Interpretive Materials
Text, graphics, videos, and other content that is used in gallery and exhibition spaces to guide audiences and provide learning experiences.
Museum and Gallery Social Media
Examples
These may include explanatory text and diagrams. This type of content typically sits alongside objects being exhibited. This information may also be used in other forms of digital public engagement, including within websites and social media
Hazards
Poor or no documentation; lack of repository and preservation infrastructure; external dependencies; poor storage; significant volumes or diversity of data; digital content being left unmanaged with Exhibitions teams (e.g., not going through any Records Management, Recordkeeping, being passed to the archives, or having preservation even considered); uncertainty over IPR or the presence of orphaned works
Out of BandMitigations
Strong documentation; preservation capability; good recordkeeping principles, practices, and management in place; strong repository and preservation technical infrastructure; well-developed migration pathways
Bit List History
Added to list: 2023Last Review
2023 Review
This entry was added in 2019 under ‘Digital Materials in Museums and Galleries’ and previously rescoped in 2021 to ‘Supporting Digital Materials for Museums and Galleries’.
The 2023 Bit List Council superseded the entry, splitting it into six discrete entries as the scope of the single entry was too broad to provide the guidance needed. The recommendation to break this entry down was also made by the 2021 Jury, as the types of digital collections content in museums can be vast and offer particular risks in museum and gallery contexts. This entry was added to focus on risks tied to interpretive materials in museums and galleries. These materials may be tailored to various audience demographics and may take into account a variety of learning styles. These materials can also provide significant insight into how display and interpretation of objects has changed over time. While some interpretive materials may be text or still image based, others may be more technically complex as they may be time-based (e.g., video) or even a complex digital object in its own right.
2024 Interim Review
The 2024 Council identified a trend towards even greater risk. They noted this content may not be seen to be of long-term value to the museum, however, may be of value to the researcher and, in light of the 2023 British Library Cybersecurity incident, the Imminence of Action was changed from five years to less than three years.
To add further clarity, those in the Social Media added that the description for this entry seems to address two separate types of digital content: 1) interpretive materials used to support users’ experiences of an exhibition, and 2) museum and gallery public engagement via social media. With that they have recommended that Council members should discuss if a separate Museum (or even Collecting Institution) public engagement on social media entry should be created and sit in Social Media rather than individual organisation types.
Additional Information
Interpretive outputs through websites may have reduced risk as web outputs if captured as part of national web archiving initiatives.Case Studies & Examples
- The mentioned British Library cyber incident as a case example of issues arising. See The British Library, Learning Lessons from the Cyber-attack: British Library cyber incident review (2024), [accessed at 2024-09-06].
- How Are Museums Using Artificial Intelligence?, Styx, L. (2024), Museum Next [accessed at 2024-09-06].