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Manual of Digital Museum Planning

Edited by Ali Hossaini and Ngaire Blankenberg with Gail Lord and Barry Lord
Manual of Digital Museum Planning
Rowman & Littlefield
$75 USD / £49.95 (paperback, eBook). Save 25% using promo code: RL25LORDBK
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Amazon US
$75 (paperback, eBook)
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Amazon CA
$98 (paperback) / $90 (eBook)
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Amazon UK
£49.95 (paperback) / £47.45 (eBook)
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The Manual of Digital Museum Planning is a comprehensive guide to digital planning, development, and operations for museum professionals and students of museums studies and arts administration. In the tradition of Lord Cultural Resource’s renowned manuals, this book gives practical advice on how digital can enhance and improve all aspects of the museum.

With chapters written by experienced professionals working at leading institutions such as the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Bristol Culture, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and others, the Manual of Digital Museum Planning is an easy-to-understand, step-by-step guide for anyone planning a new museum, a museum expansion or a new project in the Digital Age.

  • Part 1 explains how digital technologies are transforming museums and their value proposition
  • Part 2 explores how adopting a user-centric, omnichannel approach creates new relationships between museums and communities
  • In Part 3, the book offers a guide to integrating digital into the workflow of museums- from data analytics, to user experience design to project management
  • Part 4 identifies the business models, infrastructure and skills and competencies for the digital museum

Each chapter culminates in ‘summary takeaways’ for easy recall, and key words are defined throughout. A glossary and reference list are also included as an accessible resource for readers.


About The Authors

Ali Hossaini

Ali Hossaini is former CEO of Cinema Arts Network, a consortium of UK arts venues. Currently he is an Associate of Lord Cultural Resources, Research Fellow in the Department of Informatics, King's College London, Research Fellow in Museum Studies at National Taipei Education University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy of science from the University of Texas at Austin.

Ngaire Blankenberg

Ngaire Blankenberg is the Head of Content and Strategy at experience design firm Kossman.dejong. For over a decade she has helped museums to tell stories and create long lasting, empowering relationships with diverse communities. She has worked with museums from all over the world, including the Jüdisches Museum Berlin, the National Museum of African American Heritage and Culture (Washington D.C.), Canadian Museum of Human Rights (Winnipeg), Biotopia Natural History Museum (Munich), Barangaroo Development Authority (Sydney), Patna Science Museum, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Constitution Hill (Johannesburg) and others. She is also co-editor, with Gail Lord, of Cities, Museums and Sot Power (Rowman and Littlefield 2015).

Gail Dexter Lord

Gail Dexter Lord is Co-founder and President of Lord Cultural Resources. Gail has collaborated with museums and cities to create new kinds of institutions such as the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, the Foundling Museum in London, and The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. Gail is a Member of the Order of Canada (2016), and Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de France (2014). In 2016 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters, by McMaster University.

Barry Lord

Barry Lord, Co-Founder and Co-President of Lord Cultural Resources, is internationally known as one of the world’s leading museum planners. Educated at McMaster and Harvard Universities. Barry co-founded Lord Cultural Resources with his wife Gail Lord in 1981. Barry has been instrumental in developing museum planning having co-authored with Gail Lord, five museum planning manuals that have been published in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Georgian. In 2010 Gail and Barry collaborated to write Artists, Patrons, and the Public: Why Culture Changes. Barry’s most recent book is Art & Energy, published by The AAM Press of The American Alliance of Museums in 2014. In 2016 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters, by McMaster University.

  • "Planning for the Digital Museum is an imperative reference point for museum and gallery professionals facing the challenges and opportunities of the digital epoch. The distinguished list of authors, and the breadth of themes the book covers, make it the definitive publication on this brave new world."
    Tom Wilcox, Senior Partner, Counterculture
  • "This fascinating and valuable book shines a light on where museums could and should be heading in the digital age. It points to ways in which the experience of curators, visitors and scholars can all be transformed and, more controversially, how the power of the megabrands that dominate the museum world, and the internet, can be effectively challenged."
    John Newbigin OBE, Chair, Creative England