Working in the digital contact zone. The digital sharing portal for Roald Amundsen’s Gjoa Haven collection

Authors

  • Tone Wang Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.6650

Keywords:

Digital, collaboration, contact zone, museum collections, Inuit, Nunavut.

Abstract

In this article a story of digital sharing is told. The focus is on a collection

of traditional Inuit material culture brought together on King William Island

over 22 months in 1903–1905 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Today,

shared interest in and concern for this collection centres the collaboration between

the Nattilik Heritage Centre in Gjoa Haven, Arctic Canada, and the Museum

of Cultural History in Oslo, Norway. A digital sharing portal launched in 2017

sets out to realise the space and framework for crucial collaborative practices

concerning knowledge sharing and access to the material. The article discusses this

process, using Clifford’s perspectives on the contact zone (1997) as an intake to

discuss the construction and practice of this digital sharing site.

Author Biography

Tone Wang, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo

Ph.D. Candidate

 

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