Philosophical Leadership Needed for the Future: Digital Humanities Scholars in Museums

Museum technologists have successfully supported the creation and delivery of content produced by curators, educators and librarians. However, many museum administrators and boards have yet to recognize the importance of scholarly study of their own institutions in the context of an evolving digital society. The support of digital humanities research in the academic and library communities over the last several years has not yet been adopted to the same degree in museums. This video is a recording of the live presentation of Neal Stimler's Museum Computer Network 2011 crowdsourced YouTube video panel, "Philosophical Leadership Needed for the Future: Digital Humanities Scholars in Museums." Panelists submitted responses from an open call to the community of professionals in archives, libraries, museums and universities as they reflected on the barriers and benefits of implementing digital humanities methodologies in museums. Panel Questions: Question 1: How can museums advance beyond the continuation of traditional practices utilizing digital tools to a new mode of interpretation that seeks to understand the meanings of collections and scholarship in a new media culture? Question 2: What is required of museums to establish digital humanities research centers within the framework of existing institutions? Question 3: Why might interdisciplinary and non-traditional scholars from outside the established professional ranks make the best leaders needed for inspired change in the philosophical directions of museums? Please watch the panel playlist to see all the individual videos (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3506656C723EAFEA). Please view the conference webpage for more information (http://goo.gl/0PsGD).