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  MUSEUM ONLINE – a Model in Favour of Cultural Education in the Age of Media   

M:O:03 AWARD:

1. Preis

für das Gymnasium der Diözese Eisenstadt mit

"Hallo Haydn"

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Ziele der Veranstaltung:

Das Projekt MUSEUM ONLINE will die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Museen und Schulen unter Einsatz innovativer Technologien fördern. Die Nutzung neuer Kommunikations- und Informationstechnologien stellt dabei einen wesentlichen Bestandteil des Projekts dar. Die in diesem Kontext entstehenden Beiträge werden im Rahmen der M:O Website dokumentiert und fördern u.a. eine aktive Auseinandersetzung mit der Museumslandschaft und dem kulturellen Erbe durch Jugendliche.

MUSEUM ONLINE hat sich in den vergangenen fünf Jahren zu einem bundesweiten und grenzüberschreitenden Projekt entwickelt. Ob die Schulen nun ihre unmittelbare Umgebung erforschen und im Web dokumentieren oder mit Schulen im Ausland zusammenarbeiten, eines ist allen diesen Arbeiten gemeinsam: das Erkennen und Entwickeln neuer Ausdrucksformen die interaktive Kommunikation zwischen Schule und „Außenwelt“ und das Einlassen auf einen künstlerisch-kreativen Prozess mit offenem Ausgang.

Zielgruppen

MUSEUM ONLINE will nicht nur InformatikerInnen ansprechen, sondern in seiner Ausrichtung auf kulturelle und künstlerische Inhalte vor allem LehrerInnen der musischen Fächer motivieren, die vielfältigen Möglichkeiten der Neuen Medien zur Verschmelzung von Inhalt, Technik und Ästhetik zu nutzen und experimentelle, zeitgemäße Zugänge zur Vermittlung von kulturellem Erbe zu erkunden.

MUSEUM ONLINE – a Model in Favour of Cultural Education in the Age of Media

A Broadened Approach towards Education

In addition to a broadened approach towards education and interdisciplinary learning, the introduction of multi-media (in classroom activity) would connect the aesthetic dimension with contents. At this point the cultural education comes into operation, serving as a (necessary) supplement to the technical possibilities and thereby fulfilling an essential task.

Prof. Dr. Karl-Josef Pazzini of the University of Hamburg cites in his study "Cultural Education in the Age of Multi-Media" the opportunities, which unfold when cultural education meets with multi-media, as follows:

• Recognising and developing new modes of expression, also in interactive communication as an artistic and creative process with open ending.

• Constructions of realities: Game with real and virtual manifestations.

• Relation or rather interplay and productive synthesis of computer-technical possibilities and past modes of expression.

His expertise leads to the demand for modified institutional forms of cooperation going along with the development of new ways of presenting arts; furthermore he suggests creating a network between museums, galleries, theatres, libraries and schools, accompanied by tailored measures of continuing education. At this particular interface MUSEUM ONLINE, which was initiated by the Ministry of Education (BMBMK; Dept.III/20), starts operating.

When the project was started in the year 1995 it used to be a pilot-scheme, which was designed for a couple of schools and the Austrian Gallery Belvedere in Vienna (Österreichische Galerie Belvedere).

New Ways of Presenting Arts

It is the idea of MUSEUM ONLINE to promote the cooperation between museums and schools by use of innovative technology. The application of new communication- and information technology represents a substantial component of the project.

Since 1995 more than 300 schools across the whole of Austria linked with their partner schools as well as numerous museums, artistic- and cultural institutions from home and abroad have participated in MUSEUM ONLINE.

Five years later MUSEUM ONLINE has already successfully established itself as an active platform, which enables museums and schools to get in contact whilst holding a juvenile perspective on our cultural heritage.

MUSEUM ONLINE should not only appeal to information scientists but also – bearing in mind its emphasis on cultural and artistic contents – especially attract the attention of teachers of the fine arts. MUSEUM ONLINE aims at motivating these teachers to benefit of the possibilities of multi-media, which prepare the ground for the merging of contents, techniques and aesthetics; it should also encourage the teachers to explore experimental, new, modern approaches to the intermediation of cultural heritage.

In order to guarantee that the demands of project operators (BMBWK and ÖKS) and the actual project situation do not differ too widely and thereby cause a gap to open up, MUSEUM ONLINE offers support: For the purpose of combining contents and form with the possibilities of multi-media seminars for teachers, museum directors and students are organised by the project directors. Experience, knowledge and technical support are passed on in small mixed groups.

Media experts and teachers, who have participated in previous MUSEUM ONLINE projects as well as students, who dispose of particular technical knowledge serve as professional speakers. Additionally, within the scope of these seminars also knowledge regarding project execution and team leadership is being imparted. MUSEUM ONLINE is not only known for its nationwide and interdisciplinary seminars, but also offers participants specific support on the spot (in the schools). Thereby a group of professional speakers and artists discuss and develop methods of resolution together with students and teachers.

Meeting with Great Response

The subjects, the young people are dealing with, are manifold: A Viennese grammar school – in cooperation with the "Ethnological Museum" Vienna – created a website about kids living on the streets. Students of a Viennese centre for handicapped children (Sonderpädagogisches Zentrum – SPZ) – in cooperation with the "Museum of History" Vienna – explored the "Viennese city stories" and presented their results.

An undertaking that reaches far beyond school matters was investigated by a grammar school of the city of Bregenz (western Austria). The students gathered all available data about authors and fine artists, who reside in Vorarlberg (western Austria) and made all information available on the Web. It is their intention to present the cultural identity of Vorarlberg to the public at large.

Despite all objections claiming that elementary schools do not dispose of the necessary technical requirements, it has to be mentioned that an increasing number of elementary schools have been participating in MUSEUM ONLINE in recent years.

It is precisely this age group, which meets with great response when dealing with the processing of regional and cultural heritage.

Therefore the elementary school Untermieming in Tyrol documented the history of the construction of a 75 m high building: the small village, the big tower and the children's fantasies about the tower's origin, combined with educational excursions with architects, foresters and museum archivists. The title says "On the way to the top – 75 m high story". The website provides the main source of documentation.

An outstanding number of artists and artist-craftsmen derive from the small municipality of Ramingstein. The pupils attending elementary school portrayed the local artists and designed the website "In the village of artists". This documentation was later on also shown in the municipal library. Both projects – apart from the creative way of learning – have one thing in common: The inhabitants of the village were integrated into the work, the students acted as intermediaries between new (virtual) and old (real) types of project presentation.

Haptic and Virtual World

The students attending secondary school of Golling documented a range of so-called "minor monuments" of their home village; among these are chapels, wells, façade- and gable figures, sculptures, street monuments, memorial-stones and commemorative plaques and gates. Moreover they also engaged in the renovation of small chapels under direction of experts. This blend of haptic and virtual world is characteristic for many projects of MUSEUM ONLINE. The young "media-freaks" are particularly successful in achieving a synthesis between computer-technical possibilities and past modes of expression at points of contact where they come across distinct circumstances referring to their own life situation. For instance the virtual galleries, which were successfully created by the SPZ Unterweissenbach in order to promote the computer-generated works: The severely handicapped children orient themselves by copying and alienating the paintings of the "great masters" according to their perception towards the paintings and their models (the great masters). Another exemplary case would be that young people are in search of answers to the following question: "What do museums offer to young people?" A solution is provided by the "Culture4youth-Club", set up in cooperation with the Joaneum, on initiative of the students of the BHAK (educational establishment for economy) Grazbachgasse.

A different approach to the question would be the one of the HBLA (educational establishment for economy and tourism) Ursprung; the school turns into a branch office of the museum. In cooperation with the "House of Nature" the HBLA carried out research on a project about genetic engineering and used the scientific data for the development of computer games.

Artistic-Creative Process with Open Ending

During the past five years MUSEUM ONLINE has developed from a small-scale regional project to a cross-border international project. No matter whether the schools explore their immediate environment and document it on the Web or whether they cooperate with schools from abroad, there is one thing all these works have in common: The recognition and the development of new modes of expression, the interactive communication between schools and the "outside world" and getting involved in the artistic-creative process with open ending.

Summary of achievements to date

The objective of Museum Online is it to enable pupils and teachers – within the scope of project instruction – to engage in intensive analysis of regional, national and international art and culture; participants are furthermore enabled to get involved in thorough investigations concerning world cultural heritage (UNESCO) as well as the dealing with information and communication technologies (IKT). Therefore Museum Online consciously pursues an interdisciplinary approach. Pupils and teachers in cooperation with qualified representatives of museums, artistic, and cultural institutions gather and compile adequate contents, which are to be presented multilingually in the Internet. The dealing with questions of diverse aspects, such as technical innovative, art-historical or museum-oriented matters, is being demanded.

Achieved until now:

• over 300 Webprojects done by children of all ages

• more than 80 museums and galleries joined in the project

• encouragement of projectbased education

• international partnerships (between schools and museums)

• encouragement of communication, in-service training, creativity and the dealing with ICT skills

• the main thing is to have fun by dealing with new technology and cultural heritage

Any plans for development

• Presentation of the websites in the frame of graz 2003 (european cultural capital) – invitation of more than 200 kids from all over europe, they present their work by themselves in front of a jury and the public.

• inviting the kids to museumonline camps where they can work with experts from the field of museums and new media

• deepening of the motto "think global, act local" based on the dialog of culture in the haptic and virtual world

• evaluation of museumonline with the aim to find out the benefit for the kids in dealing with new media and cultural heritage, the benefit for museums, the change and establishment of new methods in education