Available virtual museums : Enabling a wider use of virtual museums through a template-based tool

Abstract: An emerging issue that has been made visible is the unequal opportunities for digitization among different sizes of museums. This extends also to when using virtual museums as a pedagogical tool or displaying a museum’s collection. Virtual museums as a tool are less likely to be used by smaller sized museums since they have less ability to adapt to digitization and can’t outsource production. The apparent democratic issue is then that local culture can’t compete in this environment. This thesis goal was to address the problem by developing a virtual museum creation tool with availability in mind. The design was made to enable museums to themselves create, update, and maintain their own virtual museums using game technology. The thesis evaluated the tool using a design science research method were a sample of exhibition producers from several museums participated in testing of the tool and later interviewed. The results from this study showed that the design used by the tool was successful withall the participants. The interviews gave information about what features a full version of the tool would need and described the interviewed museums own readiness to themselves produce virtual museums.