Transmediation: using the Web to mediate cultural materials in museums and libraries 

Abstract

Transmediation: using the Web to mediate cultural materials in museums and libraries 

This paper will examine the several different ways that the State Library of Queensland used their website to mediate the content and materials of their exhibition Spoken: Celebrating Queensland languages. This exhibition, dedicated to the history and current culture of Indigenous languages in Queensland, opened in November 2019 and ran through April 2020—thus becoming one of the many victims of the first COVID lockdowns, as the Library shut to visitors in early 2020. Like other cultural institutions, the Library reacted by putting a “virtual tour” on their website: a navigable interface of 3D photography leading the viewer through the physical exhibition. This virtual tour joined the Library’s other online resources already planned to supplement the physical exhibition, showcasing elements from the Library’s collections as well as their community activities supporting Indigenous languages. These various materials thus provide an opportunity to compare the virtual tour with other modes of online “exhibition,” that is, mediating cultural objects and knowledge. Indeed, the nature of language as intangible heritage, and the idea of the “museum without walls” as a goal of GLAM institutions, suggest a further opportunity to examine whether a physical on-site exhibition is the most important or effective strategy for showcasing and serving the interests of cultural heritage.