The Role of Digital Technologies in the Transformation of Museum Management (Case of Tsaritsyno Museum)

The social crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has further focused the attention of researchers and society on issues related to the transition to the digital space. The museum is one of the institutions that has undergone the most active transformations over the past year. The contemporary museum faces the challenges of modernity and finds an answer in the introduction of technological projects into the museum environment. This study draws attention to how the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve adapts to the current situation. The problem statement of this paper is to study how digital projects actually change the contemporary museum and museum management in it. The circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to an unprecedented activity of the museum in the digital space, forced many Russian and foreign researchers to look at this problem from a new angle and begin more intensively analyze the processes taking place in the digital space of the museum. In the vast majority of works related to the digitization of the museum, the figure of the visitor is put at the forefront and become the object of study, but the employee and internal processes of museum management remain in the shadows. Studies of the digitalization of museum space, digital heritage and museum management practices are actively explored by Western scholars. The practices of Russian museums are less studied, and most of the works are dedicated to understanding the contemporary museum space in Russia (including the digital space) are published in the form of small articles and private research. This research focuses primarily on museum employees and representatives of museum management such as administrations, managers, curators, creators of digital projects as well as on transformations of museum processes. That is why the study is based on the intersection of three areas, among which are included museum studies, digital research and the study of museum management strategies. The reason why this study is based on the research of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve is the fact that Tsaritsyno has made a big leap in expanding its presence in the Internet space over the past year. Although it has the status of one of the most important and largest museums in Moscow, it still has not so actively declared its presence in the digital space. The main sources of research are: 1. A series of in-depth interviews with management representatives, technical specialists, administrators and curators of the Tsaritsyno Museum. 2. Digital projects, which were mainly carried out in Tsaritsyno over the last year (March 2020 - March 2021 3. Research materials from conferences, open discussions and presentations. The results of the work - digitalization, computerization and digital projects in the contemporary museum space have ambiguous and controversial results. The fact is that, on the one hand, they carry a large number of positive effects. Such as, for example, expanding the audience of the museum, the ability to interact with visitors in difficult times when the museum is forced to close and expanding the visitor experience, the ability to communicate with people with disabilities. But at the same time, digital projects bring with them some hidden threats: a problem in an increase the number of tasks per employee, digital literacy requirements for employees, complication of interaction with more "conservative" audiences, high cost of technology decrease in the importance of physical presence. Therefore, one of the most important tasks of a modern museum is the ability to stay within the boundaries of the use of technologies when they are beneficial, not harmful.