Finnish digital culture, Finnish independence
Originally uploaded by FransBadger
Tomorrow is the 90th Anniversary for the Finnish republic, the Day of Independence. Today, somewhat appropriately, I visited one of the key coordinating institutions for the preservation of Finnish cultural heritage, Museovirasto (The National Board of Antiquities). Surprisingly lively and exiting discussion followed my brief presentation, looking deep into the possibilities for providing more shared opportunities for the “Museum 2.0” and gamelike, playful structures of collaborative construction of meaning around our national treasures – both material and immaterial treasures, like our memories that we can now attach with the digital versions of physical objects and places with much more flexibility than before.
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Thinking about this, the viability of national digital culture initiatives is even a question of (cultural) independence; if Finland does not design and develop its own, digital national institutions into more open and flexible direction, there is no competition to the transnational digital culture that will be in English language and organised around American cultural horizons, to put it bluntly.