Publications

In this section you will find some of my publications – book chapters, articles, and so on.  Some of the most recent writings are not included because they are in books and journals that publishers are wanting to sell. In these cases I have tried to provide links where these writings can be purchased.


Culture and Sustainability Publications

The Inside-Outside Model: Animating the Muses for Cultural Transformation Amid the Climate Crisis, by Douglas Worts and Raul Dal Santo, chapter in Ecomuseums and Climate Change, Ledi Publishers, Italy, 2023  – “Open Access” – click here to download full book (FREE)

Creating a Culture of Sustainability: What Could it Mean for You?”by Douglas Worts, Keynote Address: 2021 Annual Conference of Association of Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums, Published Proceedings, 2022.

Planning for Cultural Relevance: A Systems Workshop at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museumchapter in Systems Thinking in Museums: Theory and Practice, Roman & Littlefield, 2017

Museums Fostering a ‘Culture of Flourishing’, in Curator: the museum journal, July 2016,

Book Review of “Museums and Public Value: Creating Sustainable Futures”, ed Carol Scott, in Museums and Society, (vol 12, #1), March 2014. UK: University of Leicester,

Culture and Museums in the Winds of Change: The Need for Cultural Indicators (2011), Journal of Culture and Local Governance, vol 3, nos 1-2, free download

Book Review of “Beyond the Turnstile: Making the Case for Museums and Sustainable Values” (2010), in Visitor Studies, Vol 13, #2

Culture in the Winds of Change: Fostering a ‘Culture of Sustainability’ & Making the Case for Cultural Indicators (2010), available through International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, Common Ground Publishing – penultimate draft available here.

Rising to the Challenge: Fostering a Culture of Sustainability , in Muse (the journal of the Canadian Museums Association), (September/October 2008) 

Fostering a Culture of Sustainability (2006), published in Museum and Social IssuesVolume 1, Number 2, Fall 2006, pp. 151–172.

“Transformational Encounters: Reflections on Cultural Participation and Ecomuseology”, in Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 31, Spring 2006, pp. 127-145.

Measuring Museum Meaning: A Critical Assessment Framework (2006), published in Journal of Museum Education,(penultimate draft available here) , includes update and Updated Critical Assessment Framework Tool (2018).

“Negotiating a Sustainable Path: Museums & Societal Therapy”, in Looking Reality in the Eye: Museums & Social Responsibility, R. Janes & G.C. Contay (eds.), U of Calgary Press, 2005

Museums – In Search of a Sustainable Future“, in Alberta Museums Review, 2004 (3), pp 40-57.

“On the Brink of Irrelevance?: Art Museums in Contemporary Society”, in Researching Visual Arts Education in Museums and Galleries: An International Reader, Les Tickle, Maria Xanthoudaki (eds), Dordrecht: Kluwer Publishers, 2003

“Art and Sustainability in Nunavut”, in Muse (Journal of the Canadian Museums Association), vol XIX, #1, 2001, p 20

“On Museums, Culture and Sustainable Development”, chapter in Museums and Sustainable Communities: A Canadian Perspective, Quebec City: ICOM Canada, 1998.

Museums and Identity:

In Search of Meaning: Reflective Practice and Museums (1990) – Published in Museum Quarterly (the journal of the Ontario Museum Association). An exploration in to the complex dynamics when a person engages with an artwork or historical/symbolic object in a museum.

Museums and Creativity:

Extending the Frame: Forging a New Partnership with the Public (1995) –published in New Research in Museum Studies: Art in Museums, Athlone Press. Explores the process of visitor-based creativity when engaged with a work of art.

The Animated Muse: An Interpretive Program for Creative Viewing (2005) – published in Curator: the museum journal.  An in-depth analysis of visitor-based creativity, derived from an installation of a painting, accompanied by audio programs to help stimulate visitor imagination and writing/drawing materials for visitors to capture their experiences.

Museums and Technology:

“A Place for the Muses: Negotiating a Relationship between Museums and Technology”, chapter in The Virtual and the Real: Media and the Museum, edited by Mintz and Thomas, Washington: AAM, 1998

Museums’ Technology Frontier: How Treacherous is it? (1997) – Originally published in the newsletter of the Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG). Republished in AAM Conference Workbook for 1998 Annual Meeting.

“The Good, The Bad and The Unknown: Computers in Exhibits”, MUSE: the Journal of the Canadian Museum Association, Spring,1991

He Shoots! – He Scores!: Toronto’s New Hockey Hall of Fame is a Winner“, Exhibit Review, published in New Research in Museum Studies: Art in Museums, Athlone Press, (1991)

The Computer as Catalyst: Experiences at the Art Gallery of Ontario“, ILVS Review (International Laboratory for Visitor Studies), vol 1 #2,  pp 91-108, 1990.

Shaking the Foundations: Recent Audience Research at the Art Gallery of Ontario“, Audience Research: Theory into Practice, Part 2, (Proceedings of the 1989 Visitor Studies Conference), pp. 203-210, 1989

“Computers in Exhibitions: Experiences at the Art Gallery of Ontario”, The Dynamic Text (Conference Proceedings), 9th International Conference on Computers and the Humanities (ICCH), Toronto, 5-10 June, 1989