The MUSETECH Model
The MUSETECH Model[1] posits that in order for museums to successfully utilize technologies, there are three stakeholder perspectives that must be considered: the museum as an institution, the cultural heritage professionals who interpret its collections, and the visitors who use these resources. Throughout all stages of a museum technology project, these perspectives offer views that complement and inform the others in a way that can build institutional synergy. This model also states that there are four primary stages or constituents of a museum technology project: design, content, operation, and compliance. These quartiles contain evaluation criteria per perspective, grouped by thematic categories, which allows for a granular overview of the considerations throughout each stage of the technology project.
(EC) Evaluation Criteria
There are a total of 121 Evaluation Criteria that provide a granular overview of the project for the museum as an institution, cultural heritage professionals and visitors.
Coordinates
Each Evaluation Criteria is assigned a unique ID, making it easier to address specific areas of the matrix. Each Evaluation Criteria is listed by Quartile, Cluster, Perspective and Evaluation Criteria. For example, D1Pa refers to the “Design Quartile”, “Cluster 1: Design and product ideation” for the “Cultural Heritage Professional”, Evaluation Criteria “a”.
Perspectives
(M) Museum as an Institution
This addresses the needs of the institution as it exists interdependently with the Cultural Heritage Professionals it employs and the Visitors that utilize its resources.
(CHP) Cultural Heritage Professional
This addresses the needs of professionals who works within a Museum institution, regardless of their department or title. These professionals perform a large portion of the interactions with Visitors and often create content through utilization of the Museum’s resources.
(V) Visitor
This addresses the needs of individuals who are accessing the Museum’s resources by utilizing content created through a Cultural Heritage Professional, in both self-directed or facilitated interactions.
Quartiles
(D) Design
This stage regards the ideation of the technology project, its interaction methods, user experience, and aesthetics.
(C) Content
This stage regards content creation and management for the technology project.
| Cluster | Perspective | Evaluation Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| C1. Content Creation | Cultural Heritage Professional | C1Pa. Utility, usability and ease of use |
| C1Pb. Learnability and learning curve | ||
| C1Pc. Personalization and adaptation | ||
| C1Pd. Multilingualism | ||
| C1Pe. Community support | ||
| C1Pf. Technology knowledge and support in the house | ||
| C1Pg. Interoperability | ||
| Museum | C1Ma. Continuity of usage | |
| C1Mb. Logging | ||
| Visitor | C1Va. Perceived content quality | |
| C1Vb. Visitor-created content, creation and curation | ||
| C2. Content Maintenance | Cultural Heritage Professional | C2Pa. Ability to make changes in-house |
| C2Pb. Potential for documenting and archiving | ||
| Museum | C2Ma. Staff acceptance | |
| C2Mb. Interoperability and modularity | ||
| Visitor | C2Va. Personalization | |
| C2Vb. Social interaction and sharing | ||
| C2Vc. Continuity of usage |
(O) Operation
This stage regards the logistics of running and maintaining the technology project through its lifetime and beyond.
(MP) Compliance
This stages covers ethical and legal considerations regarding health, safety, and liability as they relate to the technology project.
| Cluster | Perspective | Evaluation Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| MP1. Health, Safety and Accessibility | Cultural Heritage Professional | MP1Pa. Accessibility |
| MP1Pb. Appropriateness | ||
| MP1Pc. Safety | ||
| Museum | MP1Ma. Safety | |
| MP1Mb. Emergency management | ||
| MP1Mc. Disposal and recycling | ||
| MP1Md. Hygiene, cleaning and maintenance | ||
| Visitor | MP1Va. Accessibility | |
| MP1Vb. Appropriateness | ||
| MP1Vc. Safety | ||
| MP2. Logging and Monitoring | Cultural Heritage Professional | MP2Pa. Logging and monitoring |
| Museum | MP2Ma. Log storage, access, privacy and analytics | |
| Visitor | MP2Va. Personalization | |
| MP2Vb. Legal compliance | ||
| MP3. Ethics and Legal Issues | Cultural Heritage Professional | MP3Pa. Protecting audiences |
| MP3Pb. Data gathering and protection | ||
| Museum | MP3Ma. Other legal issues | |
| Visitor | MP3Va. Trust and confidence in museum |
