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 7. Visitors

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Intro Chapter 7: Visitors

Intro Chapter 7: Visitors

In the past, the curator(s) probably were the most important persons in a Museum. They decided what to exhibit and how to exhibit it.

Again, this has changed. The focus has shifted from curators to visitors. Now visitors are the most important people: they decide whether a Museum or exhibition is a success and whether or not it is sustainable (see Chapter 10). Deciding who the target audience is, that is: the people who will visit the Museum, is important for all the topics that we discussed in the earlier chapters: the story that the Museum tells, the location, the exhibits, the design. And of course: the finances.  

Older people will look for things, people and events that they know about and remember.  Children and young people will want stories and exhibits that they can relate to - and that are 'Instagrammable'  and interactive.

Museums do market research to find out who may be interested in visiting the Museum or exhibition, what the wishes and preferences of their target audience are, and what is the best way to reach them. 

They do visitor research to find out if they made the right choices: is the target audience actually visiting the Museum? Do they like what is on show? Can they find their way around? Will they come back? Will they recommend the Museum to their friends?

7.1 Visitors

7.1 Visitors

"Start your project by asking what your visitor wants, rather than what you or the museum needs! (..) If you are not careful, it is possible that individual, personal, or organisational objectives will overshadow what you do. That is why it is so important to start a project by setting aims and objectives based on what your visitors will get out of it, rather than concentrate solely on what your museum would like to achieve."

From:  10 Top Tips for Museum Interpretation

The success of a Museum or exhibition depends on the number of visitors. To attract as many visitors as possible, Museums spend a lot of time and energy on audience or visitor research.

"Understanding your audiences, knowing who they are, their visit behaviour, their motivations, their needs and expectations, brings a huge amount of insight into helping you to make your organisation resilient.

Knowing who isn't engaging with you, but who has the potential to become a visitor, is also important in being able to build and diversify your audience base." (from Understanding your Audience, see below). 

Information that helps Museums attract (more) visitors:

    • How to reach (new) visitors: where can they find them? On the internet -  and where on the internet? Or is it better to use print media? 
    • What will attract their attention in advertisements and posts, And: in the Museum or exhibition itself?
    • What will make visitors stay? What will make them come back?
    • What will make them tell their friends and networks about the Museum in a positive way?

To find the answers, Museums do market research - see below - to find out more about people who have not visited their Museum or exhibition yet. 

They do visitor research, to find out more about the people who are visiting the Museum or exhibition. Who are they, what age, education level, home town? Why have they come to the Museum or exhibition? How are they interacting with the exhibition: where do they go, how much time do they spend in front of an exhibit? Do they visit the restaurant or Museum shop?

Museums use all this information to make the Museum or exhibition attractive to old and new visitors.  Because the success of the Museum, and its survival potential depends on the number of visitors. 

To make visitors come back, mainstream Museums send out newsletters to visitors and other people interested in the Museum. They organise special exhibitions so that visitors will return to see new things. A Museum cafeteria or shop also helps; visitors may come back for the cafeteria or shop - and then decide to visit the Museum as well. 


Further reading: 

7.2. Young People and Children

7.2. Young People and Children

Young people are an important target group for today's Museums. Market research shows that young people want exhibitions to be interactive, immersive, and above all: Instagrammable.  

Studies that looked at the demographics of Museum visitors (e.g. age, income, education level) on the other hand show that the majority of Museum visitors at  the moment are 50+ or older. The expectations and preferences of this age-group may be quite different from those of younger people: Instagrammable may not be high on their list. 

Museums that want to attract young visitors, adapt their exhibition design and marketing strategies to meet the needs of this target group. They may use mobile and pop-up exhibitions (see Chapter 4). They involve young people in the design of exhibitions. They use Instagram and influencers (see Chapter 8) to reach this target group.

Greengross

For example, see the Youth Collective : a group of 18–24 year olds working to inspire other young people to engage with the British Museum.

The GLAMers

IO1 GLAMers 300x300The GLAMers (GLAM: Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) is a EU project that 

  • "will provide a collection of good practices involving youth engagement as a means of GLAM recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic. This collection will be enriched with an analysis of challenges, opportunities and hidden potential of the value of youth engagement in GLAMs’ rebirth;
  • offer advice and training opportunities to support GLAMs in their digital transformation through the participation of youth. 
  • allow GLAMs to implement and then assess the digitally-enhanced activities involving youth;
  • map social changes in relation to attitudes, stances and behaviours amongst GLAMs and youth (young persons, cultural youth organisations, young artists) in regards to cultural and civic values for better societies."

See: https://glamers.eu

Children

Some  Museums include some exhibits or exhibitions especially for an even younger target group. Exhibits for children are generally interactive, immersive, and/or use a game format. An example from the Werstas Museum (Tampere, FI), the Museum that is also in charge of the Deaf Museum in Helsinki: 

 

 


Further Reading:

7.3. Market Research

7.3. Market Research

Museums do market research to find out more about their audience.

On the one hand: the people who are already visiting the Museum or exhibition - this is often called visitor research or audience research, see below.

On the other hand: to find out more about the people who have not yet visited the Museum or exhibition. Maybe because the Museum is new or doesn't even exist yet. Then, the Museum researches 'the market' to find out if the plans are viable. How many people will come to the Museum? What will they expect to see and experience in the Museum? What can the Museum do, to make as many people visit the Museum as possible?
Because as we said before: the success of a Museum or exhibition depends on the number of visitors. 

Existing Museums will also do market research  to find out more about the people who are not visiting the museum yet. How can they reach them, what can the Museum do to attract new visitors or visitor groups?

Four Methods

The 4 most common ways to find answers to these questions:

    • Surveys: the museum can post an online survey on a website, on Facebook, or on the website or Facebook page of related organisations or groups. They can canvass people in the street: "Can I ask you a few questions?" Or they can do this at a workshop, another museum, at a conference, an event.
    • Interviews: in an interview (in person or online) the interviewer can ask more questions, get more insights.
    • Focus groups: the museum can ask a number of representatives of the target group to sit around the table - or to meet on Zoom - for an open discussion. 
    • Observational research: researchers can watch while representatives of the target group visit the museum or exhibition. If the museum or exhibition is not finished yet: They can use a pilot version or mock-up of the museum to find out how visitors respond to displays.  

"Focus Groups do not have to be expensive or time consuming. They can be informal discussions with a group of people who know about the needs of your target audience. You probably already have volunteers who can help make contacts among their friends and families. If that does not work, the best tip is to approach existing groups for help. Often the promise of refreshments and the opportunity to have special access to your museum is enough to convince people to help you."

from: 10 Top Tips for Museum Interpretation


Further reading:

7.4. Visitor Research, Monitoring

7.4. Visitor Research, Monitoring

Surveys

The easiest way to collect data on how visitors respond to an exhibition is by asking them directly.  Museums ask visitors to fill out a printed survey before they leave, or they give visitors the link to an online form. 

Museums also use their websites and social media channels to collect data: the number of visitors, the number of likes, shares, followers.

Observation and Tracking

Museums can observe what visitors do: by having someone follow visitors and marking down on a floor map where visitors stop, read and wander. This can be done in the old-fashioned way with pen and paper or on a Tablet or I-Pad.

Of course, visitors can also be tracked electronically. Visitors are asked to wear a tracker, or the Museum uses software to track the mobile phones of the visitors. 

Data that can be collected in this way:

    • Where do people spend the most or the least amount of time, as they move through a museum or an exhibition?
    • Is there a particular item that is really popular with visitors? Are their items that are ignored by all?
    • Where do people stop and read text panels?
    • Are interactive displays working and easy to use?
    • Are there any blockages with the general flow of visitors?
    • Are there any blockages or queuing because of audio tours or people taking photographs?
    • In the case of couples, families and groups – is there some discussion about particular objects, interactives or related topics?
    • Are there any visitor comments which should be recorded as feedback?

It is now even possible to use eye-tracking: what does the visitor look at in a painting or display?

All this data can be used to improve the museum, the exhibition, the displays, the labelling and the navigation.

heatmap

A heat map showing the total number of interactions at all computer-based exhibits in the travelling exhibition “Heart over Heels,”,

annunciazione dispositivo 

Italian Museum Uses Cameras to Track How Visitors Engage With Art

Or: a museum just asks people to write their comments, questions, suggestions on a post-it and put it on a wall before they leave:

postits

Three types of visitor?

Some researchers say there are 3 types of visitors: Skimmers, Swimmers and Divers.

    • Skimmers are people who visit an exhibition, get what they need, and leave in short order. They want information in the most straightforward fashion possible. 

    • Swimmers are willing to go a little deeper. They want bold, dramatic exhibits, labels, stories. But not too much. 

    • Divers want the full story, in as much detail as possible.  

To meet the needs of all three kinds of visitors, museums can use interactive displays or use QR-codes to enable visitors to access online information. Of course this is easier to do in an online Museum or exhibition. For each item, you can provide 3 'levels' of information. 

Online exhibitions

When a museum or exhibition is online, visitor data can simply be collected by using Google Analytics: the number of visitors of the site, the number of unique visitors, what countries and cities do they come from, what devices do they use (desktop, tablet, mobile phone), what are popular pages, and more. Facebook, Instagram and other social media can provide a lot of useful data, too.

Sometimes the results can be disappointing: 


Further reading: 

backtotop

 

 

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Quotes:

  • "What has become clear is that museums don’t just function as custodians of the past anymore; instead, they have embraced their responsibility towards the communities of the present: a responsibility to represent them, to speak to them, and to be open to dialogue with them."
    Tim Deakin, August 2021
  • "And yet, even within a large and, in many ways, traditional organization such as this (Trøndelag Folk Museum, Norway), the museum's encounter with Deaf culture contributed to profound changes and a process, still underway, which challenges our own understanding of what a museum is today, our role in society and our obligations towards more diverse audiences than those we had previously engaged or even recognized."
    Hanna Mellemsether, in:  Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum, 2013
  • "The UN Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community”. This is based on the principle that citizens are not just consumers of cultural capital created by others; we have agency and the right to contribute through culture to the wider good of society."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • "The most significant function of museums is as centres for cultural democracy, where children and adults learn through practical experience that we all have cultural rights. Having the opportunity to create, and to give to others, may be one of our greatest sources of fulfilment. Culture is everywhere and is created by everyone."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • "It was only during the past decade that recognition of the importance of preserving Deaf history has emerged. In the main, Deaf heritage, culture and folklore has been passed down from generation to generation via the medium of sign language and fingerspelling. (..) It is also vital that the history of Deaf people is made available to future generations, especially Deaf schoolchildren as part of their history lessons."
    A. Murray Holmes,  in: Cruel Legacy, an introduction of Deaf people in history, by A.F. Dimmock, 1993
  • "Museums can increase our sense of wellbeing, help us feel proud of where we have come from, and inspire, challenge and stimulate us."
    Source: https://www.museumsassociation.org/campaigns/museums-change-lives/
  • "Until the fall semester of 1986, the history department at Gallaudet University had never before offered a course in the history of deaf people.
    In the 122 years, to that point, since the founding of the university, which was specifically intended for the education of deaf peoples, no one had ever taught a course about this very group of people.
    In all of those years the history department had offered courses on a wide range of topics but never deaf history. "
    ENNIS, WILLIAM T., et al. “A Conversation: Looking Back on 25 Years of A Place of Their Own.” Sign Language Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, 2016, pp. 26–41. 
  • "An important matter for any minority group is that written documents in public archives are often drawn up by the majority group and do not always reflect a minority as it sees itself. Thus, preserving sign language narration is of the utmost importance and a challenge to those working in the field of Deaf history."
    In: TIINA NAUKKARINEN, Finnish Museum of the Deaf: Presenting the Life of Carl Oscar Malm (1826–1863)
  • “One story makes you weak. But as soon as we have one-hundred stories, you will be strong.”
    Chris Cleave in "Little Bee", 2008
  • “If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.”
    Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight
  • "As recently as the 1970s, deaf history did not exist. There were available sketches of various hearing men, primarily teachers, who were credited with bringing knowledge and enlightenment to generations of deaf children, but deaf adults were absent."

    In: Preface to: "Deaf History Unvailed, Interpretations from the New Scholarship". John Vickrey van Cleve, editor
    Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, 1993
  • "Beyond works of art and objects, museums collect shared heritage, memories and living cultures as well as what we call intangible collectables."
    Source: We are Museums
  • "Museums can increase our sense of wellbeing, help us feel proud of where we have come from, and inspire, challenge and stimulate us."
    Source: Museums Change Lives
  • "Nina Simon has described true inclusion in a museum context as occurring when museums value the diversity in their audience, value those individuals’ potential and contributions, when they actively link those diverse people across differences, and when the organisation reaches out with generosity and curiosity at the core.
    On a practical level this sort of museum practice would see widespread inclusion of people with disabilities in the planning of museum exhibitions, on museum boards and steering committees, and working in curatorial roles."
    In: Corinne Ball: Expressing Ourselves, 2020
  • the past can hurt

    From: Walt Disney, The Lion King

  • "Deaf people have always had a sense of their history as it was being passed down in stories told by generations of students walking in the hallways of their residential schools and by others who congregated in their clubs, ran associations, attended religious services, and played in sporting events.
    With these activities, the deaf community exhibited hallmarks of agency — an effort to maintain their social, cultural, and political autonomy amid intense pressure to conform as hearing, speaking people."
    BRIAN H. GREENWALD AND JOSEPH J. MURRAY, in: Sign Language Studies, Volume 17, Number 1, Fall 2016
  • "Histories have for too long emphasized the controversies over communication methods and the accomplishments of hearing people in the education of deaf students, with inadequate attention paid to those deaf individuals who created communication bridges and distinguished themselves as change agents in their respective field of endeavour."
    from: Harry G. Lang, Bonny Meath-Lang: Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences, 1995
  • "Inclusion is moving from “we tolerate your presence” to “we WANT you here with us”.
    Jillian Enright in The Social Model of Disability, 2021
  • "Deaf mute, deaf and dumb, hearing impaired – the choices are many and not without consequences. Words have many meanings, they convey attitudes and prejudices and may hurt, even when used in a well-intended context."
    Hanna Mellemsether, in:  Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum, 2013
  • "For many members of the Deaf community their shared history is both personal and social. Deaf people will have gone to the same school, in many cases boarding schools where most of their younger lives will have been spent together, and then met again at their Deaf clubs, Deaf social events, reunions and other more personal events.
    One of the first things a Deaf person will often ask on meeting, before asking your name, is what school or Deaf club you go to. Making this connection is an important part of any greeting, as it will then help an individual to understand what shared history or people in common you may have."
    from: The Cultural Model of Deafness
  • "This (Deaf) Museum is not intended as a casual show, to be seen once and forgotten. Its pretensions are nobler; it has a humanitarian aim. By its solid and tangible evidences, making history memorable and attractive by illustration, it serves a double purpose: to dispel ignorance and prejudice regarding the deaf, and to raise the victims of this prejudice and ignorance to their true level in society."
    The British Deaf Monthly, Vol. VI (p.265) 1897. In: Deaf Museums and Archival Centres, 2006
  • "The Finnish Museum of the Deaf) was founded by deaf people, and, thus, its task has been to strengthen their identity and historical communality.

    Most of our materials have a connection to the key experiences that generations of deaf people have shared. These are important in understanding the past and keeping the collective memory alive."
    In: TIINA NAUKKARINEN, Finnish Museum of the Deaf: Presenting the Life of Carl Oscar Malm (1826–1863)
  • "Opening ourselves to the Deaf community, listening to and respecting them as co-creators and experts telling the stories they want told, makes our practice richer, and has ongoing positive effects for the community.
    These embryonic relationships hopefully encourage Deaf people to feel welcome in our space — it’s their space too.
    For both side, communities and museum professionals, while genuinely, openly and truly committing to working together can be time-consuming, it repays any investment many-fold."
    Corinne Ball: Expressing ourselves’: creating a Deaf exhibition", 2020
  • "The Deaf community is international. What binds Deaf people, despite their different national sign languages, is their shared visual communication, history, cultural activities, and the need for a Deaf “space” where people come together."

    from: The Cultural Model of Deafness
  • "Access to and participation in culture is a basic human right. Everyone has a right to representation and agency in museums, and communities should have the power to decide how they engage."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • “Stories of disability are largely absent from museum displays. Where they appear, they often reflect deeply entrenched, negative attitudes towards physical and mental difference. Research reveals that museums don’t simply reflect attitudes; they are active in shaping conversations about difference.
    Projects created with disabled people show that museums hold enormous potential to shape more progressive, accurate and respectful ways of understanding human diversity. Why wouldn’t we take up this opportunity? ”
    Richard Sandell, co-director, Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester
  • "After all, we are all of us explorers, and we all have much to bring to each other from our own
    journeyings."
    Ladd, P. (2003). Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood.