The MUSETECH Model

From CLIO

The MUSETECH Model[1] posits that in order for museums to successfully utilize technologies, there are three stakeholder perspectives that must be considered. 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. These quartiles contain evaluation criteria per perspective, grouped by thematic categories called clusters, which allows for a granular overview of the considerations throughout each stage of the technology project.

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.

Quartile Clusters Cultural Heritage Professional Museum Visitor
Design D1. Design and Product Ideation D1Pa. Design Concept D1Ma. Level of Innovation and business intelligence D1Va. Co-design, front-end evaluation and visitor acceptance
D1Pb. Integration with Exhibition D1Mb. Brand name, uniqueness, originality
D1Pc. Integration with other ICT D1Mc. Integration with other ICT
D1Pd. Balancing Physical with Digital D1Md. Budget
D1Pe. Understanding the Fabrication Process D1Me. Staff acceptance
D1Pf. In-house technical knowledge
D2. Experience Design and Narratives D2Pa. Experience added value D2Ma. Interpretive, educational and learning potential D2Va. Engagement
D2Pb. Relevance to audience D2Mb. Personalization potential D2Vb. Personalization
D2Pc. Tailored content D2Mc. Public outreach and communication D2Vc. Learning, entertainment and edutainment
D2Pd. Attentional balance D2Md. Big data potential D2Vd. Attentional balance
D2Pe. Social interaction D2Ve. Affective impact
D2Pf. Before and after the visit support D2Vf. Social interaction
D2Vg. Ability to follow usage on other platforms
D2Vh. Sense of belonging to a community
D3. Interactions, Affordances and Interaction Metaphors D3Pa. Quality of Affordances D3Ma. Follow-up usage on other platforms D3Va. Utility, usability and ease of use
D3Pb. Suitability of interaction metaphors D3Mb. Brand name, uniqueness and originality D3Vb. Intuitiveness, learnability and learning curve
D3Pc. Interface design D3Vc. Responsiveness
D3Pd. Clarity of navigation D3Vd. Clarity of navigation
D3Pe. Follow-up usage on other platforms D3Ve. Personalization
D3Pf. Multisensoriality D3Vf. Social interaction
D3Vg. Ability to follow-up usage on other platforms
D3Vh. Presence of Multisensoriality
D4. Aesthetics, Look and Feel, and Visceral Qualities D4Pa. Look and feel D4Ma. Brand name, uniqueness and originality D4Va. Look and feel

(C) Content

This stage regards content creation and management for the technology project.

Quartile Cluster Cultural Heritage Professional Museum Visitor
Content C1. Content Creation C1Pa. Utility, usability and ease of use C1Ma. Continuity of usage C1Va. Perceived content quality
C1Pb. Learnability and learning curve C1Mb. Logging C1Vb. Visitor-created content, creation and curation
C1Pc. Personalization and adaptation
C1Pd. Multilingualism
C1Pe. Community support
C1Pf. Technology knowledge and support in the house
C1Pg. Interoperability
C2. Content Maintenance C2Pa. Ability to make changes in-house C2Ma. Staff acceptance C2Va. Personalization
C2Pb. Potential for documenting and archiving C2Mb. Interoperability and modularity 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.

  • O1. Deployment and setting-up
  • O2. Robustness and maintenance
  • O3. Power and energy
  • O4. Costs
  • O5. Additional resources

(MP) Compliance

This stages covers ethical and legal considerations regarding health, safety, and liability as they relate to the technology project.

  • MP1. Health, safety and accessibility
  • MP2. Logging and monitoring
  • MP3. Ethics and legal issues

Navigating the Model

(EC) Evaluation Criteria

Each Quartile has Clusters, which contain Evaluation Criteria for each perspective. 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”.

References