Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Museums need to attract more visitors. Personalization of exhibitions is one way to achieve this end. There are various options for personalization using information systems. A major question is how directive personalization should be. This paper reports on two explorative studies into methods for personalizing digital content presentation in museum exhibitions. 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.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 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.