How (not) to personalise content presentation in museum
exhibitions: Visitors want control
Abstract
Museums need to attract more visitors. Personalization of exhibitions is one way to achieve
this end. Various options for personalization using information systems have been proposed.
A major question is how directive personalization should be. Is visitor satisfaction highest if
the system limits the burden of choice, or should it leave a great deal of autonomy to the
visitor? This paper reports on two explorative studies into methods for personalizing digital
content presentation in museum exhibitions. The methods differ as to the degree of control
they allow the user. Visitor preference for and acceptance of 1) profiling methods, varying as
to context sensitivity and 2) presentation methods, varying as to the amount of guidance
imposed on visitors by the presentation, were tested using a simulated exhibition. Test visitors
varied as to age and museum experience. The main findings are that visitor satisfaction with
context sensitive, stepwise profiling was higher than with immediate, abstract profiling; that
independent exploration was preferred to directive guidance; that visitor variables had only
minor influences throughout on satisfaction with both profiling and guidance methods.
Implications of the studies for the implementation of personalized museum visitor support
systems may be that using context-sensitive interaction resulting in suggestions to the visitor
is a much more successful option than sign-in forms and the like opaque methods instantly
returning a profile. In closing we recommend a continuous and adaptive form of profiling
during the entire visit, enabling a flexible form of presentation varying as to the degree of
guidance.
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Convention