WEB-BASED SOCIAL MEDIA AND MUSEUMS IN SOUTH AFRICA by ELIZE SCHNEIGANSZ A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MAGISTER HEREDITATIS CULTURAEQUE SCIENTIAE (HERITAGE AND MUSEUM STUDIES) in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA FACULTY OF HUMANITIES SUPERVISOR: Prof. Lize Kriel CO-SUPERVISOR: Dr. Robert de Jong December 2013 © University of Pretoria Museums can be more than just temples, they can also be forums. Objects have meanings and can communicate. It is imperative to realise that diversity of heritage is a resource and should be treated as such, getting equal attention. More so, that it is the public who matter most. There is a need for change from top-down to down- up. The museum worth its salt should provide visitors with opportunities to create new knowledge, during and after the visit. They must empower the participant to be an actor too and not just a participant. They must find ways of building community commitment by finding what is local and associate with it. Museums must be brought back to the communities of [sic]which they belong. If you are a museum in Africa and in South Africa for that matter and you have not realised some of the above then you really want to start asking why? Dr. G. Abungu, Democratising museums and heritage ten years on Keynote address to the 2004-SAMA Conference. © University of Pretoria CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iv SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Literature review .................................................................................................................. 2 CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................. 7 2.1. On museums, collecting practices and community .............................................................. 7 2.2. Community museums and heritage in a globalised world ................................................. 14 2.3. Vulgarizing the museum in the struggle to survive............................................................ 20 2.4. New media and the return to curiosity ............................................................................... 26 2.5. Why bother with a museum website? ................................................................................ 29 2.6. Museums in South Africa ................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER III SOCIAL MEDIA AND MUSEUMS ........................................................................................... 39 3.1. What is Web 2.0? ............................................................................................................... 39 3.2. Types of social network services ....................................................................................... 42 3.2.1. General social network services ................................................................................... 43 3.2.2. Video-based social networks ........................................................................................ 45 3.2.3. Photograph-based social network sites ........................................................................ 46 3.2.4. Blogging and microblogging ........................................................................................ 48 3.2.5. Social bookmarking...................................................................................................... 50 3.2.6. Massively multiplayer online games and online virtual environments ........................ 51 3.2.7. Wikis ............................................................................................................................ 53 3.3. How is social media being used? ....................................................................................... 55 3.3.1. Webbed in public spheres ............................................................................................ 55 3.3.2. Institutions using social media ..................................................................................... 58 i © University of Pretoria 3.3.3. Community development and conservation agencies using social media ................... 59 3.4. The using of social media by heritage institutions internationally..................................... 61 3.4.1. The Brooklyn Museum, New York .............................................................................. 61 3.4.2. The Powerhouse Museum, Australia: getting curators excited about blogging ........... 65 3.4.3. Cameroon - Mus’Art Gallery ....................................................................................... 66 3.4.4. Multimedia games in Amsterdam, New York and on the British Museum website .... 66 3.4.5. Austria - Kulturpool - a central point of access to collections nationally .................... 68 3.4.6. Virtual Collection of Masterpieces - a collaboration between Europe and Asia ......... 69 3.4.7. On offer for museum professionals .............................................................................. 70 CHAPTER IV INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA IN SOUTH AFRICA......................................................... 75 4.1. Internet access and infrastructure development ................................................................. 75 4.1.1. Infrastructure development .......................................................................................... 76 4.1.2. Reasons for not using the Internet ................................................................................ 78 4.1.3. New developments and technologies ........................................................................... 80 4.1.4. Public institutions offering free Internet access ........................................................... 82 4.2. Social media training on offer ............................................................................................ 83 4.3. Internet access via mobile phones ...................................................................................... 84 4.3.1. Mobile phones: often used brands in South Africa...................................................... 88 4.3.2. Mobile phone-based projects in South Africa ............................................................. 90 4.4. South African institutions using social media .................................................................... 94 4.4.1. United States – South Africa multi-stakeholder Africa Online Digital Library .......... 94 4.4.2. South Africa –iSpot, a biodiversity initiative ............................................................... 95 4.4.3. South African National Parks (SANParks) webcams and forums ............................... 96 4.4.4. Social movements using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ........... 96 4.4.5. South African Tourism industry and museums online ................................................. 97 CHAPTER V REGULATIONS SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUMS SHOULD TAKE NOTE OF ...................... 99 5.1. How free are free services? ................................................................................................ 99 5.1.1. Information social network services collect and use .................................................. 101 5.1.2. Reputational risk and public information ................................................................... 102 ii © University of Pretoria 5.2. Laws protecting privacy ................................................................................................... 103 5.3. Copyright .......................................................................................................................... 105 5.3.1. Offering digital copies of copyright-expired works online and selling them? ........... 108 5.3.2. Copying copyrighted works for audiovisual mobile guided tours ............................. 110 5.3.3. Institutions following open access policies ................................................................ 111 5.3.4. Presenting South African heritage sites online ........................................................... 112 5.4. Films and Publications Act (FPA) 65 of 1996 ................................................................ 114 5.5. Incidental regulations ....................................................................................................... 117 5.5.1. Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act 25 of 2002....................... 117 5.5.2. Digitisation and archiving .......................................................................................... 120 5.6. Examples of possible inappropriate or unlawful cases .................................................... 122 5.6.1. Allowing photograph-capable devices on tours to objects in safekeeping ................ 122 5.6.2. Social network profiles for mummies ........................................................................ 122 5.6.3. Cultural sensitivity – issues ‘going viral’ ..................................................................