Museum Visitors Research Articles

Chat-Bot Based Ticketing System Using Dialogflow and Llama LLM

MyMuseum represents an innovative solution designed to revolutionize the ticket booking process for museums across India, with the primary goal of enhancing engagement and increasing visitor numbers. At its core, the system incorporates a sophisticated conversational AI chatbot that streamlines the ticket booking process, eliminating the hassles traditionally associated with museum visits. This chatbot is complemented by an additional AI-powered feature that interactively presents exhibit information, creating a comprehensive and engaging user experience. The platform boasts a user-friendly interface accessible around the clock, significantly simplifying ticket booking procedures while offering real-time navigation support and comprehensive guides for all participating museums. Key features of MyMuseum include automated event management, a system for notifications and alerts, virtual tour capabilities, and interactive content delivery, collectively forming a holistic solution for museum visitors. This report provides an in-depth examination of the underlying technology stack, which encompasses the ticket-booking chatbot, a Large Language Model (LLM) for disseminating information about museums, their artifacts, and exhibits, integrated payment gateways, and robust backend services. It highlights the myriad benefits of the system, including enhanced automation, scalability, and the generation of data-driven insights. Beyond improving convenience for visitors, MyMuseum is projected to drive increased museum attendance, boost revenue through strategic upselling opportunities, and play a crucial role in enhancing cultural awareness and education. Furthermore, it promises to alleviate operational burdens on museum staff by providing real-time analytics and improving overall efficiency and sustainability in museum operations

Teaching poetry using Instagram: An international, interdisciplinary study with adolescents mobilizing literacy and the arts

Young people engage daily with various social media platforms to communicate with each other across the globe. Adolescents not only share text, but also use images and sound to express themselves on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to provide access to user-created content. The recent emergence of InstaPoetry—poetry with images on Instagram—has been part of such communication and provides a good entry point into adolescents’ engagement with literature and the arts. Limited research exists, however, on how this literate practice, paired with virtual and in-person museum visits, influences young people’s self-expression. In this article, we offer ways of integrating and involving these dynamic dimensions into research projects based on four sites of inquiry located in Canada and Australia. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, this research project provides concrete avenues to investigate teachers’ methods to foster adolescents’ engagement with literature and the arts (i.e., contextual design, procedures, environment) in (post) COVID-19 times.

The Future Museum: Integrating Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual-text with AI-enhanced Information Systems

This study examines how AR, virtual text, and AI in future museums affect visitor engagement, knowledge acquisition, emotional response, and social interaction. The study uses econometrics equations, text analysis, thematic qualitative data analysis, and agent-based modelling. The economic models show that virtual text type, depth of knowledge, personalization, accessibility options, and AR museum experiences increase visitor engagement, knowledge, emotional response, and social interaction. Thematic analysis displays visitor viewpoints such as AR curiosity, personalization, and cultural significance, while correlation matrices indicate their relationships. Bayesian econometrics, text analysis, thematic qualitative data analysis, and agent-based modelling are used to explore museum visitors' interactions with augmented reality, virtual text, and AI-enhanced information systems. These devices improve visitor engagement, social connection, emotional response, and information collection. Self-reported data biases, context biases, and rapid technological advancement limit the study. Museums can benefit from user-centric technology, AR, personalization, and cultural knowledge. The main findings reveal that these technologies significantly increase museum visitors, emphasizing that future museum administration and design must carefully adopt new technology. The findings may affect museum staff, designers, and decision-makers. Learning important technology factors improves AR, virtual text, and AI-enhanced information system design and deployment decisions. UX design prioritizes visitor choices, while immersive and integrated displays connect museum experiences. These practical implications force museums to actively and practically integrate technology to stay relevant. The project's findings, practical insights, and visitor experiences will improve future technological and cultural organisation research. The whole process contributes to the discussion on how emerging technologies affect museum experiences and innovation and decision-making in the ever-changing cultural heritage context.

Stebėjimo metodo ypatumai muziejų auditorijos elgsenos tyrimuose

Audience behaviour research is one of the most relevant topics in the field of museology, as visitor-oriented modern-museology-based museums inevitably need to understand how visitors learn, explore and understand museum information and communication. The article discusses the specifics of the application of observation as one of the oldest scientific research methods in the study of museum audiences. Even though observation is identified as an essential way of studying audience behaviour in real-time, the application of the method still raises questions about the way it is applied, issues of objectivity and the reliability of data. This paper aims to highlight relevant methodological issues in the application of observation and other qualitative methods of museum visitor research in assessing the relationship between the essential research question and the data needed to answer it. A literature review and the results and experiences of the empirical research conducted for the doctoral thesis are used to answer the questions. The empirical study of visitors’ free choice behaviour in the Lithuanian Museum is used to illustrate the relevant features of the monitoring method, while the detailed results of the visitor behaviour monitoring study are presented in a dedicated paper.

Game-design Workshops with Co-creation Toolkit to Support Game-based Learning for Heritage Museum

In the context of heritage museums, the integration of game-based learning and gamification has garnered significant interest from academia and educational stakeholders. However, barriers such as high costs and lengthy development cycles hinder wider adoption of game-based learning, particularly among educators who lack of software development skills. This paper introduces a series of game design workshops supported by a card-based toolkit aimed at simplifying the process of creating location-based games. These workshops serve a dual purpose: providing educators and museum stakeholders with an accessible toolkit for data collection and offering engaging game-based learning activities for young museum visitors aged 15-30. To achieve this goal, a pilot study was conducted in collaboration with the Guangzhou Maritime Museum, focusing on 48 university students aged 18-26 and 10 museum staff members visiting the Sea God Temple, a heritage site with a 1400-year history. Qualitative and quantitative data collected from this study indicated positive feedback on the value of a co-creation toolkit acting as the instructional scaffolding to support informal learning. Insights gained from this research informed the refinement of the toolkit design, while the game ideas from workshops served as a foundation for mobile game development tailored to young museum visitors.

Museums! How Accessible for Individuals with Disabilities?

The research examines the accessibility of museums in Istanbul for people with disabilities. The aim is to determine the suitability of museums in Istanbul for individuals with physical, visual, and hearing impairments, identify the problems they encounter in museums, identify physical limitations, and develop solution proposals. The qualitative research method was used in the research conducted in 2022-2023 covering museums in Istanbul. The research consists of two parts. In the first part, the museums to be visited were determined. Then, the checklists were submitted for approval to two expert academics. Opinions regarding the questions in the checklists were obtained by conducting a pilot study with six individuals with physical impairments, two with visual impairments, and two with hearing impairments. In the second part, the accessibility was evaluated by visiting 41 museums in Istanbul using checklists consisting of 23 questions. The findings were analyzed using the content analysis method. Considering the data of the research, none of the museums met the requirements for accessibility, museums were far from providing minimum standards for individuals with physical, visual, and hearing impairments, and individuals with physical, visual, and hearing impairments were unable to visit museums due to inadequate physical conditions rather than financial constraints.

Event communication of university museums and scientific organizations (based on the experience of the “Night of Museums – 2024” in St. Petersburg)

The article is devoted to the consideration of event communication using the example of participation in the all-Russian event “Night of Museums” by museums of universities and scientific organizations of St. Petersburg in 2024. A sociological survey of St. Petersburg residents showed sufficient awareness of the “Night of Museums” event: every second person knows both about the event and about its holding in 2024 in the Northern capital. However, those wishing to take part in it in 2024 did not exceed 20%, especially to visit museums of universities and scientific institutions (2%). Analyzing the category ‘event communication’ at the intersection of methodological approaches of political science and discourse science, the author considers it promising to study the mutual influence of three discursive constructs: museum discourse – discourse of state memory policy – discourse of national identity, considered in relation to modern political realities of Russia in the context of the implementation of the national security strategy.

Theorizing the Chair: History, Culture, and Design

In Arthur Danto’s The Seat of the Soul: Three Chairs, the chair is a source of power and authority. This paper explores the aesthetic importance of chairs and their designers and determines why people from various cultures create different designs that all perform the same function: seating. Here, the chair is examined as an artwork and design phenomenon from historical, cultural, stylistic, and aesthetic perspectives. Data were gathered through a comprehensive literature review, reports, archival materials, and museum visits. Descriptive, historical, and analytical methods were used to explore the religious, symbolic, spiritual, artistic, competitive, and academic legacies of the chair. Despite the similarity in function, the chair is more important than a sofa, bed, or bench. It displays one’s status, education, knowledge, and artistic taste. However, practicality, low-cost materials, and money have trumped aesthetics in recent years. The findings may help young chair designers highlight their competitiveness and inventiveness.

"Such pushing and shoving… and the smell! Why ever would they allow these people in to the Academy” sociability and body language of Madrid's museums visitors (19th century)

In 1828 preparations were being made for the opening of the first public museum in Spain: the Royal Prado Museum. Along with the placement of the works of art and the control of their security, visitors were an essential part of the organisation of the establishment. Although the valued role of museums as democratisers of culture has been emphasised, more recent studies have observed that the first visitors to European museums were not from all social strata. This article aims to analyse the public museum as an arena of sociability and to investigate the involvement of social elites in both the control of access and the imposition of behavioural models within these "temples of the arts.” For this reason, this paper approaches the debate around the concept of citizenship. On the one hand, it explores the gradual opening of museums to all social classes and the social debates surrounding it. On the other hand, it analyses the use of the museum as a space of symbolic battle for the appropriation of these scenarios and the creation of exclusion dynamics to limit interactions between social classes. Therefore, the text analyses, among other sources of analysis, the body language of visitors. An object of study that has been understudied but which can offer us interesting answers.

Designing museum experiences for eudaimonic or hedonic well-being: insights from interviews with museum visitors

ABSTRACT Lately, museums are trying to transform into spaces prioritizing enrichment and well-being. This paper investigates how the design of museum experiences is associated with the visitors’ well-being, drawing on psychological theories of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Through structured interviews conducted at a hedonicly designed museum (Museum of Chocolate, N = 10) and an eudaimonicly designed museum (Museum of Broken Relationships, N = 10), we explored the impact of different design approaches on visitors’ experiences and their hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Thematic coding showed distinct experiences. The hedonic museum, characterized by sensory engagement and personal enjoyment, stimulated mindfulness, restoration, and positive affect associated with visitors’ hedonic well-being. In comparison, the eudaimonic museum, emphasizing personal enrichment and reflection, promoted escapism, contemplation, and mixed affect, which was associated with visitors’ eudaimonic well-being. These insights carry significant implications for museum experience design, offering guidance on creating enriching experiences that prioritize visitors’ well-being in different ways.

The Future Museum: Integrating Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual-text with AI-enhanced Information Systems

This study examines how AR, virtual text, and AI in future museums affect visitor engagement, knowledge acquisition, emotional response, and social interaction. The study uses econometrics equations, text analysis, thematic qualitative data analysis, and agent-based modelling. The economic models show that virtual text type, depth of knowledge, personalization, accessibility options, and AR museum experiences increase visitor engagement, knowledge, emotional response, and social interaction. Thematic analysis displays visitor viewpoints such as AR curiosity, personalization, and cultural significance, while correlation matrices indicate their relationships. Bayesian econometrics, text analysis, thematic qualitative data analysis, and agent-based modelling are used to explore museum visitors' interactions with augmented reality, virtual text, and AI-enhanced information systems. These devices improve visitor engagement, social connection, emotional response, and information collection. Self-reported data biases, context biases, and rapid technological advancement limit the study. Museums can benefit from user-centric technology, AR, personalization, and cultural knowledge. The main findings reveal that these technologies significantly increase museum visitors, emphasizing that future museum administration and design must carefully adopt new technology. The findings may affect museum staff, designers, and decision-makers. Learning important technology factors improves AR, virtual text, and AI-enhanced information system design and deployment decisions. UX design prioritizes visitor choices, while immersive and integrated displays connect museum experiences. These practical implications force museums to actively and practically integrate technology to stay relevant. The project's findings, practical insights, and visitor experiences will improve future technological and cultural organisation research. The whole process contributes to the discussion on how emerging technologies affect museum experiences and innovation and decision-making in the ever-changing cultural heritage context.

Accessibility and expansion of the narratives’ space: convergent technologies and semiotics of exposition in an art museum

The development of convergent technologies opens up new horizons for expanding the sensory experience of museum visitors, especially the people with disabilities and alternative perception. We argue that augmented reality (AR) technologies, mainly used to develop applications that visually expand physical spaces, may serve not only as a tool of inclusion and immersion, but also an instrument of reviewing the narrative of art history delivered by a classical museum. Although AR technologies are focused mainly on visuality, detecting and localizing objects and images, as well as mapping and augmenting the visual space, they could be employed to expand the museum environment by other sensory modalities, such as sound and tactile sensations. Increasing the level of information accessibility of museum expositions and the independence of the development of exhibition space by people with disabilities is possible, among other things, by providing them access to context-aware information (MoMA, Tate, Garage and other institutions provide examples of such type of curatorship and exposition design).Furthermore, we argue that the issue of contextualization of knowledge received by the museum visitor is considered should be considered in a broader sense: we take the museum as a space of narration, where the main concepts of art history (with its conventional semantic accents and limitations) are shaped, consolidated and delivered. Having analyzed the logic of a classical art museum exposition, we review the alternative models for presenting art history narratives (in curatorial projects of A. Malraux, J.-H. Martin and F. Lyotard) and argue that new media may become a tool not only for inclusiveness and immersion, but also for a special type of subjectivation of the viewer involved in the process of creative rethinking of the history of art. Inclusiveness, immersion and semantic flexibility provided by new media makes museums a space for an open dialogue. Instead of outlined birders and «ready-to-use» senses an exhibition can show how «other things are possible». We argue that curatorial experiments and media applications dedicated to art can turn a museum into a zone of seeking that awakens the viewer to an independent search for subtle meanings and stories that exist on the periphery of the classical history of art. And the new media extensions of museum space, considered in the context of inclusion, may also be viewed as a tool for building new narratives and developing models for a more flexible and complex interpretation of art history in a multipolar world.

The Innovative Design of Museum Education System in China based on Visitor Perception Analysis

ABSTRACT The evolution of museums has transitioned from being centered on “objects” to “people,” emphasizing the human experience as pivotal in museum education development. According to the cognitive characteristics and factors of museum visitors, this paper explores the key factors influencing visitor perception through quantitative and qualitative user studies. Subsequently, an innovative museum education system is devised, integrating robotics and mobile applications to provide guidance and companionship to visitors. Finally, the evaluation at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum validates the system’s efficacy in enhancing educational experiences. This study aims to analyze the key factors affecting perception and design an innovative system to optimize visitor learning experiences and learning outcomes, thereby enhancing the educational impact of Chinese museums and contributing to the revitalization of traditional culture.

Cultural Heritage Manifestation in Computer Role-Playing Games for Enhancing Museum Experience: A Model Proposal

ABSTRACT This article proposes a model for integrating computer role-playing games with museum experiences to enhance cultural heritage learning with a particular focus on design. Centered at the Izmir Archaeology Museum, the study delves into the design of a serious game aimed at enriching both the educational and experiential facets of museum visits. The model highlights the use of gameplay components and design patterns to manifest tangible and intangible heritage content, thereby promoting visitor awareness and understanding of cultural heritage. Through a provisional game scenario based on the museum's prehistoric artifact exhibition, the study illustrates how a gameplay design approach that is informed by heritage content displayed in the museum can be prototyped. The proposed model not only aims to make museum visits more engaging, but also seeks to contribute to the broader discourse on game design, game-based learning, and museum experience.

Enhancing Educational Experiences in Museums through Ethnic Cultural Exhibitions

Museums are essential for improving cultural understanding and instruction. Exhibitions showcasing ethnic cultures provide insightful perspectives on many cultures and civilizations. These educational opportunities can be made as effective as possible by assessing their influence on visitor satisfaction.Investigation into the impact of ethnic culture exhibitions on audience pleasure, participation, and comprehension is lacking, despite their significance. By investigating how these displays affect visitors' knowledge acquisition and participation, the study seeks to close this disparity.Utilizing a combined methods technique that integrated quantitative surveys with qualitative comments, the study polled 62 museum visitors who had attended ethnic cultural exhibitions. The questionnaire evaluated knowledge of culture, instructional impact, involvement, and tourist pleasure. Data analysis using the SPSS software was utilized to analyze how different factors affect results and find significant indicators by doing logistic and multinomial logistic regression. This study discovered a substantial correlation between improved knowledge of culture and exhibition participation, as well as a significant improvement in visitor satisfaction and educational results when interactive components and cultural content are included. Through the use of interactive material, ethnic culture exhibitions improve the educational experience and increase visitor happiness. Museums ought to take demographic factors into account while planning different exhibitions for the future.

DeLVE into Earth's Past: A Visualization-Based Exhibit Deployed Across Multiple Museum Contexts.

While previous work has found success in deploying visualizations as museum exhibits, it has not investigated whether museum context impacts visitor behaviour with these exhibits. We present an interactive Deep-time Literacy Visualization Exhibit (DeLVE) to help museum visitors understand deep time (lengths of extremely long geological processes) by improving proportional reasoning skills through comparison of different time periods. DeLVE uses a new visualization idiom, Connected Multi-Tier Ranges, to visualize curated datasets of past events across multiple scales of time, relating extreme scales with concrete scales that have more familiar magnitudes and units. Museum staff at three separate museums approved the deployment of DeLVE as a digital kiosk, and devoted time to curating a unique dataset in each of them. We collect data from two sources, an observational study and system trace logs. We discuss the importance of context: similar museum exhibits in different contexts were received very differently by visitors. We additionally discuss differences in our process from Sedlmair et al.'s design study methodology which is focused on design studies triggered by connection with collaborators rather than the discovery of a concept to communicate. Supplemental materials are available at: https://osf.io/z53dq/.

Memorability of Tourism Experiences and The Influence Towards Revisit Intention to The Museum: A Conceptual Model Development

Museums play an important role in cultural tourism as they display cultural heritage, present the culture and history of different regions, and have educational and entertainment functions. Museum visitors belong to the same tourism industry that makes up the whole contribution to the country's GDP. It is indisputable to address tourism as an industry that focuses on visitors' personal experience, whereby tourists are eager for a memorable tourism experience (MTE). Specifically, a study on MTE and revisit intention has existed in recent years. Despite the growth of studies on MTE and revisit intention, studies that focus on museum settings were found to be scarce. Hence, this article aims to integrate previous research about MTE and revisit intention that finally will propose a conceptual framework for future study. This case study will use a non-probability sampling method that will consider the National Museum as the survey site. The findings of this study are expected to assist the relevant tourism stakeholders in maneuvering tourism experience marketing and promoting revisit intention among the visitors of the museums in Malaysia.

Authenticity matters: investigating virtual tours’ impact on curiosity and museum visit intentions

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of virtual museum tours on intentions to visit on-site museums. Furthermore, the role of an authentic virtual tour experience and its drivers is examined.Design/methodology/approachThe results of two studies, a field study in collaboration with one of the most renowned museums in Austria (n = 227) and an online survey (n = 153), were analyzed with a series of mediation models.FindingsVisual appeal and narrative quality were significant drivers of an authentic virtual tour experience. Curiosity mediated the positive effect of virtual tour usage intention on on-site museum visit intention.Originality/valueAlthough virtual reality has been considered a promising marketing tool in tourism, no research has explored the drivers of an authentic virtual tour experience. The findings of this study not only add new insights into the role of a virtual tour’s visual appeal and narrative quality in generating authentic experience and thus prompting virtual tour usage intentions but also demonstrate that virtual tours positively impact on-site visit intentions driven by curiosity.

Art museum visitors: how do they perform class distinction?

ABSTRACT Previous studies predominantly used sociodemographic factors to categorize art museum visitors, overlooking an in-depth exploration of the motivations guiding their museum experiences and relying heavily on aggregated data. Building upon Bourdieu’s (1984, Distinction: A Social Critique to the Judgment of Taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press) theory of cultural consumption and Peterson’s (2005a. “Problems in comparative research: The example of omnivorousness.” Poetics 33:257–282. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2005.10.002; 2005b. “Changing Arts Audiences: Capitalizing on Omnivorousness.” https://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/sites/culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/files/peterson1005.pdf) omnivore/univore theory, this study aims to investigate the distinct segments of art museum visitors, considering their experience expectations and cultural preferences. Specifically, utilizing two-step cluster analysis, we explore the experiences sought by art museum visitors, considering their cultural preferences. Analyzing 411 questionnaires from visitors to Lyon’s premier fine arts museum, two distinct visitor groups emerge. Thus, the findings suggest that conventionally labeled ‘museum-goers’ represent diverse visitor types, emphasizing the holistic importance of considering a combination of factors. The results affirm Peterson's theory adding to the literature that these groups exhibit distinct cultural and culinary preferences, aligning with Bourdieu's social distinction theory. The study offers both theoretical and practical implications.

Exploring the influence of gamified learning on museum visitors’ knowledge and career awareness with a mixed research approach

In recent years, museums have become valuable venues for students to develop career awareness outside of school. However, optimizing the educational potential of museums and improving learners’ outcomes presents a significant challenge in museum learning design. This study integrates three main game elements—goals, stories, and role-playing—into museum visits to design a Gamified Learning Activity (GLA). To verify the effectiveness of the GLA, we conducted a quasi-experiment with 66 elementary school students at the Handicraft Museum. Using a mixed-methods approach with convergent parallel design, we collected quantitative data from knowledge tests and qualitative data from DAST (Draw-a-Scientist-Test) and interviews for a comprehensive analysis. The results showed that learners who participated in the GLA paid more attention to the details of the handicrafts, appreciated the craftsmen more, and eliminated stereotypes about the age of craftsmen. This indicates that the GLA not only enhances learners’ acquisition of museum knowledge but also has a profound impact on their non-cognitive aspects, such as career awareness.