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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation of public sector research in the 1998–2018 period.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the extant literature of this era to study the theorisation of, and the findings of, public sector research.FindingsThis is a vibrant field of a study in a wide range of study settings and with many interdisciplinary studies. The influence of new public management is pervasive over this period. There are numerous instances of innovations in study settings, in key findings and the approach taken by investigators.Research limitations/implicationsThis is not a comprehensive review of all literature in this period.Practical implicationsThis study also explored the relevance of academic research of this era to policymaking by governments.Originality/valueThis paper offers a distinctive critique of theorisation of public sector accounting research. It reveals the dominant theoretical reference points in use during this period and observes the increasing tendency for theoretical pluralism to investigate complex study settings.

In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both implemented in a geospatial database. The classification scheme and database resulted from an extensive process of consultation with researchers worldwide. Our scheme is designed to deliver consistent, empirically robust data for the improvement of land use models, while simultaneously allowing for a comparative, detailed mapping of land use relevant to the needs of historical scholars. To illustrate the benefits of the classification scheme and methods for mapping historical land use, we apply it to Mesopotamia and Arabia at 6 kya (c. 4000 BCE). The scheme will be used to describe land use by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) LandCover6k working group, an international project comprised of archaeologists, historians, geographers, paleoecologists, and modelers. Beyond this, the scheme has a wide utility for creating a common language between research and policy communities, linking archaeologists with climate modelers, biodiversity conservation workers and initiatives.

PurposeThis study aims to measure the effect of augmented reality (AR) on immersive experiences, place satisfaction, user engagement and perceived authenticity.Design/methodology/approachThe population of the research consists of museum visitors visiting the Sakip Sabanci Museum in Turkey, which provides an interactive experience to the audience using AR technology via iPads. The data were collected both online and offline. The research was carried out with 397 questionnaire forms. The hypotheses were tested through smart partial least squares (PLS) 3.FindingsImmersive experience positively affects place satisfaction, user engagement and perceived authenticity. It was also concluded that user engagement and perceived authenticity mediated the relationship between immersive experience and place satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe entire universe could not be reached, as the study had limitations in terms of time, cost, accessibility and control difficulties. Therefore, the study was carried out with 397 visitors who visited the Sakip Sabanci Museum (SSM) in Turkey and used AR technology.Practical implicationsThe study emphasized the importance of AR in cultural tourism. The interactions of museum visitors with AR can be greatly enhanced by immersive experiences. Expanding AR to provide different experiences can increase the number of visitors.Originality/valueAlthough there are recent studies on AR, it seems insufficient to investigate and empirically examine this subject in the context of museums. No studies conducted in Turkey have investigated the current topic of this study. Conducting this research in Turkey with the proposed research model will make the topic easier to understand, proving the study's originality.

In recent years, understanding how the managers of tourism attractors (such as archaeological parks, museums, seaside resorts, nature reserves, etc...) adopt, refuse, integrate, and benefit from the digital transformation has received growing interest. In addition, consistent case-study literature highlights how adopting technologically advanced tools can generate positive externalities for the territories in which such attractors are located. However, it is still unclear how different tourism stakeholders value including Metaverse tools in their strategies. In this paper, we explore stakeholders’ preferences for embedding metaverse tools in their strategy, and we check for the existence of cluster of preferences. The study applies a recent development of Q-methodology which allows substituting classical q-statements formulation with multi-attribute and multi-level formulations. Data are collected by involving stakeholders from Sicilian territories. The results of this exploratory study demonstrate that the use of the Metaverse tool is influenced by the perception of the stakeholders and confirm the existence of heterogeneous preferences among groups of stakeholders, as expected in a diffusion model of innovation. The dominant point of view considers a full awareness of the metaverse tools and perceives them as slightly worse than the social ones. Some stakeholders do not have adequate knowledge of the Metaverse. We can argue that we are still in a moment of transition in the diffusion of the Metaverse between the phase of persuasion and that of evaluation and decision on the basis of the impact effects of the Metaverse on competitiveness within the tourism sector. The critical mass may not have been reached yet in the adoption rate of Metaverse innovation.

PurposeThis paper considers how knowledge has been organized about museum objects and belongings at the Museum of Anthropology, in what is now known as British Columbia, and proposes the concept of historical or provenance warrant to understand how cataloguing decisions were made and are limited by current museum systems.Design/methodology/approachThrough interviews and archival research, we trace how cataloguing was done at the museum through time and some of the challenges imposed by historical documentation systems.FindingsReading from the first attempts at standardizing object nomenclatures in the journals of private collectors to the contemporary practices associated with object documentation in the digital age, we posit that historic or provenance warrant is crafted through donor attribution or association, object naming, the concept of geo-cultural location and the imposition of unique identifiers, numbers and direct labels that physically mark belongings.Originality/valueThe ultimate goal and contribution of this research is to understand and describe the systems that structure and organize knowledge, in an effort to repair the history and terminologies moving forward.

Learning in virtual museum can transcend the limits of time and space. The virtual museum that combines expertise in different disciplines provides a virtual learning environment for college students, but how to intervene in museum learning has been unclear. Targeted at this question, this study selected 2030 majors in clinical medicine from a certain university and the final results exhibited four types of learners who are of high, medium, low and absent museum immersion, respectively. When the learners visited the virtual museum, their behavior data were collected backstage and later used as data source. The method of fuzzy c clustering analysis was utilized to test the behavior recognition results of virtual museum learning, and lag sequential analysis (LSA) was used to carry out sequential transformation of learning behaviors in virtual museum. In this study, the four types of learners were subsumed under two broad categories of middle & high museum immersion and low & absent museum immersion. The importance of behavior was identified with random forest algorithm, and the intervention mechanism of museum teaching was designed according to the analysis results. Specifically, such strategies as museum support, voice guidance, video guidance, sub-museum ordering, rewards points on the list, etc. were used to study the museum learners in need of intervention. The results showed that the learning state of some learners was significantly improved.

PurposeThis study proposed a research model for verifying the structural relationships among users' perceived spatial presence (VR affordance), situational interest (affective factor) and behavioral attitudes (outcome) toward online virtual museum navigation. What role of situational interest plays in the relationships between spatial presence and outcomes was further examined.Design/methodology/approachThere were 141 adults invited to participate in the research trials on the navigation of the online virtual museum which was established by 3D space capture techniques. This study conducted a series of PLS-SEM to analyze the participants' quantitative responses to the surveys of spatial presence, situational interest and attitudes.FindingsThe testing of reliability and validity for the measurement model of this study was satisfied. The significance of users' perceived situational interest: attention demand, instant enjoyment and exploration intention when navigating the online virtual museum with perceptions of spatial presence were identified. The mediation of situational interest in the relationships between spatial presence and behavioral attitudes were also verified.Practical implicationsFor the practical design of desktop-based online virtual museums, it is suggested that more engaging strategies such as narrative storytelling and gamified interaction could be integrated to enhance users' situational interest including attention demand, instant enjoyment and exploration intention.Originality/valueThrough the examination of situational interest from multiple constructs, the research model of this study advanced the conceptual framework for understanding the consequences of VR affordance in online virtual museum navigation. The theoretical contribution to verifying the mediated role of situational interest was made.

Exceptional public buildings are buildings that are commissioned by public institutions with the deliberate and declared intention that they become icons. The recognisability of such buildings and their exposure to a wide audience can support the interests of their producers, who are keen on developing symbolic landmarks of their institutions. Textual and visual online communication can play an important role in boosting exposure and affecting how a building acquires iconic status. Content produced by social media users not only reflects how such buildings are perceived, it also goes on to affect how they perform, that is, what narratives they become associated with and how such association supports their transformation into icons. However, the role of content produced by different actors is unclear. In particular, what differences, similarities and influences exist between public/supply and private/user generated social media content particularly during the early life cycle of a building. This article presents a research methodology that can address these questions. Findings generated by applying this methodology on the case study of Depot Boijmans in the City of Rotterdam are presented. By scraping, filtering, organising and analysing content produced by Instagram users about the case study it was possible to show that that public/supply and private/user generated content converge independently. Textual analysis of posts uncovers an overwhelmingly neutral and positive sentiment in posts. Newness, iconicity and the novelty/firstness of the publicly- accessible- art- storage-concept emerge as central topics and are discussed in equal quantities on both the public and private actors. Post behaviour is characteristically different amongst actors, where public actors tell longer stories than private actors but both coinciding with events. The clustering of photographs of the building reveals a trend towards more than one point of interest. The results demonstrate that the exceptional building currently receives more attention on Instagram than the valuable masterpieces stored within it. This suggests the intended performance is achieved in the short term but its long-lasting effects and its assimilation to become an icon in the Museum Park or even the City of Rotterdam will be tested with time. It suggests the photograph itself becomes an actor in the creation of its iconic status in visual media platforms and recognises the agency of non-persons, and that Instagram is merely one of many (social) media platforms used to do so. This research offers methods and their applicability toward a catalogue for data analysis for architecture and urban studies related to the online performance of buildings.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how, in forming their policy towards open data (OD), art museums interact with the OD ecosystems they are part of, comprising internal and external components such as cultural policy, legal frameworks, user groups and economic conditions and incentives.Design/methodology/approachThe authors structure their research as a multiple case study based on three OD ecosystems, each defined by a mid-sized European art museum at its centre. Qualitative analysis of the case studies proceeds from interviews with museum management staff and policy-related agencies in three European countries, in addition to document analysis.FindingsThe results of this study suggest that museums are sensitive towards their environments and respond to their ecosystem based on what is communicated within their networks. However, museums are not effective in communicating with their users, limiting the informational interdependence necessary for well-functioning OD ecosystems. EU policy appears to be a driving force along with national financial incentives, though institutional conditions are limiting progress. Advancing the field relies instead on an epistemological shift to understand the museum as part of a larger information network.Originality/valueAs the first comparative case study of art museum OD ecosystems that the authors are aware of, the study provides a qualitative analysis of the complex dynamics impacting OD policy within the mid-sized art museum. The authors identify specific dynamics that are thus far restricting further development of the OD ecosystem of the mid-sized European art museum.