Newcastle University

Introduction

I joined ICCHS in October 2005 as a Lecturer in Museum and Heritage Studies. My expertise and interests include the theoretical and practical exploration of technological innovation to enhance museum and heritage experiences, on-site and online. Since 2008, I am also involved in the delivery of the MRes in Digital Media.

Before I joined ICCHS, I was a Research Associate in Digital Heritage in the University of Leicester. In 2004, I was a visitor researcher in the Mixed Reality Laboratory at the University of Nottingham. I have also worked as an assistant curator in the Athens University Historical Museum.

Roles and Responsibilities

Lecturer in the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (ICCHS) and in Digital Media
Director of Postgraduate Research Studies for ICCHS
Research Programmes Admissions Tutor for ICCHS
AHRC Block Grant Partnership Liaison for ICCHS
Personal tutor

Qualifications

Phd in Computing Science (University of Glasgow)
MA in Museum Studies (University of Leicester)
Degree in Greek Literature (University of Athens, Greece)

Languages

Greek
Italian

Research Interests

My research and expertise are in the use of digital media in museums and the heritage sector, and especially the design, study and understanding of digital applications for the purpose of interpretation, learning, and exhibition design.

Qualitative methodologies
A significant strand of my research concerns the use of qualitative methodologies to study ‘situated action’ in technology use. In this context I have employed methodological approaches such as ethnography, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis to study and understand how museum visitors may negotiate their visiting experience with other visitors and the museum environment.

I currently employ ethnographic methods and cultural probes to explore participant motivation around issues of DIY creativity in the ‘Chiptune Marching Band’ series of workshops – delivered in Maker Faire 2009, Newcastle upon Tyne; Pixelache 2009, Helsinki; and Bent Festival 2009, New York; SPACE, London; and Creativity & Cognition 2009, Berkeley, CA.

Social media and museum participation
I currently explore how museum visitors/users engage with social media and content generation activities. In this context, I have carried out research on participation models and especially how user generated content, such as photographs, may be incorporated in
museum displays and practice. The latter has led to two conference contributions, in the Museums Association conference ‘World Wide Wonder: Museums on the Web’ (June 2009)
and the ‘Transforming Culture in the Digital Age’ conference (April 2010), Tartu, Estonia.

Mixed reality environments and ubiquitous technologies
As part of the Equator IRC, I have carried out specific research on the ways technology may support social visiting among local and remote visitors through a mixed reality environment that combined three-dimensional representations of museum spaces and artefacts with two-dimensional online information and sensor-driven interaction.

Postgraduate Supervision

I am delighted to supervise Ino Maragoudaki and Nikki Spalding. Ino's doctoral research is funded by the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Awards in partnership with Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums.

I am also in the supervisory team for Tom Bartindale and John Dawson in Computing Science.

I am interested in supervising PhD candidates working in the following areas:

- Digital media in museum/gallery/heritage settings
- Online museum/gallery/heritage experiences
- Social software and its implications for the cultural sector
- Design and use of mobile, personal, ubiquitous technologies in cultural settings
- Study and understanding of social museum experiences
- Theory and practice of Visitor Studies
- Ethnographic and Ethnomethodological approaches in the study of museum experiences

Esteem Indicators

- Peer reviewer for computing science Journals, such as Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Work (special issue on Leisure Technologies), Virtual Environments (special issue on Haptics), and User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction (special issue on Personalizing Real and Virtual Explorations of Cultural Heritage)
- Peer reviewer for ACM conference publications on Human Computer Interaction (CHI, UIST)
- Occasional peer reviewer for Museology Online Journal (Univ. of the Aegean) and conferences such as CSCW, Ubicomp, and Pervasive Computing.

Funding

Rock Art Mobile Project. AHRC, DEDEFI Scheme, 2010-11.
Collaborative Innovation Partnership with Seven Stories - Centre for children’s books. One NorthEast, 2009-10
Collaborative Innovation Partnership with The Great North Museum: Hancock. One NorthEast, 2010.
The Digital Heritage Research Training Initiative. AHRC, Collaborative Research Training Scheme, 2008-2010.
Creative Digital Media Research Practice: Production through Exhibition. AHRC, Collaborative Research Training Scheme, 2008-10.
Campus Tales project in collaboration with Zelda Baveystock. Catherine Cookson Trust, 2007-08.

Projects

• Learning and motivation in the contemporary art gallery
  Project Leader(s): Areti Galani, Andrew Newman, Rhiannon Mason and Chris Whitehead

Postgraduate Teaching

Areti teaches in several ICCHS modules. She leads the Interpretation and Exhibitions special option module (ICS8010). She also lectures in the Issues and Ideas (ICS8001), Communication and Interpretation (ICS8003), Collections Management (ICS8004) and History (ICS8012) modules.

Student projects in the Interpretation and Exhibitions module include:
Friendly Footprints: exhibition and website developed in collaboration with the Discovery Museum (2009-2010).
Tyne Vibe: exhibition and website developed in collaboration with the Discovery Museum (2008-2009).
What's behind a smile: exhibition and website developed in collaboration with the Discovery Museum (2007-2008).

Areti also teaches and supervises students in the MRes in Digital Media.

• Galani A, Maxwell D, Mazel A, Sharpe K. Situating Cultural Technologies Outdoors: Designing for Mobile Interpretation of Rock Art in Rural Britain. In: Museums and the Web. 2011, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: Archives & Museum Informatics.
• Clarke R, Galani A, Bartindale T, Wright P, Olivier P. Time and Tide: Dialogue and design for interaction with older adults in museums. In: Workshop on Heritage Inquiries, Designing Interactive Systems (DIS). 2010, Aarhus, Denmark.
• Galani A, Moschovi A. Trans/forming Museum Narratives: The Accommodation of "Photography 2.0" in Contemporary Exhibitions. In: Transforming Culture in the Digital Age. 2010, Tartu, Estonia: Estonian National Museum, Estonian Literary Museum, University of Tartu.
• Allen J, Galani A, Jo K. An Ecology of Practice: Chiptune Marching Band. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity and Cognition (C&C).2009,Berkeley, California, USA:ACM Press
• Jo K, Allen J, Galani A. Chiptune Marching Band: A Public Workshop and Performance. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity and Cognition (C&C).2009,Berkeley, California, USA:ACM Press
• Schnädelbach H, Galani A, Flintham M. Embedded Mixed Reality Environments. In: Dubois, E., Gray, P.D., Nigay, L, ed. Engineering of Mixed Reality Systems. London: Springer, 2009, pp.57-78.
• Galani A, Chalmers M. Blurring boundaries for museum visitors. In: Marty, PF; Jones, KB, ed. Museum Informatics: People, Information, and Technology in Museums. London: Taylor & Francis, 2008, pp. 157-178.
• Kray C, Galani A, Cheverst K. Engaging with Cultural Content on Ambient Displays. In: Urban Screens. 2007, Manchester, UK.
• Galani A, Chalmers M. Production of pace as a collaborative activity. In: Conferene on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI).2004,Vienna, Austria:ACM Press
• Chalmers M, Galani A. Seamful Interweaving: Heterogeneity in the Theory and Design of Interactive Systems. In: Symposium on Designing Interactive Systems: Proceedings of the 5th conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods and techniques. 2004, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: ACM Press.