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Centre for Museology

Dr Konstantinos Arvanitis


Contact Details

E-mail: kostas.arvanitis@manchester.ac.uk
Phone: 0161-275 3018
Room: 3.6 Mansfield Cooper
http://twitter.com/kostis43


Profile

Kostas is a Lecturer at the Centre for Museology. He has a MA and PhD in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester and a first degree in History and Archaeology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Before joining the Centre, Kostas worked as Research Associate in Digital Heritage at the Department of Museum Studies in Leicester. Kostas has also participated in other research projects that include the preparation of a University History Museum (Thessaloniki, Greece) and a NESTA-funded evaluation of a hand-held computer (National Space Centre, Leicester). He has also done consultancy work for the multimedia companies mwr (UK) and Logismos (Greece).

His research interests cross the fields of museology, archaeology, cultural heritage, and digital media. His expertise lies in the area of Digital Heritage that includes the theory and practice of digital technology in museums, galleries and heritage sites. He is particularly interested in the use of mobile and social media in museums for purposes of curation, interpretation and learning. His other research interests include archaeological curatorship and how it is translated in different contexts, such as archaeological museums, open-air museums and sites in urban environments.

Kostas has, also, a longstanding interest in how museums have collected, interpreted and exhibited everyday life. Previous related research included an investigation of the relation between museums, everyday life and mobile media. Drawing on museological and everyday life theory, he explored how three archaeological monuments in Thessaloniki (Greece) are interpreted and used in daily life and the potential of using mobile phones to capture the 'everyday meanings' of the monuments. Based on the outcomes of this research, Kostas is currently working on a project titled "'Curators in Residence': Hidden archaeological sites and virtual curating". This research aims to engage residents in the city of Veria (Greece) with the interpretation and presentation of antiquities preserved under modern buildings via the use of digital media. Through the active involvement of residents and the application of digital technologies, Kostas aims to develop a decentralised network of volunteer 'virtual curators' that would contribute towards a collaborative, localised and personalised presentation of 'hidden' archaeological sites.

Kostas is also a founding  member of CHIMERA, an interdisciplinary research area on cultural heritage, memory and identity. CHIMERA brings together academic staff, postdoctoral research fellows and doctoral students working in various disciplines across the University of Manchester.

 

Current Responsibilities


Current Research

'Curators in Residence': Hidden archaeological sites and 'virtual curating'

Hundreds of archaeological sites exist 'out of sight', beneath modern developments (usually blocks of flats) in Greek cities. Those archaeological remains are found during construction processes and due to their archaeological significance they are preserved in situ, usually in basements of new buildings. The local Archaeological Departments ('Ephoreia') of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture are responsible for safeguarding, preserving and monitoring the remains, which are usually not accessible to the public. This research aims to engage residents of buildings with the interpretation and presentation of antiquities preserved under modern buildings via the use of digital media. Through the active involvement of residents and the application of digital technologies, Kostas aims to develop a decentralised network of volunteer 'virtual curators' that would contribute towards a collaborative, localised and personalised presentation of the 'hidden' archaeological sites. The research will also aim to explore whether through participation in the presentation of built heritage, residents develop a sense of ownership and stewardship of the antiquities. Furthermore, it will investigate the knowledge and narratives residents produce about the sites.

Museums and Mobile Media

Building on findings of his previous research that looked at the use of mobile media outdoors to capture everyday meanings of archaeological monuments, Kostas is currently researching the use of mobile media inside museums for purposes of interpretation and learning. This study aims to explore the various issues and potentials in using common mobile phones as information and communication media in museums. It relates the use of mobile phones to the process of an extended visitor experience that takes place both inside and outside the museum walls.  Drawing on projects and initiatives that have seen mobile phones as mediators of visitor experiences, it explores ways of taking advantage of this everyday, popular and familiar technology to disseminate museum knowledge and engage users with museum content. Issues of context, motivation and content, as well as personalisation and user-generated content are also investigated. Finally, technical and other limitations and operational concerns are considered.

Museums and Restitution (2010-12)

With Louise Tythacott, Kostas has organised a two-day international conference on 'Museums and Restitution', on 8-9 July 2010. The conference brought together 107 museum professionals, policy makers, consultants, academics and postgraduate students from around the world (Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Nigeria, Norway, UK and USA) to examine the issue of restitution in relation to the changing role and authority of the museum, focussing on new ways in which these institutions are addressing the subject. The conference and its outcomes were reported in the feature article in the Museums Journal, the leading publication for UK museum professionals (Maurice Davies, 2010. 'Opening up the debate. Museums are being urged to adopt a more open attitude to restitution', Museums Journal, Vol. 110, No. 9, 22-27). Also, as a result of conference, the conference organisers were invited to present the conference's outcomes at the Museums Association annual conference (4-6 October 2010). Currently, Kostas and Louise are in contact with publishers to produce an edited volume with papers from the conference. Find our more about the conference.

Digital Heritage Research Training Initiative (DHRTI) (2008-10)

Kostas is involved in AHRC Research Training Initiative along with the Universities of Leicester, Glasgow, Newcastle and the Collections Trust. The group has been funded to develop 8 'Research Skills Units' to support primarily PhD students (but also MA students and sector professionals) that work in the intersection between digital media and cultural heritage. The provisional titles of the units under development are:

Evaluation of Hand-held computer, National Space Centre, Leicester (2005)

In 2005, Kostas worked with Dr. Tina Jarvis, Director of the Science Learning Centre East Midlands, University of Leicester and Dr. Anastasia Pappa from the National Space Centre in the evaluation of a hand-held computer in the 'Space Now' gallery of the National Space Centre. This was part of the 'Learning on the Move' initiative (Oct 2003-Apr 2005), funded by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) with £300,000. Learning on the Move used new interactive mobile technologies to engage visitors at learning attractions such as museums and galleries. The partners of this project included At-Bristol, the National Space Centre, Leicester and The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Kostas conducted unobtrusive observation and in-depth interviews with users of the hand-held computers and wrote a report on the research findings. Also, Kostas co-authored the final report of this research with Dr. Tina Jarvis and Dr. Tony Pell (School of Education, University of Leicester).

 

Consultancy

Archives+ Interpretation Concept (2011)

Kostas Arvanitis, Helen Rees Leahy and Julian Hartley have recently completed the development of an interpretation concept for the new Archives+ initiative (funded by Manchester City Council and Renaissance NW) that will bring together Manchester’s largest archives and records in the Manchester Central Library. The team, led by Kostas, has developed a concept that aims to express the aspirations for Archives+ and inform the design of the physical spaces for the archives, activities and displays. The interpretation concept is also informed by relevant and good practice and takes into consideration the realities, aims, practices and challenges of the partners, the physical environment of the Library, the nature of the collections and the users’ needs.

 

Teaching and Student Engagement Projects

Univercity Culture: Mapping Manchester Digitally with University teaching & research (2011)

Dr Kostas Arvanitis (Museology) and Dr Abigail Gilmore (Arts Management) have been awarded funding from the Faculty of Humanities for their project 'Univer city Culture: Mapping Manchester Digitally with University teaching & research'.

The project will use web-based and mobile technologies to digitally annotate Manchester's cultural, historic and heritage environment with information on student projects, dissertations and staff research outputs. By leaving digital 'tips' and information about studies and projects that are tied to sites such as museums, galleries, archives, art organisations and monuments, this project aims to foster the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures students' identity, enrich prospective and current students' understanding of cultural and heritage sites and showcase the variety and richness of related University work.

Mash-Up Museum Archaeology (2008-10)

Dr Kostas Arvanitis (Project Leader, Centre for Museology) and Dr Siân Jones (Archaeology) have been awarded a Teaching Development Grant by the Higher Education Academy (Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology) for a project titled 'Mash-up Archaeology: Aggregating Web Content on Museum Archaeology and Archaeological Heritage'. The project involves the development of a website that aggregates automatically web content relevant to postgraduate and undergraduate study of archaeology and museum studies. The project' s website will provide an active environment for teaching and learning, which will not merely be about providing content, but will also facilitate the development of students' skills in evaluation and critical thinking of online material on museum archaeology and archaeological heritage. This resource will be part of the curriculum development of the Museums and Archaeology course (commencing in January 2009).

 

Postgraduate Teaching

Kostas teaches in the MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies. In particular:


PhD Supevision


Kostas would welcome PhD applications in the following broad areas:


Funding


Esteem Indicators


Online Network of Museologists in Greece

Kostas has set up an online network for museum professionals and museologists in Greece that has currently more than 450 members. The network aims to provide Greek professionals a space to share news, views and experiences of museum practice. Kostas is currently working on developing a professional development training programme for members of the network.


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Selected Publications


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