomes a habit people will
be less likely to actually use one of the possibilities offered to them by (or for)
cultural heritage institutions. This points to the necessity of convincing people
71 Oulasvirta 2011: 112. 72 Ibid: 112‐113
46
that a mobile service is useful in the first place and worth the (preferably short)
time they are required to put into it, in other words: marketing. Even though
marketing is not the subject of this thesis it is important to note that mobile
services are products that need to be sold (even when they are free to download
and use).
Aside from some characteristics of mobile devices that may render them
less useful for consuming cultural heritage there are some other properties of the
market of mobile devices that have effects on the reach of mobile services and
applications. One property that needs to be taken into account is smartphone
ownership. As of march 2012 this has crossed the 50% mark in the Netherlands
where 52% owns a smartphone,73 which leaves nearly 50% without the use of a
smartphone. When this figure is combined with the fact that the market of
smartphones in segmented in various ways, like according to operating system,
technical specification (high-end vs. budget models) and brand, it becomes
obvious that not all mobile services will have the potential to reach all
smartphone owners. This indicates that before using mobile technologies to offer
access to cultural heritage it is necessary to be aware of the target audience the
service is aimed at.
The drawbacks of mobile devices do not lessen the fact that they offer
many new opportunities. However, it is important to keep in mind the fact that,
despite its popularity, the smartphone will not, as if by magic, make all services
that are offered on the platform successful. It is essential that target audiences
are studied before venturing into the development process of a mobile
application and, as the market is always in motion, the same is true for the
market of mobile devices.
73 Source: http://www.telecompaper.com/research/dutch‐smartphone‐user‐q4‐2011 (visited: 01‐05‐2012)
47
7 Conclusion
This thesis has sought to identify and examine some of the opportunities of the
employment of post-pc devices on the practice of making cultural heritage
digitally accessible. Some of Manuel Castells’ notions that underlie his theory of
the Network Society have been studied in order to place the characteristics of the
post-pc era in a broader social context. Many of the features of post-pc
computing are fundamentally linked to the notions of Real Virtuality, Timeless
Time and the Space of Flows, and consequentially, these features cannot be
ignored. The growth of the market of post-pc devices is a clear indication that
the new technologies have caught on and that the unique features of these
devices will permeate ever more into the fabric of society.
The post-pc era is an advancement of the Network Society and, as such, it
is founded on earlier technological progress. An earlier ingredient of the Network
Society is the existence of the internet. The rise of the internet has been a
paradigm shift that was felt throughout society. If history proves anything it is
that such a technological paradigm shift requires adaptation. The heritage sector
has adapted to the rise of the internet age by making use of its unique
capabilities and developing many new services. The internet age has seen the
emergence of the (increased) practice of digitizing cultural heritage as well as the
development of virtual institutions.
The practice of digitizing cultural heritage has raised some concerns about
the loss of contextuality. Digitized cultural heritage, it is argued, loses much of
its value because it often lacks the professional interpretation and the contextual
information that it is traditionally accompanied by when it is presented in its
physical form. Conversely, the virtual institution is much more curated that the
online collections of digitized cultural heritage. As a result, the contextual
dimension of the collections that are presented in a virtual institution is not only
preserved; it is enlarged. The possibilities of digital media allow for a virtually
unlimited amount of contextual information to be presented to the audience. This
contextual information can come in the form of text, video, audio and even in the
form of interactive elements like games.
If digital media provide both opportunities and dangers for the contextual
dimension of cultural heritage, the same is true for the possibilities of social
48
interaction. The fear that the social aspect of cultural heritage consumption will
be lost in the digital age exists, but some studies suggest that social interaction
is also possible through digital means. The currently popular social media enable
institutions to not only allow visitors and non-visitors to interact with each other,
but also to interact with their audiences. The increased potential for
communication also increases the possibilities for users to generate content
themselves. For now, however, these opportunities have not been adapted to the
extent that would be expected.
In the post-pc era the virtual institution and the digitized cultural heritage
can be mediated through mobile devices such as smartphones. The effects of this
are threefold. The first effect of the representation of cultural heritage on mobile
devices concerns the contextual dimension of the heritage. The representation of
digitized cultural heritage, which often lacks a significant amount of contextual
information when presented on pcs, has the most profound effect. Here the flow
of contextual information does not only run from the cultural heritage on the
screen to the physical environment, it also flows the other way. In this manner a
different sort of context is captured that would be very difficult to convey on a
traditional website. The contextual information as it is presented in virtual
institutions gains an extra dimension when it is presented at a location that is
relevant to the actual heritage. In this manner the physical location is
augmented by the information (in textual, audio or video format) that is
displayed on the screen.
When the aspect of two-way communication is combined with the physical
space the most visible effect can be found in the fact that users will be able to
both easily manufacture user-generated content and express their feelings or
knowledge about a certain piece of heritage at the moment that they are
experiencing it. This is an additional contextual layer that adds, unauthoritative
though it is, an essential value to the heritage: the value of human perception.
Besides the possibilities regarding contextuality and communication, using
post-pc devices in a cultural heritage setting gives rise to one other opportunity:
the possibility of increased discoverability. In its purest form discoverability can
be seen at work in the image-recognition capabilities of mobile devices. When
these are used the users can learn about a cultural or historical artifact on an ad
hoc basis. To a lesser extent, discoverability plays a role in the way in which
49
digitized heritage is presented on site. Here, the user is enabled to discover his
or her own version of the contextual layer that surrounds the heritage.
The subject of cultural heritage in the post-pc era is very broad. It deals with
sociotechnical developments, technological innovations and their possibilities,
audiences, institutional strategies, and much more. Needless to say, the scope of
this thesis had to be narrowed down and, consequentially, this thesis focused on
the opportunities of smartphones for cultural heritage. An effort has been made
to study these opportunities from the perspective of the heritage, which leaves
room for future research on how these opportunities translate to the experiences
of users. For now, however, it can be concluded that the use of post-pc devices
yields new opportunities for the contextuality and discoverability of cultural
heritage while also offering new possibilities for communication with and among
users.
50
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