Examining Museum Visits as Literacy Events: the role of mediators

Yasukawa, K; Widin, J; Smith, V; Aubusson, PJ; Rivera, K; Van Tiel, M; Whitty, HE

Examining Museum Visits as Literacy Events: the role of mediators

Yasukawa, K

Widin, J

Smith, V Aubusson, PJ

Rivera, K Van Tiel, M Whitty, HE

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Publisher:: Centre for Language & Literacy UTS
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Literacy and Numeracy Studies, 2013, 21 (1), pp. 85 - 113
Issue Date:: 2013-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Yasukawa, K https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4553-0289	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Widin, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8148-6297	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Smith, V	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Aubusson, PJ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6319-0695	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Rivera, K	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Van Tiel, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Whitty, HE	en_US
dc.date.issued	2013-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Literacy and Numeracy Studies, 2013, 21 (1), pp. 85 - 113	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1441-0559	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/27693
dc.description.abstract	Museum exhibitions are literacy rich environments. Visitors may engage with a range of texts including texts that constitute the exhibition objects themselves, those that convey information about the objects and those that instruct visitors about how the visitors are expected by the museum to navigate through the exhibition. The ways in which visitors engage with these diverse texts are important defining factors of the visitors museum experience. For museums, understanding how texts in their exhibitions are influencing the museum experience, and the possibility of a museum experience for the broad public community is important in the fulfilment of their public mission as cultural and education institutions. In this paper, we adopt a view of literacy as a social practice, the perspective of New Literacy Studies (NLS), that offers a fruitful way for museums to consider the interactions between exhibition texts and their audiences. Such considerations, we argue, can inform museums approaches to broadening their visitor demographics to more strongly fulfill their public mission. We show that the goals of NLS resonate with some of the goals of the New Museology movement in museum studies, a movement that aims to democratize what museums represent and how.	en_US
dc.publisher	Centre for Language & Literacy UTS	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Literacy and Numeracy Studies	en_US
dc.title	Examining Museum Visits as Literacy Events: the role of mediators	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	21	en_US
utslib.for	1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/Adult Learning and Applied Linguistics Program
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/School of International Studies
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - STEM Education Futures
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.volume	21	en_US

Abstract:

Museum exhibitions are literacy rich environments. Visitors may engage with a range of texts including texts that constitute the exhibition objects themselves, those that convey information about the objects and those that instruct visitors about how the visitors are expected by the museum to navigate through the exhibition. The ways in which visitors engage with these diverse texts are important defining factors of the visitors museum experience. For museums, understanding how texts in their exhibitions are influencing the museum experience, and the possibility of a museum experience for the broad public community is important in the fulfilment of their public mission as cultural and education institutions. In this paper, we adopt a view of literacy as a social practice, the perspective of New Literacy Studies (NLS), that offers a fruitful way for museums to consider the interactions between exhibition texts and their audiences. Such considerations, we argue, can inform museums approaches to broadening their visitor demographics to more strongly fulfill their public mission. We show that the goals of NLS resonate with some of the goals of the New Museology movement in museum studies, a movement that aims to democratize what museums represent and how.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/27693