Mediating and Marketing Cultural Heritage through National and International Platforms
Today, high demands are often placed on our museums and cultural institutions by visitors in terms of visibility and accessibility, both physical and digital. They want to be inspired and motivated before and during their visit, and to learn in an easily accessible way via websites, apps and other platforms.
However, producing our own apps to make exhibitions and collections available, or to present digital guides, is often both labour-intensive and expensive. It is difficult to keep up with the latest innovations, as technological development moves so quickly. It can also be difficult to reach the target groups in the great media noise and fierce competition that surrounds us. One way to find more cost-effective solutions can be to investigate existing platforms in order to avoid re-inventing the wheel and doing the entire development and launch work in-house.
In recent years, Gamla Linköping has chosen to join the established museum platforms “Primus”, “Digitalt Museum” and “Kulturpunkt”. These are three interconnected products being developed by a Norwegian company with the support of the Norwegian Culture Council. Primus and Digitalt Museum are already used by many Swedish and Norwegian institutions today, whilst Kulturpunkt is a relatively new platform with regard to Swedish users.
How does it Work?
Primus
Primus is a digital collection management system for museums and cultural institutions, used by more than 200 museums in Sweden, Norway and Åland. Both large and small collections can be handled in Primus and it allows for the management of any object considered part of a collection, from art and cultural history to photos, video/audio, buildings and more. Different types of objects are handled in individual modules designed specifically for them. Primus also has modules for name authorities and places, which can be linked to objects, creating history and context. Name and location records can also be retrieved from “KulturNav”, a solution for creating a common heritage terminology, uniting different institutions and languages.
DigitaltMuseum
If the collection owner so wishes, it is possible to make selected parts of the information on Primus available to the public on DigitaltMuseum. This is a common database for Norwegian and Swedish museums and collections, established in 2009. It provides access to more than seven million objects from museums, archives and other institutions; photographs, museum and art objects, exhibitions, buildings, names, paintings etc. The aim of DigitaltMuseum is to make collections accessible to everyone who might be interested, regardless of time and location, and to make it easier to search for images, education and in-depth information.
Objects available on DigitaltMuseum are also displayed automatically on K-Samsök, a database for Swedish cultural heritage objects, reached by a number of different websites and applications, e.g. kringla.nu Länk till annan webbplats., and the Europeana Länk till annan webbplats. platform for Europe’s digital cultural collection
Gamla Linköping at DigitaltMuseum Länk till annan webbplats.
Kulturpunkt
This is an application connected to DigitaltMuseum and available for downloading on Google Play and App Store. KulturPunkt lets you explore cultural locations and cultural data through a map function, lists or using QR codes. At the moment the content is provided by some Norwegian and Swedish museums. So far Gamla Linköping’s presence at Kulturpunkt has been limited to a couple of smaller projects dealing with military history and public art, but we have plans to add much more information within the next few years, especially for offering digital guided tours.
Linköping at Kulturpunkt Länk till annan webbplats.