The future of museum communication: strategies for engaging audiences on archaeology

337 Pages·2015·2.7 MB·English

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

ARCHAEOLOGY

Volume 1 of 1

The Future of Museum
Communication:
Strategies for Engaging
Audiences on Archaeology
by

Becky Yasmin Peacock

Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

August_2015

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
ABSTRACT
FACULTY OF HUMAITIES
Archaeology
Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
THE FUTURE OF MUSEUM COMMUNICATION: STRATEGIES FOR
ENGAGING AUDIENCES ON ARCHAEOLOGY
Becky Yasmin Peacock

The heritage industry within the last few years has been undergoing a number
of alterations. A number of factors have forced professionals to reassess and
adapt the ways they work. As such museums have been assessing their
practices in order to survive on increasingly reduced budgets, staff numbers
and in some cases time. With all these changes what has been happening?
Outreach programmes have been the focus of change within museums over the
last few years. This practice has been singled out as an area that can be altered
or lost due to its lack of direct return. However, is this lack of return due to the
practice or its shortage of appropriate evaluation?
This research focuses on the county of Hampshire; its museums and their
outreach programmes. It explores the impact of funding, funding
organisations and evaluation on outreach within this area. At its heart it looks
to introduce a move away from monetary based evaluations towards well-being
or social impact. The four case studies illustrate how facets of impact are not
evaluated and subsequently lost through the current techniques. Ultimately,
the major impacts of this practice are not the ones evaluated presently but
those skirted over. Therefore, more appropriate evaluation should be created
that captures all the impacts of outreach practices, in order to effectively
determine if these programmes are viable within museums.
i

Contents
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ i
Contents ................................................................................................................................ iii
List of tables ......................................................................................................................... v
List of figures .................................................................................................................... vii
List of accompanying materials ...............................................................................ix
DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ...............................................................................xi
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... xiii
Definitions and Abbreviations ................................................................................ xv
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................... 1
Chapter 2: Literature ..................................................................................................... 9
2.1 Definition of ‘Outreach’ ...................................................................... 9
2.1.1 What is Engagement? ………………………………………………..12
2.1.2 What is it to Feel Engaged? …………………………………………12
2.1.3 What is it to Engage? …………………………………………………13
2.2 Definition: Good or Bad? ................................................................... 15
2.3 Museum as an Educational Facility .................................................... 15
2.4 Emergence of ‘Outreach’................................................................... 30
2.4.1 Heritage ………………………………………………………………...30
2.4.2 Public Archaeology …………………………………………………..33
2.4.3 Community Archaeology ……………………………………………35
2.4.4 Impact on 'Outreach' ..……………………………………………...36
2.5 Funding ............................................................................................ 38
2.6 Evaluation ......................................................................................... 41
2.7 Politics .............................................................................................. 47
2.8 Summary .......................................................................................... 50
Chapter 3: Research Area: Museums in Hampshire ................................ 51
3.1 Research Area ................................................................................... 51
3.2 What is a Museum?............................................................................ 52
3.3 Museum ‘Outreach’ in Hampshire ..................................................... 53
3.4 Why Conduct ‘Outreach’ or Not?........................................................ 64
iii
3.5 Summary ........................................................................................... 68
Chapter 4: Methodology .......................................................................................... 69
4.1 Types of Evaluation ........................................................................... 69
4.2 Methods ............................................................................................ 70
4.3 Research Methodology-Observation ................................................... 75
4.4 Issues................................................................................................ 76
4.5 Data Collection .................................................................................. 77
4.5.1 Observation Categories ……………………………………………..78
4.5.2 Why? ……………………………………………………………………..79
4.6 Analysis ............................................................................................ 81
4.7 Summary ........................................................................................... 83
Chapter 5: Issues Encountered ........................................................................... 85
5.1 Initial Contact .................................................................................... 85
5.2 Arranging Observations ..................................................................... 87
5.3 Data Collection .................................................................................. 89
5.4 Summary ........................................................................................... 92
Chapter 6: Impact of Funding .............................................................................. 93
6.1 Nationwide Budget Cuts – The Impact on Museums in Hampshire ...... 93
6.2 Funding Bodies – Past and Present ..................................................... 95
6.3 Funding Evaluations .......................................................................... 99
6.4 Factors Affecting Museums and Their Services ................................ 108
6.4.1 The Status of 'Outreach' in Museums…………………………..108
6.4.2 Reduction of Services……………………………………………….109
6.4.3 Funding Impacting on Time, Staff Numbers and The Amount of
Services Available…………………………………………………….109
6.4.4 Staff Numbers………………………………………………………..111
6.4.5 Focus on Activities That are Easier to Prove Impact………....112
6.4.6 Summary………………………………………………………………112
6.5 ‘Outreach’ as the Enemy ................................................................. 113
6.6 Summary ......................................................................................... 114
Chapter 7: Provider Views on ‘Outreach’ .................................................... 119
7.1 Provider vs Museum ........................................................................ 119
7.1.1 Community Engagement & Learning Officer South West vs.
Hampshire County Council Museums Service………………….119
iv
7.1.2 Assistant Community Engagement & Learning Officer North &
Central vs. Hampshire County Council Museums Service…..120
7.1.3 Other Museums ……………………………………………………..127
7.2 Impact on ‘Outreach’ ...................................................................... 129
7.3 Summary ........................................................................................ 133
Chapter 8: Case Study Analysis ........................................................................ 137
8.1 Case Studies vs Information ............................................................ 137
8.2 Case Studies ................................................................................... 139
8.2.1 The Mary Rose Museum/Trust……………………………………139
8.2.2 The Museum of Army Flying……………………………………...143
8.2.3 Bursledon Brickworks Industrial Museum ……………………..145
8.2.4 Royal Navy Submarine Museum …………………………………147
8.3 What Do The Case Studies Show? .................................................... 149
8.3.1 Continuity …………………………………………………………….152
8.3.2 Activities ………………………………………………………………155
8.3.3 Social Impact …………………………………………………………157
8.4 Summary ........................................................................................ 165
Chapter 9: Evaluative Criteria............................................................................ 169
9.1 What is Social Impact? ..................................................................... 169
9.2 Evaluation: Good or Bad? ................................................................. 170
9.3 Social Impact/Well-being Evaluation ................................................ 175
9.4 The Best Method? ............................................................................ 179
9.4.1 Evaluation Technique 1: Talking to Participants ……………..183
9.4.2 Evaluation Technique 2: Observation …………………………..184
9.5 Personal Relationships: A New Focus? ............................................. 186
9.6 Summary ........................................................................................ 188
Chapter 10: Conclusion ........................................................................................ 193
10.1 Themes ........................................................................................... 202
10.2 The Future of ‘Outreach’ ................................................................. 203
10.3 Further Research ............................................................................. 204
Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 205
Appendix 1: Museum Details ................................................................... 207
Appendix 2: Observation Sheet ............................................................... 225
Appendix 3: Completed Observation Sheets ............................................ 227
v
Appendix 4: Evaluation Sheet ……………………………………………………...275
Appendix 5: Ethics Permission …………………………………………………….277
List of References ......................................................................................................... 279
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 299

vi
List of tables

Table.1 Table of evaluation methods showing positive and negative aspects of each
method

vii