ABSTRACT
By considering the current ecosystem of digital skills development in museums (given particular attention to its focus and setting of the UK), Chapter 1 makes a case for a new integrative approach to building digital confidence within the museum sector – one that distinctively gives primacy to context (of the individual and the institution), and that encourages a holistic and institution-wide approach. In doing so, its discussion not only provides the conceptual ‘framings’ and everyday tools for leading effectively digital change in the museum, but it does so in way that challenges what it sees as some entrenched normative approaches to skills development, creating instead a fresh set of co-ordinates for discourse, practice, and purpose around digital technology. In effect, a new signature for digital within the museum. The empirical research underpinning the authors’ discussion draws upon a five-year programme of international research, falling under the rubric of ‘One by One’. This ambitious multi-partner initiative has brought together cultural organisations, academics, policy makers, professional associations, sector support agencies, and communities of practice in various forms and formats, with the singular aim of leveraging action research to build digitally confident museums.
