museumsandtheweb.com - memory

Museum as Memoryscape: The Virtual Shtetl Portal of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

memoryscape — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:03:42 +0000

MW2012

Pauline Sliwinski, Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Poland

http://www.sztetl.org.pl

Abstract

Program Item Reference:

Museum as Memoryscape: The Virtual Shtetl Portal of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

Social Memory Technology

museu da pessoa — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:51:25 +0000

MW2012

Keywords:

social

Keywords:

technology

Keywords:

memory

Keywords:

life stories

Abstract:

Every human being, whether anonymous or famous, has the right to immortalize his or her story and integrate it into social memory. That idea gave rise to the Museum of the Person – a virtual museum that connects people and groups through their stories. Founded in Brazil, in 1991, the Museum of the Person is now an international network with initiatives in Portugal, the USA and Canada.

Since its creation, the Museum of the Person has been a civil society organization working to record, preserve and transform into information the life stories of each and every person in society. Using its own methodology, it captures, organizes and edits contents that are later disseminated through publications, radio and TV programs, exhibitions, studies and at the portal www.museudapessoa.net.

With programs in the areas of memory, education, communication and community development, the Museum of the Person has conducted about 200 memory projects aimed at multiplying and democratizing its methodology and its collection, which includes 14 thousand life stories and 72 thousand images and documents.

The methodology was developed with the influence of micro and behavioral history. The Museum of the Person makes use of the social technology of memory, which encourages communities, civil society organizations and companies from different locations, profiles and trajectories, to build, socialize and organize their stories, highlighting the experiences and knowledge of people. This is a technology that can be applied on a large scale, cost-effective, generating social development and diminishing conflicts. One of its uses is to engage the public in the process of strengthening the democracy in Brazil and others countries.

That is our aim, to make our society a more democratic and fair one, where people who would normally be “invisible”, have the chance to be included and respected as history makers as we all are.

In view of the storing of Social Memory Technology, this practice was discussed, deepened and systematized by a multidisciplinary team at the Museum of the Person. We seek to systematize how groups, organizations and communities can undertake projects of memory and take ownership of their history.

History is never absolute and is not ready. The making of history is an ongoing live process, which concerns us all. It is impossible to imagine life without history. Without it, we would not know who we are and whither we go. More than remembering what was experienced, the historical narrative conveys values and worldviews and helps to understand what we have today and where we go.

We hope that with the experience we manage will inspire other organizations and find new partners that are interested in the Social Memory Technology and the innovative actions developed by the Museum of the Person.

Type:

Demonstration - show your project

MW2012 Demonstrations II

Site:

http://www.museudapessoa.net

Authors:

Cássio Carvalho

Museum as Memoryscape: The Virtual Shtetl Portal of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

memoryscape — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 05:22:56 +0000

MW2012

Published Paper:

Museum as Memoryscape: The Virtual Shtetl Portal of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

Keywords:

virtual museum

Keywords:

memory

Keywords:

local history

Keywords:

data sharing

Keywords:

jewish history

Keywords:

european history

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the Virtual Shtetl Portal of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (www.sztetl.org.pl). Virtual Shtetl utilizes a Web platform that enables registered users to participate in the sharing of memories, public history and other information relevant to the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage. It aims to transform the passive role of the museum visitor to that of an active stakeholder in the preservation of cultural heritage, in this case Jewish heritage closely linked to the Polish landscape.

The research upon which this study is based began during my fellowship at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland in 2008. My observations as a participant in the Virtual Shtetl Portal during its development are complemented by fieldwork which took place in 2009, 2010 and 2011. This research took the shape of formal interviews, surveys of the site‘s administrators, a breakdown of Google analytics of the site‘s first two years of running on the Web and textual analysis. A central framework for this research is the study of the museum as a memoryscape or portal through which societies remember the past and make sense of the present.

To contextualize the virtual museum, I begin with the virtuality of all museums as implied by Andre Malraux‘s concept of Museum without Walls and then proceed to consider why a project which inspires a cultural negotiation of memories on the Web can pluralize the experience of preserving the past in a unique way that is inclusive of a multitude of diverse perspectives and in this way, an extraordinary opportunity for international dialogue.

Type:

Demonstration - show your project

MW2012 Demonstrations I

Site:

http://www.sztetl.org.pl

Authors:

Pauline Sliwinski

The Memory Machine: Sound and Memory at the British Museum

jtrant — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:27:59 +0000

Lane, C. (2003). The Memory Machine: Sound and Memory at the British Museum. (Perrot, Xavier (d. 2007), Ed.).International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting: Proceedings from ichim03.