Museums and Digital Culture, MS

Through our cutting-edge and innovative museum studies program designed for the 21st century museum, you'll focus on the digital life of museums across collections, galleries, and activities.

student in museum, reading from information tablet, looking at exhibit

Type: Graduate, MS
Start Term: Fall or Spring
Credits: 36
Duration: 2 years (typically)
Courses: Plan of Study
School: School of Information

Three people are standing in a dimly lit museum or exhibit space, examining something on their phones or a device that emits light. The background features a variety of framed botanical specimens, jars with preserved samples, and ferns hanging from above, creating an atmosphere of scientific exploration and curiosity. The individuals are engaged in conversation or analysis, contributing to a collaborative and educational setting.

Museums and Digital Culture, MS

The Master of Science in Museums and Digital Culture (MDC) is a museum studies graduate program designed to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing cultural landscape. Students explore how museums, galleries, and other cultural heritage organizations use digital technologies to enhance their services, manage collection information, engage visitors across physical and virtual contexts, and conduct visitor research and evaluation. The MDC program prepares students for such high-demand museum and gallery positions as digital producer, web content editor, collection information manager, digital analyst, social media specialist, digital asset manager, and more.

The Museums and Digital Culture unique and specialized curriculum was developed by faculty with expertise in key areas of the field, including museum information management, digital engagement strategies, digital analytics, audience research, and digital curation. Our full-time faculty is enriched by highly experienced museum professionals from New York City’s most prominent and influential museums, galleries, archives, and libraries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the Museum of Modern Art. Moreover, students go onsite to see firsthand how New York’s leading museums and museum professionals are using emerging technologies to enhance their practice.

The MDC program is designed for people from any background; no previous experience is required. For international students, please note that the MDC program is designated as a STEM program by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and thus qualifies for the STEM optional practical training (OPT) extension for F-1 students.

Graduates of the MDC program are working in the following roles when surveyed 9-months after graduation:

Digital Cataloguing Assistant, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Assistant Registrar, The Paley Center for Media
Assistant Registrar, American Museum of Natural History
Collection Information Specialist, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Collection Database and Website Assistant, the Frick Collection
Digital Communications Officer, Norton Museum of Art
Darwin Manuscripts Project Research Assistant, the American Museum of Natural History
Knowledge Engineer, Morgan Stanley
Registrar, Fairfield University Art Museum
Research Associate, Randi Korn & Associates (RK&A)
Research Assistant, Spellerberg Associates
Assistant Curator, The Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York

Pratt offers lifelong services for students and alumni through its Center for Career and Professional Development and a job resources webpage.

Throughout the MDC program, students will create a digital portfolio to highlight the work they have completed and demonstrate they have met the program’s five student learning outcomes (SLOs):

Foundations of Museums and Digital Culture – Analyze and articulate the role and function of information and digital technologies in shaping the evolving social role and practice of museums and related cultural heritage institutions.
Museum Information Management and Technologies – Describe and manage analog and digital information and collections to increase the inclusivity, accessibility, and sustainability of cultural heritage.
Digital Technology and Tools – Select and effectively employ digital technology to enhance museum and cultural heritage services that inform and engage diverse communities.
Research – Investigate information environments and audience needs, behaviors, and experiences through appropriate research methods and data analysis.
Professionalism – Engage with relevant ethical, technical, and practical issues and construct a strong professional identity.

Pratt students at the Morgan Library Reading Room (courtesy Polly Cancro, History of Art and Design / Library and Information Science '18) — Pratt students at the Morgan Library Reading Room (courtesy Morgan Library & Museum)

School of Information courses are small in size (average class size is 12 students) and are held at 11:30 AM, 3 PM, and 6:30 PM, with the evening session offering the most options to help accommodate students who are working during the day. 80-90% of courses are held in-person at Pratt Manhattan Center, and 10-20% are held online. Select required courses in the MDC program include:

INFO 679 Museums and Digital Culture: Theory and Practice
Students learn how digital culture is transforming museums across the full range of museum functions and activities and become familiar with the digital tools and technologies that engage and inform museum visitors.
INFO 684 Museum Information Management: Collection Cataloging & Digital Technology
In this course, students will learn to manage a museum’s most important information source: its collection information. Students will learn the functions of collection management systems and how to catalog cultural objects.
INFO 683 Museum Digital Strategy: Planning and Management
This course aims to provide an understanding of the management and planning concepts, frameworks and tools needed in the implementation of a digital strategy

Courses at the School of Information often engage in projects with museums, including INFO 644 Usability Theory and Practice and INFO 685 Digital Analytics: Web, Mobile and Social Media. Museums include MoMA, Canadian Museum of Nature, The Met, Jewish Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, J. Paul Getty Trust, and Monterey Bay Aquarium. You can find more information on these projects at Center for Digital Experiences at Pratt Institute’s website.

To view curriculum requirements, please visit the MDC Plan of Study. For a full-list of courses, please visit the Courses page.

The degree can be completed while earning any of the following advanced certificates:

Conservation and Digital Curation, Advanced Certificate
Digital Humanities, Advanced Certificate
Museum Studies, Advanced Certificate (through the Dept. of History of Art & Design)
User Experience, Advanced Certificate

If you intend to complete an advanced certificate, once enrolled in the program, please submit the Certificate Declaration form at your earliest convenience.

Prof. Pattuelli and Wahbeh with students

Our Faculty

Our faculty are comprised of full-time faculty, who are researchers and scholars holding doctoral degrees, and our part-time faculty who are accomplished professionals holding a range of roles in New York City institutions and companies. Full-time faculty act as advisors to students and help connect career goals with the program curriculum, and teach over half of the courses.

Faculty List and Bios

Select faculty teaching courses in the Museums and Digital Culture program include:

Cristina Pattuelli

Professor

Person

Leah Constantine

Visiting Assistant Professor

Person

Kathy Carbone

Assistant Professor

Person

Allegra Burnette

Visiting Assistant Professor

Person

Scholarships

All applicants are considered for merit scholarships during review of applications; a separate scholarship application is not required. Scholarships are significant and can cover up to 50% of the cost of tuition. For students in good academic standing (i.e., if the student maintains a minimum 3.0 GPA), merit scholarships are automatically renewed for the second year of study.

Fellowships

Second-year students in the MDC program can apply for a 9-month fellowship with a leading NYC museum or other cultural heritage organizations. Students have completed fellowships at MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney, among others. Read Sydney Stewart’s blog documenting her fellowship with the Brooklyn Museum to learn more.

Other Support

Support for research-based scholarly and/or creative projects that enhance students’ professional development—individually or through small student teams—are available through the Graduate Student Engagement Fund (GSEF). Students can also take advantage of research opportunities working closely with individual faculty or with the team through graduate assistant funding, including at Semantic Lab at Pratt and the Center for Digital Experiences.

In addition to support from the School of Information office, all students are assigned a faculty advisor upon entry, as well can access a variety of services from Pratt’s Student Services division.

The School of Information meetup at the Whitney Museum of American Art (photo by Carol Choi)

The School of Information has five student groups that enrich the academic experience by organizing guest lectures, workshops, tours, site visits, and other events that will help deepen and expand your professional network. MDC students formed a registered chapter of the Emerging Museum Professionals Network: Pratt Emerging Museum Professionals (PEMP). PEMP serves as a resource for graduate students in the School of Information to engage with other museum professionals across all stages of their careers. Students can also form new organizations through Pratt’s Office of Student Involvement.

MDC students also participate in School of Information activities, such as the annual showcase of student work (Infoshow).

Student Work

Selected Student Work

View More Work

Pratt’s School of Information

We reimagine information and technology to design more equitable, resilient and diverse futures. Motivated by our vision and mission, we are not only the oldest information school in North America, we are a forward-looking and data-driven school, committed to the success of our students and furthering diversity, equity and inclusion.

More about Pratt’s iSchool

Location and Facilities

Located at the crossroads of the Greenwich Village and Chelsea neighborhoods, our home at Pratt Manhattan Center offers an excellent environment that provides easy access to all that New York City has to offer. Our specialized facilities facilitate our hands-on curriculum: from usability eye-tracking studies to archival reformatting projects and beyond.

Connect with Us

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School of Information News

The Artist As Curator class visiting the Félix González-Torres, BFA Photography ’83, exhibition at David Zwirner (courtesy Victoria Arthur, MFA Fine Arts (Painting) ’23)

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