The

Application

of Digital

Technologie

s in

Museums

Kamani Perera

Sri LankaMartin Wickramasinghe Museum of Folk

Culture, Koggala, Sri Lanka

Photograph by Kamani Perera

A dynamic change has occurred in museums in the recent past with the dawn of information communication technologies.

Digital technologies have become an integral part of the museums and future museums have no life without that.

Martin Wickramasinghe Museum of Folk

Culture, Koggala,Sri Lanka

Photograph by Kamani Perera

Museums face new challenge to provide efficient service to the wider community while enhancing the human interaction with the new technologies.

Digital technologies is widely recognized to be helpful in fulfilling its function in novel and effective ways.

Istanbul, Turkey

Photograph by Kamani Perera

Museums which do

not avail of some of

the technologies that

are such a great part

of our everyday life

would be as

anachronistic as

thinking of a museum

without electricity or

heating (Geser &

Niccolucci, 2012).Martin Wickramasinghe Museum of Folk

Culture, Koggala, Sri Lanka

Photograph by Kamani Perera

Technology has

given a boost to the

future museums by

way of providing

golden age of

opportunities to

limitless access of

artifacts enhancing

learning and

teaching skills

beyond museum

walls. Natural History Museum, Gorlitz, Germany

(Photograph taken by Kamani Perera)

Digital technology also facilitates to upload individual stories to museum collections and to interact via social media tools.

It bridges the information gap, enhances all forms of literacy, facilitates to access hidden documents on demand.

Natural History Museum, Gorlitz, Germany

(Photograph taken by Kamani Perera)

Museum is an

inviting place for

effective learning.

It connects human

experience, culture,

history, science and

art via its objects.

Bibliothek Museum, Gorlitz, Germany

(Photograph taken by Kamani Perera)

There are museums which provide access to documentary videos about their artifacts, stories with interactive sessions.

People can share information, learn more; make decisions quickly as a result of the application digital

Bibliothek Museum, Gorlitz, Germany

(Photograph taken by Kamani Perera)

Physical museums

offers visitors to gain

experience on real

objects and sharing

their knowledge among

families and friends

while digital museums

provide limitless

access to museum

objects to enhance

lifelong learning.

Bibliothek Museum, Gorlitz, Germany

(Photographs taken by Kamani Perera)

Once the visitor makes a virtual visit in museum website s/he may takes keen interest to see the original artifacts in naked eye.

In the same manner museum professionals should think about whether old events would hold same importance in future too.

Water Museum, Lisbon, Portugal

Photograph by Kamani Perera

As there is a diversity of audiences museums should consider the relevance of social and cultural events they address to the public.

New technologies such as 3D printing immensely help to produce accurate picture of rare, damage or

Brukanthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania

Photograph by Kamani Perera

In other words, digital

technologies help to

reproduce museum

artifacts in an

accurate manner

without much effort.

In the past,

museums have

considered as a

place for

preservation and

display of artifacts,

which take us to our

Martin Wickramasinghe Museum of Folk

Culture, Koggala, Sri Lanka

Photograph by Kamani Perera

Digital technologies support audiences to buildup novel connection among themselves and others and past, present, future.

This leads to the creation of exhibitions and dialogue between audiences and museums as well as museum exhibits.

Martin Wickramasinghe Museum of Folk Culture,

Koggala, Sri Lanka

Photograph by Kamani Perera

Digitization can

allow museums to

preserve their rare

and fragile material

and facilitates to

access those

materials virtually.

Not only that, lesser

known museums

can raise awareness

of their collections in

a way never before

possible.

Archaeological Heritage Site, Mhadaba, Jordan

Photograph by Kamani Perera

More prominent

museums can

benefit from

digitization by

providing virtual

access to the

objects in their

collection.

Schlesisches Museum, Gorlitz, Germany

Photograph by Kamani Perera

New technologies

have dramatically

changed the

traditional concept

of museums by

facilitating to

interact with the

community beyond

their physical

walls.

Natural History Museum, Gorlitz, Germany

(Photograph taken by Kamani Perera)

Digital technologies facilitate to reveal the hidden stories of the museum artifacts.

Digital technology supports museums for not only to preserve the accessed data but for re-use, re-create and to boost the economy.

Vasco Da Gama’s Coffin, Lisbon, Portugal

Photograph taken by Kamani Perera

Museums stimulate

people’s hearts and

they feel more and

more closer to the

museum

environment.

Once they visited

virtually, they really

feel to visit the

location physically.Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal

Photograph taken by Kamani Perera

People can access museum collection via social media tools and at the same time they can share their stories.

That helps to bridge the gap between information rich and information poor by reaching the unreached.

The World Archaeological Congress, 2013

Dead Sea, Jordan

Photograph by Kamani Perera

Thank YouMartin Wickramasinghe Museum of Folk Culture, Koggala,Sri Lanka

Photograph taken by Kamani Perera

Now we are living in digital era

and consuming its fruits for our

day-to-day needs.

Yes, of course, in future

digital technologies are

mandatory to run a museum.