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Museum Visitors (museum + visitor)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences83%

Selected Abstracts

Strategies for the Curiosity-Driven Museum Visitor

CURATOR THE MUSEUM JOURNAL, Issue 4 2004
Jay Rounds
ABSTRACT Tracking studies show that museum visitors typically view only 20 to 40 percent of an exhibition. Current literature states that this partial use sub-optimizes the educational benefit gained by the visitor, and that skilled visitors view an exhibition comprehensively and systematically. Contrary to that viewpoint, this paper argues that partial use of exhibitions is an intelligent and effective strategy for the visitor whose goal is to have curiosity piqued and satisfied. By using analytical approaches derived from "optimal foraging theory" in ecology, this paper demonstrates that the curiosity-driven visitor seeks to maximize the Total Interest Value of his or her museum visit. Such visitors use a set of simple heuristics to find and focus attention only on exhibit elements with high interest value and low search costs. Their selective use of exhibit elements results in greater achievement of their own goals than would be gained by using the exhibition comprehensively. [source]

Writing the History of Humanity: The Role of Museums in Defining Origins and Ancestors in a Transnational World

CURATOR THE MUSEUM JOURNAL, Issue 1 2005
Monique Scott
ABSTRACT This article explores the question of how transnational audiences experience anthropology exhibitions in particular, and the natural history museum overall. Of interest are the ways in which natural history museums reconcile anthropological notions of humanity's shared evolutionary history,in particular, African origins accounts,with visitors' complex cultural identities. Through case studies of British, American, and Kenyan museum audiences, this research probed the cultural preconceptions that museum visitors bring to the museum and use to interpret their evolutionary heritage. The research took special notice of audiences of African descent, and their experiences in origins exhibitions and the natural history museums that house them. The article aims to draw connections between natural history museums and the dynamic ways in which museum visitors make meaning. As museums play an increasing role in the transnational homogenization of cultures, human origins exhibitions are increasingly challenged to communicate an evolutionary prehistory that we collectively share, while validating the cultural histories that make us unique. [source]

Strategies for the Curiosity-Driven Museum Visitor

CURATOR THE MUSEUM JOURNAL, Issue 4 2004
Jay Rounds
ABSTRACT Tracking studies show that museum visitors typically view only 20 to 40 percent of an exhibition. Current literature states that this partial use sub-optimizes the educational benefit gained by the visitor, and that skilled visitors view an exhibition comprehensively and systematically. Contrary to that viewpoint, this paper argues that partial use of exhibitions is an intelligent and effective strategy for the visitor whose goal is to have curiosity piqued and satisfied. By using analytical approaches derived from "optimal foraging theory" in ecology, this paper demonstrates that the curiosity-driven visitor seeks to maximize the Total Interest Value of his or her museum visit. Such visitors use a set of simple heuristics to find and focus attention only on exhibit elements with high interest value and low search costs. Their selective use of exhibit elements results in greater achievement of their own goals than would be gained by using the exhibition comprehensively. [source]

The importance of values research for nonprofit organisations: the motivation-based values of museum visitors

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING, Issue 2 2001
Maree Thyne
Marketing is very important to nonprofit organisations, and museums, being nonprofits, need to consider different market segments when designing and implementing their strategic and marketing plans. Marketing has traditionally been linked to concepts of profitability and providing a competitive edge, however with nonprofit organisations, marketing needs to focus on customer service. To achieve the best customer service, the organisation needs to know what the customer wants. Therefore this paper advocates that research on museums move away from demographic segmentation and factual recall, to psychographic segmentation and values. This paper discusses exploratory research undertaken on the Otago Museum, New Zealand, which looks at the motivation-based values of the museum patrons. The most important finding in this study is the prevalence of socially oriented values (being with friends and family), whereas traditionally a museum visit has been linked to more individualistic values, such as education and knowledge. These findings have important implications for museum managers (and other nonprofit organisations) in that they show the value of psychographic segmentation. A museum, and other arts organisations, can decide if they will target one particular segment, for example, families, or if they will design their museum with quite different sections that will appeal to different target markets. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications [source]

The digital museum in the life of the user

PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2005
Hsin-liang Chen
This panel will explore the fascinating issue of the "digital museum in the life of the user." As online museums, digital museum collections, and enhanced gallery devices become more common, it is important that we improve our understanding of how museum visitors make use of digital museum resources, online and in house. This panel, therefore, will discuss approaches to and the need for a better understanding of the users and usage of digital museums. [source]

Front and Back Covers, Volume 22, Number 3.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2006
June 200
Front and back cover caption, volume 22 issue 3 Front & back cover ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEMORY The front cover shows a statue Of General Francisco Franco In the exhibition 'Franco, Listen!', held at the Museum of Vilafranca del Penedčs, Barcelona. The statue was displayed with the aim of stimulating comment, dialogue and action among museum visitors around the time of the 30th anniversary of the dictator's death on 20 November 1975. It was attacked by a group of Catalan pro-independence activists, who poured red paint over Franco's head, invested him with a crown, and hung a sign around his neck reading: 'The Spanish Monarchy is a direct inheritance from Franco - end the hypocrisy.' The back cover shows a formerly unmarked mass grave strewn with floral tributes after a spontaneous ceremony led by relatives of the 46 people killed near Villamayor de los Montes (Burgos), following the exhumation of the bodies in July 2004. In this issue, Francisco Ferrándiz describes the debates taking place in Spain around the exhumation of mass graves from the Civil War (1936-1939). In the last few years the strength of the 'movement for the recovery of historical memory' linked to the exhumations has been such that some on the political right are denouncing the advent of a 'new hegemony of the defeated' that is taking the place of the 'agreement of all' which many believe was the trademark of the Spanish transition to democracy. Proposing that anthropologists visit and address the sites of memory - exhumations, cemeteries, political discourses, laws and commemorations, claims of victimhood, media reports, artistic performances, forensic laboratories, academic meetings and summer schools, historiographical debates, civil associations, historical archives, public and private rituals, narratives of the defeat and old photo albums, to name a few - Ferrándiz encourages anthropology to engage in 'rapid response' research, to diversify fieldwork locations, to modulate research strategies in order to address rapidly evolving problems, to continue visiting the sites of violence, past and present, and to produce the type of knowledge that allows us to participate in substantive ways in social and political debates well beyond our discipline and beyond our academic setting. [source]