Digital cultural heritage. Challenging museums, archives and users Agnes Aljas and Pille Pruulman... more Digital cultural heritage. Challenging museums, archives and users Agnes Aljas and Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt1 1. INTRODUCTION Several studies claim that today's museums think too little in terms of who the users of their online sites are, why people go there, and how ...
The Estonian National Museum has been hosting inclusive exhibitions for over ten years. The purpo... more The Estonian National Museum has been hosting inclusive exhibitions for over ten years. The purpose of the participatory hall is to attract people and provide space for various topics, thereby strengthening ties with different audiences. This exhibition format grew out of the museum's desire to collaborate with various groups and people and give them an opportunity to use the museum as a platform for self-expression and a place where their ideas and opinions could be visualized. After a long-term joint effort, it is important to examine what the participants have learned from the exhibitions, how their experience has benefited them and how the museum can apply this towards further cooperation. The article analyzes the exhibition creation practices carried out by non-professional participants using the examples of two participatory hall exhibitions where the curators were enthusiasts and students. Two major aspects emerged that should merit greater attention in the future when ev...
This article will analyse the many challenges that creating, storing and using digital heritage h... more This article will analyse the many challenges that creating, storing and using digital heritage has brought to the memory institutions and their professionals. We look at the interrelationship between the potential users of the museum collections, the collections themselves and information and communication technologies as intermediaries to these relations. By analysing survey data, we look at the average Internet user in order to find out who could be the current and future users of the online collections. In addition that, we analyse interviews conducted with 12 members of different Estonian memory institutions in order to understand their perspective on online cultural heritage. Third empirical pillar of the article comes from the two focus group interviews to understand what are users percieved needs for the digital cultural heritage. The data will be analysed through three key functions of the memory institutions in order to understand how digitisation helps with preservation, ...
The Meaning of Commune for its Inhabitants by the Example of Kihelkonna Commune Что означает воло... more The Meaning of Commune for its Inhabitants by the Example of Kihelkonna Commune Что означает волость для своих жителей (на примере волости Кихельконна)The article is based on fieldwork done in Kihelkonna commune in the years 2000 and 2001. The commune is located in West Saaremaa, and in 2000 its population amounted to 1086 people. The commune comprises Kihelkonna centre and 41 villages, the farther-away villages are situated at the distance of up to 20 kilometres from the centre. In the course of the fieldwork 81 inhabitants of the commune were interviewed, and the collected materials were handed over to the Estonian National Museum.A direct impetus for fieldwork in Kihelkonna commune was given by the idea of building a deep-sea port, therefore the aim of the fieldwork was to collect and record everyday life in the commune in 2000, prior to the expected great changes (at the moment, however, the project of port-building has been suspended).The article dwells upon the meaning of Kihe...
Cultural changes in Transitional Society. Change in Estonian work culture based on the example of... more Cultural changes in Transitional Society. Change in Estonian work culture based on the example of the office workers at one company. Everyday life for people is strongly tied to the ambient political, economic, social and cultural situation. The systematic changes of social and economic environment in Estonia, which occurred in the 1990s, as well as the following developments influenced everyone's daily and also working life, which constituted an integral part of the former. Working lives and working take up the greater part of the day, week and year for most of the working-age population. Working life has a central role in social life. Work is not just a way of earning a living but also a shaper of social status, consumer preferences, health and family life. The working lives of Estonian people have already for years been shaped by conventions prevalent elsewhere in the world. The world's economy became truly global and open in the last decades of the 20th century in connection with the development of infrastructure and communications technology. The context of the global economy arrived in Estonia immediately at the beginning of the 1990s. The precise extent of its impact has also depended on the orientation of jobs and companies. In my presentation, I look at what role the global economy plays in Estonian companies owned by foreign capital, as illustrated by Saku Brewery. In my presentation, I focus on the changes in the plant taking place on the macro level, examining at the impact they had on the working world of office workers: from one aspect, the changes associated with transformation from a state enterprise to a privately held company and belonging to an international corporate group, and from another aspect, the impact of internal changes within the group-the effect of management from the "Baltic group" and Lithuania. The presentation is based on materials from a master's thesis defended in 2006 at the University of Turku, Finland, in the field of ethnology, which dealt with changes in Estonian work culture and adaptation to changes as viewed from the perspective of administrative staff. Sources for the master's thesis and presentation comprised interviews conducted in the course of field work.
Mediators of Cultural Heritage: Co-operation between Amateur Handicraftsmen and MuseumsПосредники... more Mediators of Cultural Heritage: Co-operation between Amateur Handicraftsmen and MuseumsПосредники культурного наследия: сотрудничество мастеров-ремесленников и музеевEveryday activities of museums have more and more to do with inclusion of visitors and various communities into interpretation and creation of cultural heritage. Creating public space for discussion has become the task of museum communication, which stipulates good knowledge of potential audience and participants, and considering their expectations. Analysing interactive practices we see that they are often connected to daily life – whereas interpretation of cultural heritage does not necessarily belong there. Museum’s willingness for co-operation is therefore very important for various communities, while cultural heritage is directly connected to regular day-to-day activities.In this article we analyse expectations and opinions communities have towards museums and how they perceive their own role as mediators of cultur...
The article examines what motivates people to participate in a cultural institution's participato... more The article examines what motivates people to participate in a cultural institution's participatory interventions. In recent decades, the changing roles of cultural institutions and the concepts of defining museum audiences are brought together in the case study of the Estonian National Museum's participatory interventions. This paper indicates that motivations for participation are emotional and personal, that social goals are often overestimated, but the wish to cooperate and gain recognition from institutions have often been underestimated as motivators. The museum's roles to support intercultural dialogue and facilitate diverse views were not supported by the participational interventions. Analysis indicated that being a participant does not make people more critical or dialogical in a museum context, as the topics the participants chose to be involved with are appropriate to their own experiences, contexts and assumptions.
This article focuses on the thematic structure and contextualisation of the future in the main da... more This article focuses on the thematic structure and contextualisation of the future in the main daily newspapers of the three neighbouring countries of Finland, Estonia and Russia throughout the 20th century. We mapped the content of 2079 Finnish, 2242 Estonian and 1723 Russian daily newspaper articles. The Finnish Helsingin Sanomat concentrated on the issue of "state and legislation"; the second most common topic in the Finnish sample was economics, at about 20 percent of the articles, with the exception of the 1910s and 1930s. In Estonia we did not fi nd any dominant topic during the 20th century; there were many diff erent topics related to the agenda. Politics and governance and related issues were particularly dominant during the periods of independence. Economy-related issues were more or less dominant during the period of Soviet occupation. The topics of economics and human relations and values were dominant in the Russian Pravda throughout the 20th century. The analysis reveals that Finnish media were more diverse than Estonian and Russian, which displayed a lack of diversity especially during the Communist period.
Trames. Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2011
The present study aims to describe the dynamics of spatial-temporal relations in daily newspaper ... more The present study aims to describe the dynamics of spatial-temporal relations in daily newspaper texts. This includes agreements on what constitutes the 'present', the extent of the 'past' and the 'future', and where the reader's hypothetical place in space is. The temporal dimensions that emerged in Estonian newspapers (Päevaleht, Rahva Hääl, Eesti Päevaleht) were strongly future-oriented. This was a characteristic tendency throughout the 20th century and it can be noted even today. The orientation towards future is notable in comparison with Finnish (Helsingin Sanomat) and Russian (Pravda) newspaper texts.
The present article highlights the importance of the comparative longitudinal study of massmediat... more The present article highlights the importance of the comparative longitudinal study of massmediated content in comparing the evolution of public spheres in neighbouring countries. In order to contextualize our research on the Estonian media system, we simultaneously conducted a similar study on Finnish and Russian newspapers of the same period. The 20th century was a period of rapid change in Estonian society and, compared with Finnish and Russian newspapers, Estonian newspapers paid more attention to issues that were labelled as “cultural”. In the Estonian press the understanding that ‘culture’ is important prevailed, as it was one of the most stable elements of content throughout the century. The significance of governance-politics and economics depended on the political situation and historical context. The interpretation of data is based on the binaries “centre” vs. “periphery” and “self-reference” vs. “other-reference”.
Digital cultural heritage. Challenging museums, archives and users Agnes Aljas and Pille Pruulman... more Digital cultural heritage. Challenging museums, archives and users Agnes Aljas and Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt1 1. INTRODUCTION Several studies claim that today's museums think too little in terms of who the users of their online sites are, why people go there, and how ...
The Estonian National Museum has been hosting inclusive exhibitions for over ten years. The purpo... more The Estonian National Museum has been hosting inclusive exhibitions for over ten years. The purpose of the participatory hall is to attract people and provide space for various topics, thereby strengthening ties with different audiences. This exhibition format grew out of the museum's desire to collaborate with various groups and people and give them an opportunity to use the museum as a platform for self-expression and a place where their ideas and opinions could be visualized. After a long-term joint effort, it is important to examine what the participants have learned from the exhibitions, how their experience has benefited them and how the museum can apply this towards further cooperation. The article analyzes the exhibition creation practices carried out by non-professional participants using the examples of two participatory hall exhibitions where the curators were enthusiasts and students. Two major aspects emerged that should merit greater attention in the future when ev...
This article will analyse the many challenges that creating, storing and using digital heritage h... more This article will analyse the many challenges that creating, storing and using digital heritage has brought to the memory institutions and their professionals. We look at the interrelationship between the potential users of the museum collections, the collections themselves and information and communication technologies as intermediaries to these relations. By analysing survey data, we look at the average Internet user in order to find out who could be the current and future users of the online collections. In addition that, we analyse interviews conducted with 12 members of different Estonian memory institutions in order to understand their perspective on online cultural heritage. Third empirical pillar of the article comes from the two focus group interviews to understand what are users percieved needs for the digital cultural heritage. The data will be analysed through three key functions of the memory institutions in order to understand how digitisation helps with preservation, ...
The Meaning of Commune for its Inhabitants by the Example of Kihelkonna Commune Что означает воло... more The Meaning of Commune for its Inhabitants by the Example of Kihelkonna Commune Что означает волость для своих жителей (на примере волости Кихельконна)The article is based on fieldwork done in Kihelkonna commune in the years 2000 and 2001. The commune is located in West Saaremaa, and in 2000 its population amounted to 1086 people. The commune comprises Kihelkonna centre and 41 villages, the farther-away villages are situated at the distance of up to 20 kilometres from the centre. In the course of the fieldwork 81 inhabitants of the commune were interviewed, and the collected materials were handed over to the Estonian National Museum.A direct impetus for fieldwork in Kihelkonna commune was given by the idea of building a deep-sea port, therefore the aim of the fieldwork was to collect and record everyday life in the commune in 2000, prior to the expected great changes (at the moment, however, the project of port-building has been suspended).The article dwells upon the meaning of Kihe...
Cultural changes in Transitional Society. Change in Estonian work culture based on the example of... more Cultural changes in Transitional Society. Change in Estonian work culture based on the example of the office workers at one company. Everyday life for people is strongly tied to the ambient political, economic, social and cultural situation. The systematic changes of social and economic environment in Estonia, which occurred in the 1990s, as well as the following developments influenced everyone's daily and also working life, which constituted an integral part of the former. Working lives and working take up the greater part of the day, week and year for most of the working-age population. Working life has a central role in social life. Work is not just a way of earning a living but also a shaper of social status, consumer preferences, health and family life. The working lives of Estonian people have already for years been shaped by conventions prevalent elsewhere in the world. The world's economy became truly global and open in the last decades of the 20th century in connection with the development of infrastructure and communications technology. The context of the global economy arrived in Estonia immediately at the beginning of the 1990s. The precise extent of its impact has also depended on the orientation of jobs and companies. In my presentation, I look at what role the global economy plays in Estonian companies owned by foreign capital, as illustrated by Saku Brewery. In my presentation, I focus on the changes in the plant taking place on the macro level, examining at the impact they had on the working world of office workers: from one aspect, the changes associated with transformation from a state enterprise to a privately held company and belonging to an international corporate group, and from another aspect, the impact of internal changes within the group-the effect of management from the "Baltic group" and Lithuania. The presentation is based on materials from a master's thesis defended in 2006 at the University of Turku, Finland, in the field of ethnology, which dealt with changes in Estonian work culture and adaptation to changes as viewed from the perspective of administrative staff. Sources for the master's thesis and presentation comprised interviews conducted in the course of field work.
Mediators of Cultural Heritage: Co-operation between Amateur Handicraftsmen and MuseumsПосредники... more Mediators of Cultural Heritage: Co-operation between Amateur Handicraftsmen and MuseumsПосредники культурного наследия: сотрудничество мастеров-ремесленников и музеевEveryday activities of museums have more and more to do with inclusion of visitors and various communities into interpretation and creation of cultural heritage. Creating public space for discussion has become the task of museum communication, which stipulates good knowledge of potential audience and participants, and considering their expectations. Analysing interactive practices we see that they are often connected to daily life – whereas interpretation of cultural heritage does not necessarily belong there. Museum’s willingness for co-operation is therefore very important for various communities, while cultural heritage is directly connected to regular day-to-day activities.In this article we analyse expectations and opinions communities have towards museums and how they perceive their own role as mediators of cultur...
The article examines what motivates people to participate in a cultural institution's participato... more The article examines what motivates people to participate in a cultural institution's participatory interventions. In recent decades, the changing roles of cultural institutions and the concepts of defining museum audiences are brought together in the case study of the Estonian National Museum's participatory interventions. This paper indicates that motivations for participation are emotional and personal, that social goals are often overestimated, but the wish to cooperate and gain recognition from institutions have often been underestimated as motivators. The museum's roles to support intercultural dialogue and facilitate diverse views were not supported by the participational interventions. Analysis indicated that being a participant does not make people more critical or dialogical in a museum context, as the topics the participants chose to be involved with are appropriate to their own experiences, contexts and assumptions.
This article focuses on the thematic structure and contextualisation of the future in the main da... more This article focuses on the thematic structure and contextualisation of the future in the main daily newspapers of the three neighbouring countries of Finland, Estonia and Russia throughout the 20th century. We mapped the content of 2079 Finnish, 2242 Estonian and 1723 Russian daily newspaper articles. The Finnish Helsingin Sanomat concentrated on the issue of "state and legislation"; the second most common topic in the Finnish sample was economics, at about 20 percent of the articles, with the exception of the 1910s and 1930s. In Estonia we did not fi nd any dominant topic during the 20th century; there were many diff erent topics related to the agenda. Politics and governance and related issues were particularly dominant during the periods of independence. Economy-related issues were more or less dominant during the period of Soviet occupation. The topics of economics and human relations and values were dominant in the Russian Pravda throughout the 20th century. The analysis reveals that Finnish media were more diverse than Estonian and Russian, which displayed a lack of diversity especially during the Communist period.
Trames. Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2011
The present study aims to describe the dynamics of spatial-temporal relations in daily newspaper ... more The present study aims to describe the dynamics of spatial-temporal relations in daily newspaper texts. This includes agreements on what constitutes the 'present', the extent of the 'past' and the 'future', and where the reader's hypothetical place in space is. The temporal dimensions that emerged in Estonian newspapers (Päevaleht, Rahva Hääl, Eesti Päevaleht) were strongly future-oriented. This was a characteristic tendency throughout the 20th century and it can be noted even today. The orientation towards future is notable in comparison with Finnish (Helsingin Sanomat) and Russian (Pravda) newspaper texts.
The present article highlights the importance of the comparative longitudinal study of massmediat... more The present article highlights the importance of the comparative longitudinal study of massmediated content in comparing the evolution of public spheres in neighbouring countries. In order to contextualize our research on the Estonian media system, we simultaneously conducted a similar study on Finnish and Russian newspapers of the same period. The 20th century was a period of rapid change in Estonian society and, compared with Finnish and Russian newspapers, Estonian newspapers paid more attention to issues that were labelled as “cultural”. In the Estonian press the understanding that ‘culture’ is important prevailed, as it was one of the most stable elements of content throughout the century. The significance of governance-politics and economics depended on the political situation and historical context. The interpretation of data is based on the binaries “centre” vs. “periphery” and “self-reference” vs. “other-reference”.
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