Nicole Meehan

I have degrees in applied mathematics, archaeology and american studies. After working in the cultural sector in digital and engagement focused roles (Historic Environment Scotland, Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, National Galleries Scotland), I joined the School of Art History, teaching predominantly on the Museum and Heritage Studies programme.  

My research and teaching focuses on the uses of digital technology in museums.  I think broadly about the advantages and limitations of such technologies, and the impact of this upon diverse audiences.  Specifically I am interested in the digital museum object, positioning it as a generative and polyvocal object that is valuable in its own right.

My projects include the funded Visualising Transnational Museology online resource, and the open access data visualisation inspired exhibition Investigating Indentured Servitude: Visualizing Experiences of Colonial America undertaken during a digital humanities fellowship at the American Philosophical Society.

My current research book project (The Eco-critical Digital Museum) examines the value-based judgements enacted by museums in the use of digital technologies in relation to the climate crisis. I have recently published a toolkit which supports museum and heritage institutions in assessing the environmental and human costs of their digitisation projects. The toolkit comprises the following documents:

• Mapping the Environmental Cost of the Digitisation Process: A stage by stage guide to the environmental and human costs of the digitisation process.
• Guide to Carbon Calculators for Digitisation Projects in Museums: A guide to available carbon calculators, a combination of which can assist museums in calculating part of the environmental cost of their digitisation activity.
• Assessing the Value of Digitisation Projects: A workbook that organisations can use to consider the value of new and existing digitisation projects against their environmental cost.

In 2013/14 I was the recipient of the UK-US Fulbright Bibliometrics Award, and in 2019 I was a Digital Humanities Fellow at The American Philosophical Society.

digital museum objects; digital access and engagement; museum education; cultural memory; digital humanities; decolonising digital spaces; environmental cost of digital technologies