Les collections patrimoniales en devenir : à propos des sites de musées en ligne

The article discusses the future of collections by observing their presentation on museum websites and web portals. Comparison of different types of collections and missions (twenty-four sites and seven portals, in France and Geneva, on art, science, technology, history, and ethnography in particular) allows the introduction of arguments for the promotion or justification of a museum’s particular orientation. By synthesizing the analysis of specific headings, emerging issues and hypotheses come to light which this contribution discusses through the prism of museums’ objectives, including those that remain implicit. These current objectives, which affect the future, are: cataloguing and logging in a directory (the inventoried collection); big data processing (the quantitative perspective); the need to associate services with public outreach (collect and link: “colligere”); the question of memory in the face of tourist interests (the collection in centre position) and the necessary reflection on the collection as heritage to be transmitted (the collection as an addition). Remarks will follow on the utility of sites to the extent that they allow for the study of the role of heritage signs in the global harmony of cultural and creative industries (collections’ potential). They have become the agent and the expression of collections’ future through the practices and inventive contribution of museum outreach.