Starting a Digital Revolution

More rapidly than ever, digital technology and interactive multimedia are changing the way we learn, work, interact and entertain. Videos, audio broadcasts and interactive technologies are tools that museums can now use to engage and communicate with their audiences. Media broadcast via the Internet can give even the smallest, most remote museum a global presence. While there is little doubt that digital media have the power to transform institutions, for many museum professionals the practical use of these emerging technologies remains elusive. The new field of digital media is complex, fast-paced and often poorly defined. There are many barriers keeping museums (both large and small) from venturing to this exciting new frontier. So how can museum professionals overcome these barriers and help their museums stay up to speed? How can an advocate of technology affect institutional change? This paper provides answers to these questions and offers clever, practical and inexpensive ways to develop, create and distribute digital media.