IVA Research cluster
Digital Museums, Libraries, & Archives (D-MLA)
Research themes
The Cluster focusses on research addressing transformative and/or disruptive digitization processes
objects and results within and around Archives, Libraries, & Museums. The aim is to initiate
exchanges of ideas, to identify the international state-of-the-art, to initiate national and
international collaborations, and to further develop relevant research questions within this broadly
conceived field.
A main concern will be to identify recurring and generic themes and research questions such as
contemporary theories, methods and paradigms of digitization within or related to cultural
institutions. The themes are clustered in the following three interconnected and partly overlapping
perspectives:
1) The changing roles of cultural institutions
The cluster will discuss how cultural institutions increasingly move on to digital media platforms with
ever evolving new online services providing a growing variety of new knowledge resources and
cultural experiences.
The study of cultural institutionalization and digitization include the study of the historical
development, the political conditions, changing relations between institutions and media and
changing definitions of cultural heritage, its political setting in connection with policy of identity,
nationality, places and spaces. Among the themes and questions to be discussed are:
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The possible interrelations between public, civic and commercial services and organizations
within the area of digitized and digital knowledge production and cultural heritage
institutions: libraries, natural history museums, cultural heritage and art museums, local
archives, research libraries, research infrastructures, digital repositories, web archives,
scholarly communication, ‘user-generated content’ services etc.
The institutional implications of the emergence of online services as seen from different
theoretical and institutional perspectives and analytical approaches.
The local role of museums, libraries, and archives in providing access to a growing range of
national and international online services? Are they to identify themselves mainly as local
cultural institutions creating spaces for cultural experiences on location? How to conceive
the relation between local time space and online time spaces?
The responses of ABM institutions to the use at home of search engines and streaming
services to cultural entertainment? Should cultural institutions take on the preservation of
local web-materials, digital city spaces, and/or introduce to global online knowledge
resources and software tools on the net? Should they give public access to big data
resources and research in general? Are they to deliver a blending–on-demand service?
The role of MLA institutions in the development of new digital production paradigms &
new cultural practices such as crowdsourcing, sharing platforms, or some sort of 3D
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printing services. The positioning of MLAs in between new commercial business models
and civic initiatives in the production, preservation, curation and presentation of
contemporary knowledge-resources and cognitive and aesthetic experiences. Changes in
the relations between public, civic and commercial services change in national, European
and global perspectives? What are the implications of digitization for the identity and
legitimacy of public services?
Web outreach for cultural institutions. The internet has lowered the barrier for
communication. How do cultural institutions become or stay central in the dialog about
their own material? Information behavior studies of selected web outreach approaches.
Pluralism policies and practices as for instance the reaching out to multicultural and
multiethnic populations.
2) Materials, methods, classifications and genres
A second focus will be on digital materials and their relations to former media and genres as
developing around the hyper textual, interactive and multimodal repertoire of networked digital
and mobile media.
The cluster will discuss different conceptualizations of digital materials and new methods to
access, search, preserve, analyze, visualize and add value to such materials. Among the themes
and questions to be discussed are
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The meaning of digitization for the concepts of works, corpora, collections, and
assemblages. What are the relations between tangible and intangible symbolic objects
such as books and bits respectively? How to study remediation processes, dynamic,
interactive and blended corpora, remix, collections, assemblages and works. What are the
relevant principles of curation (selection, preserving, value adding, exposing etc.) of the
exponentially growing array of heterogeneous digital materials? What should be taken care
of by public services and for which reasons? What if commercial services break down or
abandon resources?
The role and function of multiple source knowledge systems combining different sources,
from different places - eventually separated in historical time. What competences are
needed to deal professionally with these materials, on demand knowledge services and
mobile services? What are the relevant information management competences for dealing
with big data, dynamic knowledge formats, the internet of things and social media
communication?
Criteria for distinguishing digital materials in respect to function and usages, cognitive and
aesthetic dimensions. Pro’s and con’s of different concepts (classification principles,
concepts of genres and media etc.) to bridge the conceptual gap between media and
materials.
Digital methods in the humanities e.g. analyzis of large amounts of cultural objects to
investigate larger patterns in cultural production by the means of digital methods. Big Data
concepts and epistemologies?
3) Changing practices in and around the MLA institutions.
If the public service institutions of 20th century centered on the notion of the citizen, cultural
institutions today are oriented towards specialized, fragmented and not least interactive
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‘audiences’. These audiences are often playing a significant role in the development of new
expressional forms and usages. The theme includes all sorts of practices utilizing the institution.
Such practices may include civic participatory practices, ethnic and multicultural practices,
learned communities such as Digital Humanities practices. Thus the point of view is turned
around from the institutional perspective to the perspective of practices in and around the
institution whether related to the local activities or online services. The cluster will discuss and
study literary mediation – tradition and actual state of the art, performance scenes,
festivals/events, possibilities of MLA-institutions and civic institutions, possibilities of new/social
media, connection with new communications patterns. Among the themes and questions to be
discussed are:
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The use of cultural institutions as spaces for learning environments and as autodidact
information space? How do they relate to net based information cultures like still evolving
Facebook-, Instagram-, or Twitter-cultures and how do such particular information and
communication cultures relate to everyday life practices.
Usages of digital materials, methods and media and the implications for established forms
of academic scholarship in the humanities, social sciences and sciences.
Mainstream and niche culture usages and their interrelations, e.g. multicultural and
multiethnic usages, do-it-yourself culture and cultural institutions. Cultural institutions as
autodidact learning environments form one side of this relationship. Elements of DIY
culture (such as amateurs, volunteers and hackers) as a citizen resource for public cultural
institutions.
How to analyze and support the variety of old and new ‘reading modes’ in the continuum
between reading, searching, and editing modes ranging from close reading,
skimming/scanning to software supported content analysis and distant reading, search,
browse, navigation and editing strategies - not least unfolding around the incorporation of
mobile digital devices in all sorts of social and cultural practices.
The Cluster will have four regular meetings each year addressing major issues within the agenda.
Further activities such as closing time meetings for a broader range of scholars may take place
occasionally and the cluster members are foreseen also to engage in the CCC collaboration at UCPH
and in collaboration with relevant research milieus elsewhere.
Group Members
Niels Ole Finnemann, Professor, Dr. Phil. Head of the D-MLA Cluster
Jesper Steen Andersen, PhD fellow
Lennart Björneborn, Associate Professor, PhD
Hans Dam Christensen, Professor, Deputy Director
Nan Dahlkild, Associate Professor, PhD
Martin Dyrbye, Associate Professor IVA
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Hans Elbeshausen, Associate Professor
Rune Eriksson, Associate Professor IVA
Jan Graulund, Associate Professor IVA
Carl Gustav Johannsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor
Henrik Jochumsen, Associate Professor, Dr.art.
Nanna Kann-Rasmussen Associate Professor, PhD
Niels D. Lund, Associate Professor, PhD
Maria Skou Nicolaisen, PhD fellow
Hans Jørn Nielsen, Associate Professor, PhD
Christine Nordentoft, Lecturer, IVA
Karen Birgitte Philipson. Associate Professor IVA
Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen, Ph.D. Associate Professor
Henriette Roued-Cunliffe, Assistant Professor, PhD
Dorte Skot-Hansen, Associate Professor, Head of Centre for Cultural Policy Studies
Lisbeth Worsøe-Schmidt, Lecturer, PhD
Currently externally funded Projects, including projects finished in 2015.
2011-2015: National representative in the Management Group EU COST-aktion "IS1004
“WEBDATANET: web-based data-collection - methodological challenges, solutions and
implementations”. Niels Ole Finnemann
2015-2018: WP leader (WP4: Digitizing copies) in the research project Museum. A Culture of Copies
(PI: Brita Brenna, Professor, University of Oslo), funded by FRIHUMSAM, Research Council of
Norway. Hans Dam Christensen.
2015- Member of the Steering group, Dansk Museumsformidling: Historik, design og evaluering (PI:
Kirsten Drotner, Professor, Southern University of Denmark. Hans Dam Christensen
2015. Buildings that shaped us. Research, exhibition and publication in cooperation with The Danish
National Art Library. Nan Dahlkild
2012- Member of EBLIP (Evidence Based Library and Information Process) group. Carl Gustav
Johannsen
2013- Member of Urban Europe International Research team 2013- Carl Gustav Johannsen
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2015 “How professionals look at their users: citizens, clients, customers, guest & partners” (partly
externally funded). Carl Gustav Johannsen
2014- Master in Cultural Leadership (SIU /CIMU) Nanna Kann-Rasmussen
2013- Member of Urban Europe International Research team. Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen.
2014- Nordisk forskningsnetværk om kulturpolitik, kulturformidling og deltagelse. Casper
Hvenegaard Rasmussen
2013-2016: Cosound. www.cosound.dk . Cofounder of PhD project. Jesper Steen Andersen’s PhD is
a part of the Cosound project hosted by DTU. www.cosound.dk
2014-2015: Entrepreneurship and Partnership (Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship). Henrik
Jochumsen
2014- Kulturelt Iværksætteri (Fonden for Entreprenørskab - Danish Foundation for
Entrepreneurship). Hans Elbeshausen
National and International Research Collaboration
Academic (institutions only)
2012-2015: Member, Advisory Board for DASISH Coordinating organ for the 5 ESFRI Research
Infrastructures. Grant from EU FP7. Niels Ole Finnemann
2014-2016: Chair, Danish Centre for Museum Research, A virtual center founded by 15 Danish
university departments. Hans Dam Christensen
2015-2016: Member of Research Network for Studies in the Curatorial (PI: Malene Vest Hansen,
Associate Professor, UCPH), funded by Danish Council for Independent Research. Hans Dam
Christensen.
2014- Nordisk forskningsnetværk om kulturpolitik, kulturformidling og deltagelse. Casper
Hvenegaard Rasmussen
2014- Member of NLUS - Network on Libraries in Urban Space (European network): Dorte SkotHansen, Henrik Jochumsen
2014- The Entrepreneurship Network @CCC. Henrik Jochumsen
2014- Medlem af Urban Lab – Tværinstitutionelt netværk om Urbanitet på KU-HUM. Dorte SkotHansen
Tampere University, Finland. Martin Dyrby
Kharkiv Academy of Culture (Ukraine). Hans Elbeshausen
Institut for Miljø, Samfund og Rumlig Forandring Rum, Sted, Mobilitet og By (MOSPUS) (HE).
Hans Elbeshausen
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NLUS – Network on Libraries in Urban Space. Henrik Jochumsen
The Entrepreneurship Network @CCC Participation: the new cultural communication
paradigm in the Nordic contexts. Henrik Jochumsen.
Högskolen i Telemark. Nanna Kann-Rasmussen
Högskolan I Borås. Nanna Kann-Rasmussen
Nordic Digital Excellence in Museums. Niels Dichov Lund
Nordic Conference on Cultural Policy Research. Niels Dichov Lund
International Conference on Cultural Policy Research. Niels Dichov Lund
Public Institutions
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Samarbejdspartnere inden for HIBOLIRE (de nordiske og baltiske lande). Martin Dyrbye
The Royal Library of Denmark. Niels Dichov Lund
Public Library of Copenhagen. Niels Dichov Lund
Kolding Stadsarkiv. Henriette Roued-Cunliffe,
2011-15 Medlem af Videnskabeligt råd for Myndigheten för kulturanlys, Stockholm. Dorthe SkotHansen
Civic Initiatives
Den digitale fordring – Den etiske fordring – Løgstrups bog og 60-året for dens udgivelse. Martin
Dyrbye
Mediehistorie med særligt henblik på genren biblioteksfilm (et digitaliseringsprojekt foreligger,
hvortil Det Kgl. Bibliotek har lovet økonomisk støtte) Martin Dyrby
Den litterære institution uss. Niels Dichov Lund, Lisbeth Worsøe-Schmidt
Hack4DK Henriette Roued-Cunliffe
Upcoming D-ALM Activities
Udfyldes efterfølgende
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