1 A conceptual framework for audio-visual museum media M. K. L. Nielsen 1, * 1 Dept. of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University, Niels Bohrs Vej 8, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark. Abstract In today's history museums, the past is communicated through many other means than original artefacts. This interdisciplinary and theoretical article suggests a new approach to studying the use of audio-visual media, such as film, video and related media types, in a museum context. The centre of interest is how history and authenticity is mediated at history museums and how museum visitors perceive this use. In this article, focus is moved away from technology and specific types of installations to concentrate on what museums do with technology. Building on disciplines such as media science and museum studies, existing case studies, and real life observations, the suggested framework instead stress particular characteristics of contextual use of audio-visual media in history museums, such as authenticity, virtuality, interativity, social context and spatial attributes of the communication design. Keywords: design, learning, creative industries, creative technologies, audio-visual media, museums. Received on 16 November 2016, accepted on 04 March 2017, published on 05 April 2017 Copyright © 2017 M. K. L. Nielsen, licensed to EAI. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unlimited use, distribution and reproduction in any medium so long as the original work is properly cited. doi: 10.4108/eai.5-9-2017.153061 * Corresponding author. Email:mikni@sydvestjyskemuseer.dk Introduction – Museums and dynamic, audio-visual media Museums’ role The International Council of Museums defines museums as ‘… a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.’[1]. Such description reflects that museums’ vast collections of material objects are cornerstones in museum work. This has been the case, since the dawn of the Museion over the ‘Wunderkammer’, but nonetheless changing agendas have affected the role of the object and the museums through the years. Objects in ‘old’ museums was chosen and displayed according to classification based on their morphology, whereas modern museums select material things according to their relationship to people, to their connected stories and the link to history [2]. Paradigmatic shifts in the museums’ attitudes toward the relationship between a range of concepts, have lead museums into more theatrical or experiential directions. Competing with new information technologies, museums as a distinct kind of media now tend to focus on providing experiences rather than mere information. This is done through an increasing use of mise-en-scène, narrative and emotional engagement. Objects from collections are rarely put on taxonomic display, but selected for their iconic value as story-supporting props [3]. The lesser focus on museum objects per se means they are no longer expected to speak for themselves, but are put into a certain context and spoken for. Rather than a mere expression of museums’ development, the lesser emphasis on the artefacts and priority of experiences may also represent two different types of modern historical consciousness [4]. Authenticity is still a key element of the museum experience, but these have turned from domination of displaying authentic objects to providing authentic experiences [5]. Case studies also demonstrate discrepancies in the approach to the notion of authenticity between traditional museum professionals and museum visitors, where the latter group seems to accept a higher degree of virtualization and mimesis [6] [7]. Put stereotypically, these studies indicate a clash between the understanding of and approach to EAI Endorsed Transactions on Creative Technologies Research Article EAI Endorsed Transactions on Creative Technologies 01 2017 - 04 2017 | Volume 4 | Issue 11 | e4