The interactive museum and its non-human actants

Forfattere

  • Jonathan Westin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.3145

Emneord (Nøkkelord):

interactivity, non-human actant, technology, communikation

Sammendrag

This explorative study highlights the different strands of interactive learning technologies available to museums and educational institutions, and analyzes their function as non-human actants from a perspective of power and discipline. Through a generalized symmetry I describe a specific technology – the interactive display – as an actant exercising the same autonomy as the other actants. This raises the non-human actant to the same level as the human actants and emphasizes how it controls an equal part of the communication. In this way I try to map out how an exchange is manifested through a network of actants where the technologies conserve the inquiring actant’s knowledge space rather than broaden it. Despite being offered as a technology to make the visitor heard, the result is as curated as the classic exhibition. I conclude that by themselves, interactive displays do not challenge authority at museums but instead reinforce it. 

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