TRANSLATING LAYERS OF MEANING - A study of interdisciplinary processes in museums for the creation of multilayered educational media

Museums are widely accepted as social institutions with the main mission to generate public value and educating the society. However, with the advance of new technologies and a more liberated visitor, as well as decreases in governmental funding, museums find themselves in a complex and competitive environment. In order to appeal to a diverse and broad audience and to generate educational value, museums create multilayered educational products, to translate artefacts’ myriad layers of meaning. The museum, hence, is in need of different professionals form different fields of expertise to grasp this complexity and create a holistic translation to the public. The main purpose of this research was to investigate how museums can generate multilayered educational media through the process of interdisciplinary collaborations. Professionals engage in a collaboration with co-workers from different disciplines, educational backgrounds, often contrasting department goals and perspectives. These complex team processes as well as the creation of such multilayered educational products have been analyzed within three case studies. The case studies involved different interdisciplinary project teams concerned with the creation of abovementioned products. By collecting data through expert interviews and desk research, a current phenomenon and its context could be examined in-depth. The analysis was solved by thematic analysis and oriented on the conceptual framework of this research paper. The data analysis revealed, multilayered educational media in museums are likely to be oriented on current events and the collection of the museum, on the specific audience to be reached. Moreover, the products aim at transferring complex multifaceted information in a comprehensible language. The main overall purpose of these products was found in the inclusion of a wide audience, a higher engagement of visitors and a multilayered knowledge transfer. In terms of the interdisciplinary processes, the value of a clear coordination and guidance, assertive communication skills, flexibility and openness towards other disciplines, mutual respect, as well as prior experiences with interdisciplinary processes, were outlined as effective.