Thursday, November 7, 2019

Fifteen years ago, museum technologists rarely discussed visitors, much less data related to visitors. Today the landscape has changed. Museum technologists have an intense hunger for data on how visitors experience cultural institutions, and data-centric sessions at museum technology conferences are now common. Many factors have helped intensify this interest in research about visitors -- their needs, motivations, and behaviors -- including the spread of human-centered design (personas, visitor journeys) and the emerging availability of “big” data, social media and the internet of things. This is a fantastic development for our field.

When approaching data from a design and prototyping perspective, almost any data is seen as good data. Creating process around dealing with data, moving from data to insight, shaping your work in response to those insights, and institutionalizing those findings-- those actions are the next steps beyond collecting data. That’s the truly hard part. How do those that handle data in museums professionally deal with these issues?

Approaching the issues from a social science lens, we will discuss data strategy, the missing links in data-based decision making, and tease out the whole process of how we think about data and work with museums to make it actionable.

Session Type60-Minute Session (Professional Forum or Hands-on Demonstration)

TrackEvaluation
Chatham House RuleNo

Key Outcomes

Attendees will be able to better understand the current climate of demand for data and evaluation in context, and apply that understanding to data and/or evaluation practice within their own work, whether they are in leadership, design, technology, or education.

Speakers

Session Leader : Kate Haley Goldman, Principal, HG&Co

Co-Presenter : Cathy Sigmond, Research Associate, RK&A

Co-Presenter : Elee Wood, Fielding Curator/Educator for Early American Art, The Huntington