Modern museums, accountability, and openness

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is opening-up its storeroom, turning the back end of the operation into a public resource. It's about attracting new patrons, but it's also about accountability, the Museum's managers have declared. Across the Western world museums are having to reexamine their mission and redefine the relationship they have with the public they're meant to serve. We explore why and how. We also look at the balance that's being struck between the physical artefact and its digital equivalent.GuestsTim Reeve — Deputy Director, Victorian and Albert Museum, LondonDan Hicks — Professor of Contemporary Archaeology, Oxford UniversityKarin de Wild — Assistant Professor in Contemporary Museum and Collection Studies, Leiden University (The Netherlands)Kylie Message-Jones — Professor of Public Humanities, ANU Humanities Research Centre