Presentation of my PhD research for fellow-PhD candidates at the Amsterdam School for Heritage & Memory Studies, at the University of Amsterdam

1. Mediating the Museum:
The impact of on-gallery technology
on visitors' engagement with museum objects
Merel van der Vaart
PhD Candidate
Amsterdam School for Heritage & Memory Studies
Allard Pierson Museum – Universiteit van Amsterdam

2. Research topic
Research context
Visitors, objects and technology – 3 case studies
Fixed screens
Augmented reality
Virtual reality
Future plans

7. (How) can technology help visitors engage with museum objects?
Interdisciplinary research:
Museological Theory, Learning Theory, Anthropology,
Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

8. meSch
Material Encounters with Digital Cultural Heritage
European research project.
“meSch aims to co-design novel platforms for the creation of
tangible digital exhibits at heritage sites”
ICT for access to cultural resources
Objective-driven research project

10. Fixed screens
Augmented reality
Virtual reality

11. Which objects are interesting?
What questions are asked?
Domus pilot
2014

12. Which objects are interesting?
The ones they don’t recognise.
What questions are asked?
What is it?
How was it used?
Domus pilot
2014

13. Visitors found it easy to use the
touch-screen.
Beware of the honeypot effect
After browsing the on-screen
content, visitors had more
diverse preferences.
Domus pilot
2014

14. Challenges:
Usability issues may hinder
engagement
Making ‘active’ objects easily
recognisable.
Creating good AR content.
Eternal Egypt Experience
2013-2014

15. Challenges:
There’s no tangible interaction.
Video link
Eternal Egypt Experience
2013-2014

16. Challenges:
Linking virtual & real
Integrating virtual experience
into the exhibition.
Finding suitable gesture
vocabulary
Eternal Egypt Experience
2013-2014

17. (How) can technology help visitors engage with museum objects?

18. (How) can technology help visitors engage with museum objects?
I don’t know.

19. (How) can technology help visitors engage with museum objects?
I don’t know.
But I do know that integration is key in three areas:
Visually
Intellectually
Physically

20. Literature review: Visitors & Objects/Technology & Objects
Review existing research into visitor behaviour in museums
Smaller focussed studies
Use meSch Case Studies as research opportunity

21. The project (2013-2017) receives funding from the European Community’s Seventh
Framework Programme ‘ICT for access to cultural resources’ (ICT Call 9: FP7-ICT-
2011-9) under the Grant Agreement 600851.