The role of art museums in the information society and the suggestions for art museums in Turkey

Recent advances in technology and the increasing importance of information has led many toposit the notion that Western society is moving away from a traditional economy towards oneoften termed ?the information society?. This dissertation discusses aspects of this new socialcase and, in particular, how it has impacted upon the role of the art museum. In short, thebasic hypothesis is that the continuing limited use of information in art museums in Turkey -a nation currently in a period of transition to an information society-has compromised theeffectiveness of their public role. After a short introduction outlining some of the basicpremises of the ensuing discussion, an analysis of the information society and how it hasaffected art museums-especially their role of information providers-will be given. Thiswill then form the basis of a more specific study of the Turkish experience wherein the initialhypothesis will be tested and subsequently shown to be true. Finally, some suggestions forthe future role of information in art museums in Turkey are given.