ABSTRACT
In the final decade of the 20th century, Stephen E. Weil famously argued that museums were transforming, “from being about something to being for somebody”. While exploring a new emphasis on the museum’s role as a public service organisation, Weil described an obligation for museums to be responsive to their communities, “to enrich the quality of individual lives and to enhance their community’s well-being”. Concurrently and necessarily, digital practice in museums has been maturing such that it has become normative and expected. Emerging are examples of museums actively addressing their previous reliance of dominant cultural narratives and seeing immediate success in attracting audiences who previously did not feel welcome enough to attend. Digital museum futures should be experiential and experimental; mission-driven and community co-designed; responsive, inclusive and open; evaluated and accountable; detailed and polyvocal; grounded in kindness, empathy and humility; staffed by practitioners with diverse backgrounds and experiences; and, most of all – relevant and impactful.
