Last November, Dr Maria Shehade presented a paper entitled “The digital transformation of museums: challenges and future directions”, that was co-authored with Dr Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, at the ICOM Europe Conference (International Committee of Museums), “Embracing the virtual: European museums respond to the digital challenge”, in Athens Greece.
The conference, that was organised jointly by ICOM Europe and ICOM Greece on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of the new Acropolis Museum, aimed to address the opportunities and challenges arising from the implementation of new technologies and methods (e.g., 3D reconstructions, virtual and augmented reality, multimodal interactive systems) in the cultural sector.
The conference attracted museum professionals and academics from different European countries and the range of speakers included experts from national entities, universities, museums and leading organizations presenting the state-of-the-art on embedding digital practices and cutting-edge technologies in the museum world. The conference also included panel discussions providing the opportunity for fruitful discussion on the challenges and opportunities arising from the implementation of new technologies in museums and allowed the presentation of views from both academics and professionals of the field.