Unit 11
Digital Technologies:
Shaping Knowledge and Access

An ongoing theme throughout policy discourse on all forms of heritage—tangible and intangible—is the importance of public access. This means not only access to spaces and participation in policy processes, but also access to education, knowledge, and information.

Digital media hold great potential to create, manage, and disseminate cultural content in multiple ways. Museum collections and historic sites could reach new audiences when packaged in new media formats for people who might never physically visit them. But these media are not neutral conduits, and can affect the content as much as they shape the modes of communication and exchange. A regulatory framework is important here, because the new communication and information technologies challenge traditional ways of gathering, encoding, and distributing information. This unit will consider the implications of digital media for heritage organizations, sites, and institutions.

Learning Objectives

When you complete this unit, you should be able to:

1. List the central issues around the use of digital technology in heritage management.
2. Summarize the main policy rationales related to the use of the Internet by institutions and governments.
3. Explain the relevance of copyright policy to public access to knowledge.
4. Discuss problems presented by Canada’s lack of a comprehensive digital media strategy.