Abstract

In recent times museums have had their attention drawn to the question of sustainability. It seems ironic that institutions charged with caring for the cultural heritage in perpetuity should be doing so in ways that are not very sustainable, but this is the worry. The paper uses two case studies to support new thinking. Can we rethink the museum as a self-renewing knowledge management system? Can we design it to energise communities of interest and embody the process of their sharing insight and forging identity? And can we do this by marshalling local resources to reach across the globe?