The archival profession has, in some scholars’ opinions, been experiencing a shift of thought towards a user-centered approach within archival practice. This has ultimately led to an alteration...Show moreThe archival profession has, in some scholars’ opinions, been experiencing a shift of thought towards a user-centered approach within archival practice. This has ultimately led to an alteration regarding how users are targeted and specific ways that technology has changed accessibility to archival documents. Through the study of users, archival scholars have been able to make advancements towards improving the information seeking processes of users. The research will outline a short history of user studies and the ways access has been developed within archival repositories. The investigation will then reflect on a small case study that can determine if information seeking user studies have a place within the archival literature and how this can lead to better facilitation between users and archivists.Show less
This thesis focuses on the visualisation of the stories behind objects in the ethnological and archaeological museum. Objects form a fundamental part of our daily life, but we do not always know...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the visualisation of the stories behind objects in the ethnological and archaeological museum. Objects form a fundamental part of our daily life, but we do not always know the full stories behind them. Some objects possess an intriguing story about their use in indigenous communities or their impact on an historic civilization, but the stories that are sometimes of even more interest are the object biographies. These biographies consist of the people, places and events the objects encountered on its way to a (museum) collection. The research done for his thesis will provide new insights into the visualisations of stories behind object in the 20th and 21st century. Furthermore it will discuss some case studies that show how stories, and what kind of stories, are being visualised in the modern day ethnological and archaeological museum. The research reflects the combination of a literature study and case studies. These case studies have been exercised within the National Museum of Ethnology and the National Museum of Antiquities. The selected objects within the case studies have been extensively researched in terms of their history, method of collecting, biographies and presence within the exhibition. These objects are: the Lombok Treasure, the Singosari statues, the golden helmet of de Peel and the Cypriot head. The results of the research showed that the visualisation of the stories behind objects has never been the same and is still shifting, which provide a diverse array of objects and stories. Object biographies were sporadically present in museum exhibitions, but they were never fully embraced. Nowadays this becomes more and more present in museums and new exhibition techniques, such as multi-media and interactive platforms that are implemented to tell and show those hidden stories.Show less
