Heading for a better understanding of outreach in the digital age: a look into the use of Web 2.0 as a communication tool by state museums and archives in Zimbabwe

Abstract

In this digital era, museums and archival institutions are increasingly encouraged to exploit Web 2.0 technologies to reach out to their potential clientele. The use of the social media space provides both museums and archival institutions with the opportunity to strengthen relations with the existing clientele and simultaneously reaching out to new audiences. Using the examples of the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) and Zimbabwe’s National Museums, this paper provides a discourse on the opportunities offered by Web 2.0 technologies and the need to employ them as outreach and communication tools.  Data used in the construction of this paper were gathered through structured interviews held with head of departments at NAZ and the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ); analytical interactions done with the social media platforms and an examination of the literature that goes with the subject.  With the exception of the Natural History Museum in Bulawayo, the research results indicated that archivists and museum management practitioners in Zimbabwe were not fully exploiting the free broadcasting platforms to communicate and reach out to the wider populace. As a way of acknowledging the social media space as a vital communication tool in reaching today’s potential and existing clientele, this paper proposes a model within which archives and museums may use Web 2.0 technologies.