Transforming Museums and Galleries Digitally Part I: Strategies for Engaging with Visitors
Museums and galleries are using technology to engage with their visitors, while gaining a deeper understanding of the audience to whom they cater. Technology is truly changing the way we see and engage with the world.
Why and How to Use Technology in the Museum Setting?
Technology and information is such an integral part of our daily lives, why add that to the museum setting? How can it actually help the visitor, let alone a cultural institution? Many of us enter a museum, not fully equipped to know what to expect and how to engage with the exhibitions and cultural artifacts we are seeing. This is where museum curators and staff can offer some assistance and where technology can play a significant role; connecting with the visitor before, during, and after their visit.
From the museum’s perspective, technology allows for more information about visitors, their interests, and their museum-going experience. These details can be used for marketing, for redesigning the museum-going experience, and more. This allows for a more targeted way of getting people to the museum, and having them remain more engaged.
As a visitor, technology can make the whole experience of going to a museum easier (eg. purchase of tickets online), more informative (details on the museum website), and more interactive and engaging.
So…what are some of the possible ways of using technology in the museum?
5 Way of Engaging with Museum Visitors through Technology
- Online Ticket Sales: Skip the Queue
Today, online ticket sales feel like the norm in many museums, allowing visitors to bypass queues. At the same time, museums can use this technology as a great way to collect the ever-changing demographics of their visitors. This information allows museums to develop a more personal relationship with their visitors and can assist marketing.
2. Tracking Your Visit: Bluetooth and RFID
Some museums have used technology to track visit patterns — what paths visitors take through the museum, how long they stay, etc.. The Louvre, for example, partnered with MIT Senseable City Lab, and using Bluetooth signal tracking, determined the duration of a visit to the Museum. The Institute for Sound and Vision in the Netherlands, on the other hand, used RFID technology in rings to allow visitors a personalized and interactive experience with one of their exhibits, while using the data to follow each individual’s path through the exhibit. By scanning the ring at the reader points, age appropriate content was shared with each visitor. Email addresses were also collected, allowing for more information about the content of the exhibit to be shared after the visit.
3. Multimedia Instead of Wordy Text
Traditionally, museums conveyed information on panels and walls. Now, with touchscreen technology, videos, and sound, there are other ways to share information with visitors and to encourage deeper perspectives and thoughts on what is being viewed. Some art museums have touchscreen panels that allow you to zoom in to an artwork, while others have brief videos or audio clips to share biographies and other details. Newer ways of engaging and passing on information to the visitor are always in development.
4. The Power of the Museum Website
Before entering a museum, many visitors will have a first encounter via that museum’s website. Some museums have used this platform to really engage a potential visitor. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, for example, has its entire collection online. Despite all this information online, there are over two million visitors to this museum annually!
5. Social Media
Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. are ways to publish educational content, and promote events. Some museums have even allowed contemporary artists to “take over” their Instagram accounts for a period of time in order to promote and engage with visitors.
Moving Forward
So what does technology change for the museum? Firstly, there is now a need for digital leaders, changing the staffing and dynamic of colleagues and the workspace. Secondly, this presents a whole new way of installing exhibitions, especially with interactive displays. Finally, this poses many new questions regarding the role of technology in museums, its value, and how much is ‘too’ much technology. This is an exciting time for the development of digital strategies in the museum setting, and the future of how we interact with art and artifacts.
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