The NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Museum Edition
Author: Johnson, L.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Museums,Educational Technology,Technology Integration,Technology Uses in Education,Technological Advancement,Creativity,Private Sector,Institutional Cooperation,Data Collection,Data Analysis,Experiential Learning,Barriers,Technological Literacy,Professional Personnel,Privacy,Handheld Devices,Games,Telecommunications,Geographic Location,Environmental Influences,Time,Computer Interfaces,Internet

The internationally recognized series of &quot;Horizon Reports&quot; is part of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, a comprehensive research venture established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the coming years on a variety of sectors around the globe. This &quot;2015 Horizon Report: Museum Edition,&quot; in partnership with the Balboa Park Online Collaborative (BPOC) (part of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership), examined emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in education and interpretation within the museum environment. What is on the five-year horizon for museums? Which trends and important developments in technology will drive changes to museum education and interpretation? What are the challenges considered as solvable or difficult to overcome, and how can there be strategizing for effective solutions? These questions and similar inquiries regarding technology adoption and educational change steered the collaborative research and discussions of an international composition of the Advisory Board experts as they charted the five-year horizon for the impact of developments in technology on education and interpretation in museums across the globe. In this report, 18 carefully selected topics, six key trends, six significant challenges, and six important developments in educational and interpretive technology are placed directly in the context of their likely impact on the core missions of museums, and detailed in succinct, non-technical, and unbiased presentations. Each has been tied to essential questions of relevance, policy, leadership, and practice. In addition, the experts agreed on two mid-term impact trends: increasing the collaboration that takes place between museums, as well as focusing on the power of data analytics to inform museum operations. In view of the trends and challenges observed, the panel also signaled the technological developments that could support these drivers of innovation and change. They identified &quot;Bring Your Own Device&quot; (BYOD) and games and gamification as projects expected to be increasingly adopted by museums in one year's time or less to make use of mobile and online engagement. The time-to-adoption for location-based services and makerspaces are estimated within two to three years, while natural user interfaces and the &quot;Internet of Things&quot; are expected to be mainstream in museums within four to five years. The three key sections of this report constitute a reference and straightforward technology-planning guide for a full range of museum professionals, including staff, leaders, board members, and policymakers.