Department Chair

Andrew D. Nicholls, Ph.D. Professor of History

Date of Award

8-2014

Access Control

Open Access

Degree Name

History, M.A.

Department

History and Social Studies Education Department

Advisor

Cynthia A. Conides, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History

Department Home page

http://history.buffalostate.edu/museum-studies-ma

First Reader

Cynthia A. Conides, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History

Second Reader

Jill M. Gradwell, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THESIS

City2 Buffalo:

a smartphone app designed to establish a mobile museum without walls, exhibiting the living city of Buffalo, NY and its rich history and environment, with a purpose to inform and inspire all toward global cultural awareness and civic engagement, in order to collectively create a better future.

The present environment, including the technological capabilities inspired by the Information Revolution, requires American museums to reconsider their traditional practices. American history museums are specially challenged to address future possibilities and difficulties resulting from social, economic and demographic change. This paper proposes a new type of history museum of the future, one that utilizes the resources of the Internet and related technologies to practice the new kind of history demanded by the current environment, one that is inclusive, open-ended and relevant to the public. City2 Buffalo is a smartphone application (app), intended to create a mobile “museum without walls” to exhibit the history of the living city of Buffalo, NY. The museum aspires to facilitate public participation in history every day, in the hopes of inspiring cultural awareness and civic engagement among its users, to support a better future for the city.

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