Purpose – The aim of this paper is to elucidate how new technologies help museums in seeking legitimacy as valuable social and cultural institutions in front of the public. Museums as organizations information and knowledge oriented, embedded within society as repositories of community memory, have to embrace new technologies in order to preserve heritage and generate new knowledge to their audience. Design/methodology/approach – Museums coping with uncertainty and shortage of public funding as fundamental problem tend to achieve greater legitimacy by managing new technologies to sustain public trust and survive in their current forms. This study is based on archival and qualitative data drawn by literature review about the use of the internet technologies of information and communication within museums. Originality/value – Culture will have an increasingly important role as learning becomes more accessible and flexible. Museums as agents of cultural change should legitimize processes of capture, management and dissemination of information and knowledge instead of merely preserving the artefacts by embracing new technologies that ensure a fast and convenient communication with the public involved to participate in the definition of cultural contents toward a participatory museum. Practical implications – Museums by embracing new technologies moving from a virtual museum perspective based on information to a knowledge management and participatory approach may select different choices in order to use new technologies in the definition of content and knowledge creation as result of interactive and collaborative process based on participation and involvement of the audience and users of museum.