The museum and galleries sector faces the challenge of developing effective methods for refining objectives, designing and implementing robust evaluation measures. Technological innovations have raised new possibilities for evaluating cultural value that promise to increase efficiency, reach and validity beyond what is possible with conventional methods. However, methods of evaluating cultural impact still need substantial development to support robust, long-term empirical research on cultural value. This proposed project brings to bear AHRC funded research findings pertaining to several technology-enhanced methods for evaluating cultural value. This project will enable the project partners to share expertise and develop an evaluation framework that works across different types of museum collection.
The project will encourage ‘wider use of evaluation as a tool within the cultural sector itself, rather than as something carried out just for accountability purposes‘ aligned with the need cited in the Cultural Value Project Report. Specifically, this proposal will enable museums and galleries to explore, discuss and test the innovative automated evaluation systems created as part of the Qualia (R & D Fund for the Arts) and SMILE (Digital Amplification) research projects.
