Museums reaching audience in the physical and virtual worlds (a

Museums reaching audience in the
physical and virtual worlds (a real-life
situation)
System analysis: the website as a welcoming card
Ana Luísa Alves Marques
June 2012
IVA/RSLIS – Master’s Thesis
Ana Luísa Alves Marques
Year of Matriculation: 2010
Master’s Thesis
Supervisor: Karen Birgitte Philipson
Museums reaching audience in the physical and virtual worlds
(a real-life situation)
System analysis: the website as a welcoming card
Number of standard pages: 63 (out of a maximum of 75)
Royal School of Library and Information Science
Master in Library and Information Science
June 2012
1
Acknowledgments
The human kind was not made to be alone. For this reason, even an individual academic work is not lonely.
First of all, I gladly thank to Det Informationsvidenskabelige Akademi, or Royal School of Library and
Information Science, for my acceptance. It was a dream made true that, as all dreams, did not go as
expected. I could never dream how this amazing adventure would be, with so many downs but with so
many ups as well. I had a lesson to life and I am very thankful for this opportunity.
Equally, I must thank to Karen Philipson for all the support since my first semester in the Master, for
accepting to be my thesis supervisor and for all the patience and advice during the realization of this thesis.
Karen’s positive way of being was a very important motivation for me.
As well, thanks to Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis, especially to its director, Maria João Vasconcelos, and
its head of communication, Ana Cristina Macedo, who allowed me to study the museum for this thesis and
who kindly gave some hours of their work time to answer my interview.
I must thank, as well, to Kate Corneliussen, Hans Nielsen, Susanne Acevedo and Peter Havnø for their
kindness during this entire Master’s process, and to all the teachers I had, who were inspiring: Karen
Philipson, Birger Hjørland, Peter Ingwersen, Haakon Lund, Birger Larsen, Toine Bogers and Laura
Skouvig. And also to ITU, for the one semester I was allowed to spend there.
Personally, I have to thank, above all, to Paulo, because the truth is that I would never be able to live this
adventure by myself; he was the reason I was never alone, even in the coldest and darkest nights all by
myself in Copenhagen; even when everything seemed wrong; even when I should had left everything
behind to support him. His altruism was the source of my strength. And to Rafael, who allowed me to watch
his growth, talked to me almost every day and never forgot me while I was away.
To my mother, who believed in me and made a gigantic effort to make this adventure possible. And a
special thank for the nights spent on the phone to make me company. Also, I thank to my brother for the
strength he had while I was way.
I also must thank to Patrícia, the only one who remembered I was going to spend my first Easter alone and
never forgot me, and to Catarina, who has the magic of reading my soul and understand everything further
than adults. I hope she never grows up.
A big thank you to Vanessa, my dearest portuguese friend living in Copenhagen, to who I am not always so
kind, but who, after all, had lots of patience for me. We had unique moments - and will ever have - hard to
count, that I am very thankful for, and I know that one day we will laugh together again; and it will be a
totally truth, childish and happy laugh.
A thank also to Claudia, who also joined this adventure. Thanks especially for the chats, the chicken dishes,
the IKEA adventure and the funny moments taking wonderful pictures.
To Veso, the “older brother” who helped me so much in my integration in the Grønjordskollegiet and with
the jobs I was lucky to get; to Karīna and Anine, two real friends I was blessed to have; to Niklas for his
craziness; to Lasse for the football funny moments; to Mie for my first blanket; to Signe for my first meal;
to Mette and Fleming for the help and kindness in my last days in Copenhagen. And to Jan, Chava,
Charlotte, Danielle, Alex, Martin, Ninni, Kathrine, Kamille, Kasper, Nikolaj, Kim and Rosa.
To København itself, that definitely has now part of my heart.
And, least but not last, thank to those who, although far away, were always there for me, and still are. I have
the best friends in the whole world: Paula, André, Marcos, Rodolfo, Bárbara, Clara, Ana. And all the others
that remained in my heart and mind.
Thank you!
2
Abstract (1 pag. max)
Museums have the major role in the maintenance and communication of objects, but they cannot
reach everyone: there are physical, historical and even economic barriers to the museums.
The webpage of a museum is, then, its virtual welcoming card. Nowadays, if something does not
exist on the web, then it does not exist at all, and a museum is not an exception.
A web page of a museum is the weapon that makes a museum be known, that tries to reach
everyone, aiming to appeal for the people's approach to the museum. But, for this approach to
happen, the web page needs to be appealing and a reliable picture of what is the physical museum,
meaning the museum itself.
Using a case museum, specifically the Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis (National Museum Soares
dos Reis), which communication in the digital and physical worlds I analyzed and compared in a
qualitative study to illustrate theoretical problems, I looked for a real life situation to illustrate the
theoretical problems that exist when trying to synchronize the digital world and the physical world.
In the end, it is possible to conclude that an error on a museum webpage can cost the museum its
audience. And, without audience, there is no purpose in communicating objects because we would
be communicating knowledge to no one.
3
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 5
THESIS STATEMENT AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................... 8
METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 9
THEORY................................................................................................................................................ 10
.OBJECTS AS DOCUMENTS ............................................................................................................................. 10
.CULTURAL HERITAGE AND INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE .............................................................................. 11
.A BRIEF LOOK OVER MUSEUMS ..................................................................................................................... 12
.WHY PEOPLE GO TO MUSEUMS? ................................................................................................................... 15
METHODOLOGY FOR A SURVEY ............................................................................................................. 15
RESULTS OF AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ......................................................................................................... 16
BRIEF CONCLUSIONS FROM THE SURVEY ........................................................................................................... 22
.INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE: A FRAMEWORK FOR THE MUSEUM WEBPAGE ANALYSIS ............................................ 23
AN OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE: THREE MOVEMENTS......................................................... 24
WORKING WITH INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE ....................................................................................... 27
THE INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................... 30
ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................. 33
.CHOOSING A WEBSITE AND A MUSEUM ......................................................................................................... 33
.THE ANALYSIS APPROACH ............................................................................................................................ 34
.LOOKING AT THE MUSEU NACIONAL SOARES DOS REIS WEBPAGE........................................................................ 35
WHAT AM I EXPECTING FROM A MUSEUM WITH THIS WEBSITE? .................................................................. 35
AN INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE ANALYSIS ........................................................................................... 39
.THE PHYSICAL SPACE OF MUSEU NACIONAL SOARES DOS REIS ............................................................................. 43
VISITING THE MUSEUM ...................................................................................................................... 43
THE INTERVIEW: COMMUNICATION PURPOSES ......................................................................................... 47
.COMPARING THE DIGITAL AND THE PHYSICAL SPACES OF THE MUSEU NACIONAL SOARES DOS REIS............................. 49
DISCUSSING THE RESULTS AND PRESENTING SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT ............................... 52
COMPARING MUSEUMS: AN EXAMPLE OF HOW TO SYNCHRONIZE THE PHYSICAL WORLD AND THE DIGITAL WORLD........... 55
CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 57
DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................................... 58
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 60
4
Introduction
In November of 2011, the UNESCO’s committee of experts, meeting on Bali,
Indonesia, unanimously added Fado, Lisbon’s mournful song, Coimbra’s academic
tradition, and, generically, the Portuguese most traditional music genre, to UNESCO’s
list of World’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.
One of the clauses for adding Fado to this list was the existence of “Museu do Fado”
(Museum of Fado), in order to have an organization to preserve Fado’s heritage, mainly
composed of material things. The museum itself, in its webpage, mentions that since its
creation (…), the Museum has incorporated (…) several collections of periodicals,
pictures, posters, music scores, music instruments, phonograms, clothes and performing
props, trophies, medals, professional documents, contracts, licences, professional
cards, among many other testimonies that co-existed and/or created Fado. It is an
essentially unattainable and immaterial patrimony (…) and thus hard to materialize in
another testimony than that of the individual memory of each of us. As a testimony to
this interdependence relation between the material museological pieces and the
immateriality of the patrimony they evoke and document, Museu do Fado - municipal
museological equipment entirely consecrated to the fado universe - has incorporated
the functional valences inherent to the museology of the unattainable patrimony since
its genesis1.
Fado, and its museum, is only a recent example that illustrates the importance of
objects, in this specific case for preserving our cultural heritage.
Since my degree in Information Science that I have a fascination with objects. Through
those four academic years that made my Bachelor, I learned what I realized I always
knew: objects carry information and so they can be seen as documents. And, more than
information, objects seem to carry or raise feelings.
This idea of objects being documents is not original; Paul Otlet is one of the many
authors in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field who defended this idea,
being he known for his observation that documents could be three-dimensional, which
enabled the inclusion of sculpture. (…) As examples of such “documents”, Otlet cites
natural objects, artifacts, objects bearing traces of human activity (such as
archaeological finds), explanatory models, educational games and works of art2.
Another name I would point out would be Suzanne Briet, who even takes an antelope as
a document, stating that if it were to be captured, taken to a zoo and made an object of
study, it has been made into a document3. As I agree with these authors, objects
fascinate me in the way they can be kept to preserve our culture and our history.
1
In: MUSEU DO FADO. Museum: History. Available at:
http://www.museudofado.pt/gca/index.phhttp://www.museudofado.pt/gca/index.php?id=12p?id=12.
Retrieved on January 2012.
2 In: Buckland, Michael K. (1997) What is a document? Journal of the American Society of
Information Science, 48 (9) p. 805
3 Idem, Ibidem, p. 806
5
Personally, I appreciate going to what I call “museums in castles”. Being in the place
itself and looking at the furniture, clothing and so many other objects from other
decades, it makes me dream of times I never lived in, but that I feel very close to me in
the way they are exposed and described in the museums.
Although I did not lived in times where castles where the home of royalty and nobility, I
can learn much about those centuries of our history, not only with the teachers and the
school subject of History, and with literature and most recently with the Web, but also
going to the museums.
For sure, one thing is to read about something, another is to be able to look at the
subject of our reading. A good example would be the dinosaurs. One thing is to look at
images of those colossal creatures, but a completely different feeling is to look at the
bones of the dinosaurs when they are in exposition and be able to realize their enormity.
Linked together, culture and history make our cultural heritage. This, is made of
immaterial or intangible heritage (like, for example, Fado, the era of the dinosaurs or the
life of the nobility) and material or tangible heritage (like, for example, music
instruments, bones of dinosaurs or castles), which have an interdependence relation,
being the material heritage a support for, and a complement of, the immaterial heritage.
In the words of Unesco, what people recognize as part of their cultural heritage is the
practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments,
objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith4.
To communicate is the main reason for preserving the cultural heritage. Objects are one
of the most significant part of the cultural heritage, as they represent the material part.
But the communication of objects is not so easy. There is more trouble (and fewer
traditions or standards) to describe and make available an object than, for instance, a
book. This difficulty is because the user, generically, cannot understand an object
without a contextualization in time, in space, in history, while a book can simply be
read and perhaps be understood if a person can read.
Museums have the major role in the maintenance and communication of objects but
even those cannot reach everyone.
There are physical, historical and even economic barriers to the museums: we cannot
travel the world when we want and just because we want to visit a museum, it involves
having money and time to spend on it; also, the history of each country, and sometimes
each city or even smaller places, is usually distributed around those places, although
there are some museums with pieces belonging to one country in other country, due to
historical events as a simple acquisition or a war acquisition (for example, the Ny
Carlsberg Glyptotek, a museum in Copenhagen that has a collection that consists of
works of art and artifacts from the beginning of history in Mesopotamia, Egypt of the
UNESCO. (2003) Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage . p. 2.
Available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001325/132540e.pdf. Retrieved on January 2012.
4
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pharaohs, ancient Greece, Etruria and the Roman (…)5). Comparing with Libraries,
which already have shared catalogs and digitized books, we can understand that the
museums have more difficulty to communicate their pieces.
Because of the information era that we live on, we have great weapons to try to make
information available for everyone. Museums should take advantage of touristic
journeys to increase their audience, for example, because it is when many people take
the chance to visit a foreign museum. But this is only possible if the museum is known
in the world.
This way, we can understand that the website of a museum is a first and very welcomed
way to try to reach everyone and make a museum known – a website is placed in the
digital world, a place without geographical barriers, which is available across the world.
Because of this importance, an error on a museum website can compromise the people's
approach to the museums.
5
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek: The Collections. Available at: http://www.glyptoteket.com/explore/thecollections. Retrieved on February 2012.
7
Thesis Statement and Research Questions
Many objects can be documents, once they can document parts of our culture and
history.
To keep our cultural heritage, these objects need to be maintained and preserved and,
most significantly, communicated; there would be no point in preserve something for no
one to know. This way, the custody of the objects must be made in a proper way, in a
way that allows, not only the preservation of the objects, but their communication and
the passage of knowledge to others.
Museums are the institutions that keep objects belonging to our history and culture and,
consequently, museums have an enormous participation in the passage of knowledge,
once that a good description of the objects, possibly contextualized in time and era or
period, allows objects not to be simply objects, but rather artifacts rich in information,
knowledge, history and probably memories of others.
Although the intention of the museums is to communicate the knowledge they have,
there are many barriers to the museums, mainly physical and economic, that prevent
knowledge from reaching everyone.
The webpage of a museum is, then, its virtual welcoming card. Nowadays, if something
does not exist on the web, then it does not exist at all, and a museum is not an
exception. A web page of a museum is the weapon that makes a museum be known, that
tries to reach everyone, aiming to appeal for the people's approach to the museum. But,
for this approach to happen, the web page needs to be appealing and a reliable picture of
what is the physical museum, meaning the museum itself.
My interest is then the communication of the museum through the website and the
synchronization of both the real and digital worlds. Therefore, my research questions
are going to have their focus in this: Do museums introduce to the public what they
want to communicate? Is the web page of a museum actually a reliable picture of the
museum itself? Is a webpage of a museum capable to make the difference to its
audience?
Using a case museum, specifically the real life situation of Museu Nacional Soares dos
Reis (National Museum Soares dos Reis), and comparing how the museum
communicates in the digital world (in its webpage) and how it communicates in the
physical world - in a qualitative study to illustrate theoretical problems -, I intend to
have empirical knowledge that, together with literature, will help me answer the
questions mentioned above.
8
Methodology
In order to guide myself towards the answer to my questions, there is a need to build a
guideline for what I intend to do, basing myself in literature, as I am not alone in my
main ideas.
First of all, there is a need to discuss how objects can be documents, as objects have a
very important role in this thesis theme. There is the need to understand that some
objects can be seen as documents, but also to realize where is the line between an object
and an “object-document”. This is not going to be discussed in an exhaustive way, as it
is a topic about a personal motivation that led to the theme of the thesis, and not a main
topic.
Linked to this realization, derives a short understanding of cultural heritage, as the main
interest in objects is about the preservation of our cultural heritage. This will be a
general topic that makes the bridge between objects and museums.
Consequently, because objects are usually in museums - and because the proposed
finalization of this thesis is a study of a museum - arises a brief and general look over
museums.
Since the idea of keeping and preserving the cultural heritage is only logical in order to
provide that knowledge to others – to communicate it -, springs a chapter about why
people go to museums. Because I intend to not base myself in literature only, and I
intend to have data about this year, is will make a short empirical study on this matter,
aiming also to have some more insight to use when studying the museum.
As the completion of this thesis is about comparing the website of a museum to its
physical space, and make an analysis of the website, I will make a chapter about
Information Architecture, introducing it and presenting the "framework" for the
museum webpage analysis.
With all the theoretical ideas clear, I should have the basis to analyze the Museu
Nacional Soares dos Reis website, based in a framework founded from Information
Architecture theory; and to make a comparison between what is communicated in the
“virtual museum” and in the “real museum” (combining knowledge about how is the
museum, what the museum wants to communicate and what is actually communicated
through the webpage), aiming to get knowledge to create results and make conclusions
about the importance of a museum webpage and the synchronization of the physical and
digital worlds.
9
Theory
.Objects as documents
Objects are one of the main subjects of this project, but not any kind of object.
Objects can be documents, as many authors in the LIS field defend; but it is not any
object that can be stated as a document.
“Ordinarily the word "document" denotes a textual record”6, but is not a traditional
textual record – paper – three-dimensional? In two generations of work, Paul Otlet and
Suzanne Briet changed minds about the concept of document.
Primarily, Paul Otlet extended the definition of “document” halfway through his Traité
de Documentation of 1934. Graphic and written records are representations of ideas or
of objects, he wrote, but the objects themselves can be regarded as “documents” if you
are informed by observation of them.
Suzanne Briet, in her book Qu’est-ce que la documentation? (What Is Documentation?)
of 1951, when speaking about what resources should be used by documentalists,
declared that bibliography is no longer concerned with books but with access to
evidence. So any object or event that gives evidence of some fact was functionally a
document, not just, or foremost, books or other paper sources7.
Summarizing the ideas from both authors, a document has the characteristics of
informing by observation and giving access to evidence. An object can, therefore, be a
document if it matches these characteristics.
Understanding that objects can be documents, the next step is to understand where is the
barrier between an object and an “object-document”.
Paul Otlet states that in a general way, one can say that documents of all kinds, the
production of which began centuries ago and continues unceasingly in all countries, are
registering or have registered, day by day, all that has been transmitted from
generation to generation and from place to place. As a whole, then, documents form the
graphic memory of humanity, the physical body of knowledge.8 I consider that we can
summarize this definition in this way: a document is something where one can register a
thought, but this is only going to be understood if one is able to interpret it. And so, it
could be a “flat surface” as paper, a rock from the “Stone Age”, a painting, and so on;
but we need to be careful though, otherwise we are going to shape everything as an
“object-document”.
In: Buckland, Michael K. (1997) What is a document? Journal of the American Society of
Information Science, 48 (9)
7 American Society for Information Science and Technology. Ronald E. Day. Suzanne Briet: An
Appreciation. Bulletin, December 2006/January 2007. Available at: http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Dec06/day.html. Retrieved on February 2012.
8 Hjørland, Birger, Nicolaisen, Jeppe, The Epistemological Lifeboat: Epistemology and Philosophy of
Science for Information Scientists. Available at: http://www.iva.dk/jni/lifeboat/info.asp?subjectid=70.
Retrieved on February 2012.
6
10
In the example of Suzanne Briet, already mentioned above, the antelope can be or not
be a document, it depends on if it stays in wild, and so it is not a document, or if it is
captured, taken to a zoo and made an object of study, and so it is going to be a
document. Then, paper, rocks or paintings are not documents unless they have
information registered on it – such as words, images, codes, signs, etc. – that could be
turned into knowledge. We should also notice that the statement of Paul Otlet also
mentions the “memory of humanity”, agreeing that all of these objects carry our
intangible cultural heritage.
The barrier between an object and an “object-document” seems to be defined by the
information that can become knowledge transmitted in an object; if an object contains
information that we can understand – like, for example, a measuring cup, which
contains measures for liquid and solid food ingredients, and if a person is able to
understand the measuring “language” – then it is an “object-document”. A simple blank
paper sheet, then, should not be a document.
.Cultural Heritage and Intangible Cultural Heritage
The main interest in objects here is linked to the importance these have for the
preservation of our cultural heritage; for this reason, a brief reflection about cultural
heritage is purposed.
The concept of Cultural Heritage has been transformed by Unesco since 1954, although
the term was internationally used since 1907. The primary texts of Unesco concerning
cultural heritage were made in response to the destruction during the Second World
War, passing the idea of responsibility for the preservation of monuments and works of
art. Many conventions succeed until this day, changing the concept and adding
categories, as the needs changed as well9.
Today, the concept is understood as an open one, reflecting living culture every bit as
much as that of the past10, leaving the ancient focus in monumental remains of cultures.
It is linked to inheritance for the future and group and cultural identity, with emotional
impact. It is about humankind, the dramatic arts, languages and traditional music, as
well as the informational, spiritual and philosophical systems upon which creations are
based11.
Having in mind the main interest of this thesis, cultural heritage encloses other
categories, being one of them intangible cultural heritage.
More information in: Janet Blake (2000). On Defining the Cultural Heritage. P. 61 – 85. Available at:
http://www.giur.uniroma3.it/studying_law/courses/2010/macmillian/J%20Blake%20On%20
Defining%20the%20Cultural%20Heritage.pdf. Retrieved on March 2012.
10 UNESCO. Culture: World Heritage: Cultural Heritage. Available at: http://portal.unesco.org/
culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2185&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Retrieved on
January 2012.
11 Idem, Ibidem.
9
11
In Paul Otlet’s previously mentioned statement about documents, this author points out
the “memory of humanity”. We can, thus, say that the author agrees that all of these
“document-objects” carry our intangible cultural heritage.
This expression, intangible cultural heritage, is mostly popularized by Unesco because
of its concern over the loss of our cultural line. Truth be told, many traditions have been
lost in time, as for example handicraft and dialects.
The attempt to preserve or safeguard all kinds of information in any format to ensure the
safety of our cultural heritage is one of the wills of Unesco; we speak about not only
history, in the narrow sense, but also about traditional dance styles, craftsmanship,
traditional rituals and many more, and that is why we use the term “intangible”, as
synonym of immaterial: “cultural heritage is not limited to material manifestations, such
as monuments and objects that have been preserved over time.
This notion also encompasses living expressions and the traditions that countless groups
and communities worldwide have inherited from their ancestors and transmit to their
descendants, in most cases orally.”12
The “intangible heritage” is also called “living heritage” as it expresses a sense of
identity and continuity; is considered “very fragile” and has become one of the priorities
of international cooperation since the Unesco’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2003. In this convention (Article 2 – Definitions),
“safeguarding means measures aimed at ensuring the viability of the intangible cultural
heritage, including the identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection,
promotion, enhancement, transmission, particularly through formal and non-formal
education, as well as the revitalization of the various aspects of such heritage.13”
In my understanding, and exposing the motivation for the interest in objects, we must
recall that, once upon a time, there were not the techniques we have today to record
information or to pass knowledge. Further than that, the world is older than the human
race. Some ancient objects, like dinosaurs’ bones, are the proof of the living creatures
that we never met in this world, but I cannot consider them as part of our cultural
heritage, as the human kind appeared later. Other (not so) ancient objects, like for
example, a prehistoric pot, are what we have as a proof and a passage of knowledge
about how life has been in this planet. Knowledge like this is immaterial or intangible,
is something we cannot grab in our hands; what we can grab are the objects, which
seem to have the role of being the proof for the existence of certain knowledge.
.A brief look over Museums
Objects are usually in museums and museums have a major role in the preservation of
our cultural heritage. But museums do not have an easy task.
12
UNESCO. Culture: Intangible Heritage. Available at: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.phpURL_ID=34325&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Retrieved on January 2012.
13 UNESCO. Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) p. 3.
12
Although it is claimed that antique findings, like for example, in the Paleolithic burials,
represent collections of objects, the idea of Museum, as we know nowadays, only
started between the 16th and 17th century.
It is quite hard to be precise about a date or a museum name to start with, once the
definition of Museum, and the structure of knowledge, varies with the view of societies.
We understand that Museums as we see them are public institutions, with private roots;
this way, what we can state is that the earliest recorded instance of a public body
receiving a private collection occurs in the 16th century with the bequests of the
brothers Domenico Cardinal Grimani and Antonio Grimani to the Venetian republic in
1523 (…). The motivation seems to have been both to promote scholarship and to grace
the seat of government14.
What we recognize as a Museum today, could not have been a Museum before, even if
we find all the today evidences of a Museum on findings from other eras. Today, the
importance of objects is in their relation to humankind15 and they are presented
according to those relationships, conferring the idea of cultural heritage.
In fact, according to the International Council Of Museums (ICOM) Statutes, 2007, a
museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its
development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates
and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for
the purposes of education, study and enjoyment16.
Although Museums deal with objects, it is not so easy to describe them, since the
manner of displaying an object varies with the world view as well.
Then, what problem is there in describing an object? We can have an example: if we
take a look to the website of Object ID, an international standard for describing cultural
objects, launched in 1997 and extended in 2004 (used, for example, by Unesco), we can
find the Object ID Checklist with the following rules:
Take photographs: photographs are of vital importance in identifying and recovering
stolen objects. In addition to overall views, take close-ups of inscriptions, markings,
and any damage or repairs. If possible, include a scale or object of known size in the
image.
Answer these questions:

What kind of object is it (e.g., painting, sculpture, clock, mask)?

What materials is the object made of (e.g., brass, wood, oil on canvas)?
Encyclopædia Britannica (2012). History of museums. Available at:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/398827/history-of-museums. Retrieved on March 2012.
15 John D. McEachran (2002). Museums and Their Functions: Lecture 03 . Available at:
http://wfscnet.tamu.edu/courses/wfsc421/lecture03/index.htm. Retrieved on March 2012.
16 INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS. Who we are: Museum Definition. Available at:
http://icom.museum/who-we-are/the-vision/museum-definition.html. Retrieved on March 2012.
14
13

How was it made (e.g., carved, cast, etched)?

What is the size and/or weight of the object? Specify which unit of
measurement is being used (e.g., cm., in.) and to which dimension the
measurement refers (e.g., height, width, depth).

Are there any identifying markings, numbers, or inscriptions on the object
(e.g., a signature, dedication, title, maker’s marks, purity marks, property
marks)?

Does the object have any physical characteristics that could help to identify it
(e.g., damage, repairs, or manufacturing defects)?

Does the object have a title by which it is known and might be identified (e.g.,
The Scream)?

What is pictured or represented (e.g., landscape, battle, woman holding
child)?

When was the object made (e.g., 1893, early 17th century, Late Bronze Age)?

Do you know who made the object? This may be the name of a known
individual (e.g., Thomas Tompion), a company (e.g., Tiffany), or a cultural
group (e.g., Hopi).
Write a short description: this can also include any additional information which
helps to identify the object (e.g., color and shape of the object, where it was made).17
Not aiming to look deeper into rules for describing objects, but only to exemplify
problems related to objects, we understand that these rules accomplish the building of
metadata about an object; but, having in mind objects as documents and their
importance for the cultural heritage, these are more than just objects, having a function,
a history, and, sometimes, a deeper meaning connected to them, and perhaps a
connection or relation to other objects.
There is no place for information or knowledge carried by the objects in the above rules
for describing an object, making this an example of the difficulty of describing,
exposing and, in general, of communicating an object.
Nevertheless, the importance of objects, cultural heritage or museums is very subjective,
as it depends on people. If people do not go to museums, part of the communication of
our cultural heritage can be in risk. This leads us to the understanding of the motivation
people may have to go to museums.
OBJECT ID. Object ID Check-List. Available at: http://archives.icom.museum/objectid/checklist/english.pdf. Retrieved on March 2012.
17
14
.Why people go to museums?
This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is
constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their
interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and
continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.”18 But
the idea of keeping and preserving the cultural heritage, intangible or not, is only logical
in order to provide knowledge to people. Are people still interested in the transmission
of cultural heritage?
Some research provides us the motivation for people visiting museums; motivations
like: to get to know the history of a foreign place; to broaden horizons into foreign
culture; to practice the theory learnt in art classes; to have a leisure experience; to
follow the example received by the parents when in childhood.
Although all the pointed motivations are very interesting, they are more concerning
learning and educational issues rather than the behavior itself.
Missing answers to topics that I personally believe would be of interest to this thesis,
and because I wanted to have recent data to work on, I made a short empirical study,
survey based, also aiming to have some more insight to use later when studying the
case-museum.
Methodology for a survey
About the methodology used in this small study, the starting point for my survey was a
post from 2008 in the Museum Marketing Blog called Why do people visit a
Museum?19. It exposes practical reasons for people to visit or not a museum, reasons
like: the cost (in money and in time); the audience level of education (as higher, the
most people would feel interest in museums); the contents of the exhibitions; the design
of the building; the museum services; the museum marketing and communication
efforts; and satisfying visits in the past. I used the ideas from the presented reasons, as I,
being myself a person who goes to museums, agree with them. I also added questions
related to my interests for this thesis.
As I really wanted to get answers, I set the survey with majority closed answers
questions (yes/no type, which made the survey answerable in 5 minutes) and with open
answers questions only about the topics I really wanted to be clarified about; I made it
to be able to get 100 answers (closing automatically when reaching the 100 answers)
and being completely anonymous; and, finally, I shared it on the web through the email
and the social networks, asking people to share it, with the idea of using the snowball
effect (reaching people with different nationalities). Even though, after 5 days I had 100
people who started the survey, but only 77 people who finished it.
18
UNESCO. (2003) Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. p. 2.
Available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001325/132540e.pdf. Retrieved on January 2012.
19 Available at: http://www.museummarketing.info/2008/09/why-do-people-visit-a-museum/
15
Although the yes/no answers can be quantified, this is a qualitative study, which does
not have any kind of statistical evidence. The idea is to have a sample providing some
insight into, and more knowledge about, some topics that can be useful in my discussion
of the museum study.
Results of an empirical study
The following is the exposition of the results from the survey, together with reflections
about the results.
Firstly, going to the demographic data, I had got a big majority (81,6%) of people
between 21 and 30 years old answering this survey and none with more than 71 years
old. I believe that this amount of people between 20 and 30 years old was a result of the
usage of the
web to spread
the
survey,
specifically
having
my
own contacts
as the source
of
the
spreading.
The gender was the topic of the second question, and the results (59,8 of female and
40,2 of male) do not have difference enough to make believe that it could be a
differential factor.
As about the educational degree, 85% of the people who answered have an University
Degree – Bachelor or Master (against 4,6% that have less than 12 years of attendance,
9,2% that have 12 years off attendance – Highschool and 1,1% that have a Doctoral or
Postdoctoral degree). Then, I can conclude that this sample is, in tis majority, composed
by people between 21 and 30 years old who have a University Degree.
Leaving the demographic data, the main question of this survey was “do you go to
museums?”. This question had a positive percentage of 83,9.
16
One of my aims was to realize if the level of education would be influential in this
sample and, following these numbers, I would say that it is influential (85% of people
with an University degree and 83,9% of people who go to museums). However, there
are two more questions aiming to truly understand the influence of the level of
education in the practice of going to museums.
The first and the last questions presented on the above table were the ones made to
complement the understanding of people going to museums.
Although 83,9% of people who answered this survey claimed that they go to museums,
only 54,5% of those claimed that they go to museums out of study purposes; even
though 89,7% of those who go to museums, actually like to do it.
This way, if I relate the 83,9% of people that go to museums, which have an University
Degree, with the 45,4% of those who go to museums only for study purposes (even if
they like when they go), I cannot say, based on this sample, that the level of education
can be an influential factor to go to museums, as almost half of the sample only goes for
study.
Else, as we can see in the same table, for this sample, the cost to visit a museum is not
impeditive to go to a museum (81,4% claim that they go to museums even if they have
to pay for the entrance).
The quantity of people from this sample that go to museums because of the design of
the building is vaguely more than half (56,1%), which shows that the building that
houses the museum pieces can be an object of interest. Although the percentage is not
very differential, it is interesting to understand that half of the people from this sample
could see the building as a motivation to visit a museum.
17
The content of the exhibitions is, with no doubt, one of the most important motivation
for this sample to go to museums, with a percentage of 92,8 of people claiming that they
go to museums because of the content.
The first open answer question was “in general, why do you go to museums?”. After
text analysis and categorization, I can divide the answers in seven categories of
motivation: art, building, contents, culture, history, learning and leisure.
Why do you go to museums?
Motivations:
Leisure
21%
Art
6%
Building
1%
Contents
25%
Learning
16%
History
12%
Culture
19%
From this graphic, we can see that the contents of the exhibitions are the major interest
of this sample, being mentioned by 25% of the people. Even tough, leisure is very near,
with 21%, and culture is not far either, with 19%. The answers are very distributed by
history and learning as well, although the interest in art and the interest in the building
are definitely not differential motivations.
It is interesting to notice that, when mentioning culture, this was many times mentioned
together with learning (in, for example, “because museums are a way for we to grow up
culturally and be updated and, typically, in a didactic away”) but never together with
history, as I expected it to be.
I personally got surprised with the percentage of people giving answers that I
categorized as leisure; I was not expecting to see leisure as a motivation and answers
like “it is a convenient excuse for hanging out with friends”, “to relax and see
something interesting” or "because it is mostly funny and interesting”.
Although the interest in the building only had 1% of reference, it is interesting to reflect
on answers like “the building for itself, as a cultural environment”. This answer reflects
how the building can be seen as a part of the museum, as a piece in permanent
exposition and that is one of the reasons why the history about the building holding the
museum should be available for the audience.
18
Following, comes another open answer question, this time being “in your opinion, what
is crucial for a museum to have?”.
The text analysis and categorization of the answers to this question were more difficult
as the variety on answers was larger. In the end, it was possible to create fifteen
categories, which can be seen in the graphic above.
Making 41% of the answers, this sample of people say that it is crucial for a museum to
have good/logical/coherent exhibitions (22%) and a good display of information about
the contents of the exhibitions (19%).
It is logical that this sample of people, that already claimed to go to museums because
of the contents of the exhibitions and that this is major motivational factor to visit
museums, mentions the exhibitions as a crucial thing for a museum to have. Moreover,
in free writing, people mention the importance of exhibitions to be good, logical and
coherent.
Linked to the matter of the importance of the contents of the exhibitions, comes the
importance of displaying information about the contents. A few people from this sample
mentioned these arguments together (like in, for example: “Good exhibitions, paying
attention to the layout and information to complement the works of art.”). In words of
people from this sample, it is easy to understand that it is needed “clear information
about the pieces and exhibitions” because “you need to understand what you are looking
at.”
With 10%, comes the importance of the installations and the environment. For example,
it was claimed that the museum “must be designed and built in such a way that you
would want to be there even if the exhibition was pretty bad”. This idea goes straight to
the opinion of seeing the building as a cultural environment. A “good surrounding
19
environment” and “keeping the museum in the best condition possible” are other
examples about this topic. Focusing on the installations, many different things were
pointed out, like, for example, the importance of toilets and cafes and even couches, for
a visitant to be able to rest during the visit.
“Good services” (8%) is another category. Inside this one, many services were
mentioned, being the importance of a museum guide the most revealed.
With the same importance (7%), people from this sample mentioned history and culture
and interactive activities and dynamics. It was required that a museum must have “life”
and interactivity would be a good way to make it happen.
Both with a sample of 6% of mentions, comes the importance of information in english
and free or low entrance. The concern with information in english is linked to the
importance of a language possible to be understood by several foreign people (as
english is known to be an universal language). Also, it is mentioned that a museum
needs to have “good content and be cheap; I think it’s not necessary to pay a lot of
money due to the amount of people who go to museums every day”.
With 5% comes the importance of “unique pieces”, as a museum must have “things that
we don’t see every day”.
In the end, with less than 5%, were mentioned “something new”, “communication”,
“credibility”, “didactical approach”, “conditions for the handicapped” and “spaces for
kids”.
Focusing on the next question, the importance of objects was another topic that I wanted
to see exposed. As museums contain objects, and as objects are a major piece in the
cultural heritage, it would be important to recognize if people consider objects
important.
For this sample, there are no doubts that objects are important, with 94,2% of the people
saying “yes”, against only 5,9% of negative answers.
The distance has being claimed to be a factor for people not going to museums; this
would be, in fact, one of the motivations to realize the importance of a webpage,
capable of reaching people among the world.
20
The answer, though, does not consider this theme to be relevant, as 50% of this sample
answered that they do not keep from going to museums because of the distance and the
other half answered that they do.
One of the questions with more relevance for this thesis is “can the webpage of a
museum create interest in the physical museum?” The huge positive answer (82,7%)
shows that, this sample of people who is majority young (21 to 30 years old), has an
University degree and go to museums, think that a webpage is very important for a
museum. Considering the age of the people from this sample, maybe we could risk to
say that the present and the future of a museum pass through the existence of the
museum webpage.
The last question, with an open answer, was “What makes, or would make, you go to a
Museum?”, as this question aimed to suit both people that go to museums and that do
not go.
What makes/would make you go to a
museum?
Marketing/
communication
16%
Free entrance
12%
Leisure
8%
Exhibition
64%
Going against to my expectations, this last question was very simple to categorize. I was
expecting a vast variety of answers but, after a text analysis, it was possible to create
only four categories: “exhibition”, “free entrance”, “marketing/communication” and
“leisure”.
The exhibitions and their contents were the most mentioned as a reason that makes
people go to museums. The huge mention to this category (64%) leaves no doubt to the
importance of the exhibitions for this sample of people, who already had mentioned that
exhibitions as a motivation to go to museums and the importance of a museum to have
good/logical/coherent exhibitions.
Although, people from this sample used this space for answers to expose their opinions
a bit further. For instance, it was claimed the importance of having interactivity in a
museum: “I go to museums if there are exhibitions that interest me, but even more I
believe that I would go more if the exhibitions were a bit more interactive. It is a bit
21
boring only to walk around, to look and to read.” Other statement says that “interacting
with the exhibit rather than simply looking at it would make me go to museums”.
Following, with a very lower percentage (16%), marketing or communication were
mentioned. “A good marketing campaign about the subjects in exhibition” and “more
publicity about that museum (sometimes I have temporary museums or expositions near
me and I am not aware of that)” are two exemplifying answers.
“Free entrance” (with 12%) and “leisure” (with 8%) were the other two categories with
suitable mentions.
Brief conclusions from the survey
Summarizing the results from the survey, from a sample of 75 people, we have:













A majority of people among 21 and 30 years old;
A majority of people with university degree;
A majority of people that goes to museums;
o And that actually like to go to museums;
o But only half goes out of study purposes;
A majority of people that goes to museums even if they have to pay for the
entrance; but half keep from going to museums because of the distance;
Only half of the people go to museums because of the building;
A majority of people that goes to museums because of the contents of the
exhibitions;
The motivations for people to go to museums are mostly the contents of the
exhibitions, followed by leisure, culture, history and learning.
It is crucial for a museum to have good/logical/coherent exhibition and a good
display of information about the contents of the exhibitions, as well as good
installations and environment.
The majority of people say that it is crucial for a museum to have
good/logical/coherent exhibitions and a good display of information about the
contents of the exhibitions.
A majority of people thinks that objects are important;
Half of the people do not keep from going to museums because of the distance.
A majority of people thinks that a virtual version of a museum (like a webpage)
can create interest in visiting the physical museum.
The majority of people would go to museums because of the contents of the
exhibitions.
I consider as important findings, for the webpage analysis, regardless the percentage it
acquired, the following information:
22









The exhibitions, and their contents, were mentioned as important factors that
make and would make people go to museums; this reason was mentioned
several times, reaching high importance both in closed as in open answers.
As important as the exhibition is the display of information about them because
“you need to understand what you are looking at.”
Museum services, including information in english, are a concern. For instance,
one needs to have the all circumstances to be able to spend a quality time in the
museum, and for as much time as desired; information in english provides the
museum with an international audience.
The environment or museum surroundings should be felt as a part of the
exhibition, creating a whole experience - the history about the building holding
the museum should be available for the audience.
The entrance cost is a concern – a price table must be available for the audience,
together with the opening days and hours.
Leisure is a reason for people to go to museums, so museums must have an
image that inspires leisure, rather than be too sober.
The need of interactivity was claimed. Having interactivity in a museum would
make the museum have “life”, as it was claimed above; I personally understand
that feel as a part of the environment would create a great interest in visiting
museums, and it would be a differential factor between a virtual side of the
museum and a physical side.
The lack of communication was mentioned, and one of the implications of this is
that people do not get to know that a museum exists.
The website was considered to be very important.
o Linked to the lack of communication, the website was mentioned (“more
publicity about that museum - sometimes I have temporary museums or
expositions near me and I am not aware of that -; more information about
the museum in the internet”). Also, the website was mentioned linked to
the decision of going to the museum (“the digital version would help me
decide if the exhibition is worth it”).
This information must be taken into count during my analysis to the case-museum
webpage and verified in the visit to its physical side as well.
.Information Architecture: a framework for the museum webpage analysis
The World Wide Web has, today, a very important role in our society: if something
exists, that something is on the web. A museum website is its welcoming card,
hopefully an international one, and a great weapon not only to communicate that a
museum exists but also to create interest among the audience. For these reasons, a
museum webpage needs to be well constructed and organized for the audience to find
what they are interesting in and what the museum wants to expose.
23
One way to evaluate about how information is presented (in the way of how people can
find information about the objects and what kind of information, search possibilities and
navigation possibilities are available) is using criteria from Information Architecture
(IA). Although IA should be used when building a website, it can also be used to
evaluate websites.
An Overview of Information Architecture: three movements
Information Architecture is a multidisciplinary field that includes knowledge
organization, architecture, design, and the social and cognitive sciences (and probably
others). It is used to simplify our lives as systems’ users, once its goal is to simplify the
amount of data that we have every day, especially on the web, and transform that data
into organized knowledge that we can use, preventing us from suffering of Information
Anxiety. The general aim is the structural design of shared information environments.
The importance it takes nowadays is mainly due to the astronomic amount of
unorganized information that we are confronted with every day, especially trough the
web. For this reason Information Architecture reached a higher level of understanding
when the web reached higher levels as well.
Richard Saul Wurman was an architect with a singular passion in his life: to make
information understandable both for himself and the others. For this reason, he is known
to be the creator of the term Information Architecture (IA), that he used to organize
information about complex topics. The motivation for his passion of making
information understandable is linked to the term “information anxiety”.20
Information Anxiety is defined by Wurman as what is "produced by the ever-widening
gap between what we understand and what we think we should understand. It is the
black hole between data and knowledge, and what happens when information doesn't
tell us what we want or need to know."21 In my understanding, it is then related with the
amount of data, and not knowledge, presented on the web, but being that data, many
times, about knowledge that we need to acquire. Because of this overloaded amount of
unorganized data, people may feel guilty when having the idea of not understanding
something or not feeling informed by the data retrieved.
The idea of Wurman of making information understandable both for himself and others,
presenting information in an understandable form, gained more weight as the Internet
got more overloaded, when the necessity of making clear what is complex increased, in
order to fight Information Anxiety.
Based on AIGA. Richard Saul Wurman: Biography by AIGA. (2004) Available at:
http://www.aiga.org/medalist-richardsaulwurman/. Retrieved on January 2012.
21 BusinessDictionary.com. Information Anxiety. Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/
definition/information-anxiety.html. Retrieved on January 2012.
20
24
After Wurman, Rosenfeld and Morville were the two major authors of IA with their
book Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (1st edition February 1998),
known popularly as “the polar bear book”.
In their second chapter, introducing IA, the focus is on how to create a web site and how
the information architect is important for a web site development. However, in the
second edition of this book (2006), this topic is not used when introducing Information
Architecture. Although IA started to be seen as a technique for web sites (and it is still
very presented in that way for commercial purposes), with the use of more than web
sites in the web (like, for example, intranets and social networks – which are not
categorized as simple websites), it became notorious that IA is not only for the World
Wide Web, in a synonymous of being only for web sites; it is for all kind of digital
systems that have users, since every user in any system needs to understand the
information existed.
Rosenfeld and Morville detain the idea of Information Architecture that can be seen by
the field of Library and Information Science, the approach of Information Science to
Information Architecture.
Iain Barke gives a good example of what we can understand by Information
Architecture through the view of LIS view: Information architecture is the term used to
describe the structure of a system, i.e the way information is grouped, the navigation
methods and terminology used within the system. An effective information architecture
enables people to step logically through a system confident they are getting closer to the
information they require. (…) Information architecture is most commonly associated
with websites and intranets, but it can be used in the context of any information
structures or computer systems. (…) An effective information architecture comes from
understanding business objectives and constraints, the content, and the requirements of
the people that will use the site.22
In Iain Barke definition, he refers to navigation methods and terminology used within
the system. Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld (2007) explain this to us with the “4
systems of information architecture” that they introduce in their book (Information
Architecture for the World Wide Web). It is considerably about organizing system, label
system, navigation system and search systems.
Further in this process of “building an IA definition”, come Andrea Resmini and Luca
Rosati with their idea of a pervasive Information Architecture.
Their focus is in a period where the web has users as producers of information, in the
way of blogs, social networks, tagging and so on, and where the webpages are not only
seen in computers but in mobiles and with applications for many devices.
With a reality completely different from the use of hypertext, with the growing ability
of being connected to the Internet while on the move – which creates unstoppable flows
Iain Barke. What is information architecture? (2005). KM Column. Available at:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/files/kmc_whatisinfoarch.pdf. Retrieved on January 2012.
22
25
on information -, new problems appeared, about complexity, unfamiliarity and
information overload regardless of the very nature of the environment being designed.
As examples of complexity, we have the idea of sending a message, which can be a
simple act of leaving a paper note, sending a text message to a cellphone or even using
Morse code – there are many interfaces for a single task and there is no defined medium
for a task.23
The environment itself is always changing as the user is always moving and changing
devices. This is where the ideas of space and place show how different they are; a
person can change places but be constantly in the virtual space. Further, if we gather online stores, their different devices for Internet access and their physical existence, the
users can be moving from space and place at the same time.
Having this scenario in mind, these authors place Information Architecture beyond the
Web and aim for a pervasive IA24.
This pervasive IA has a focus more on the flow of information and in the user
experience - if possible, the user experience must be a complete one; as an example, we
can consider on-line shopping: if the website makes a user use an information telephone
number or go to the physical store because he cannot find what he wants on the
webpage, than the experience is not complete.
In order to get a complete user experience, and in opposition to the LIS approach, it is
considered that organization can stay in a second place and be replaced for correlation,
where information, services and goods are connected.
This pervasive IA is concerned with the structuring of information space with crosscontext and cross-channel user experiences.
In the perspective of these last mentioned authors, the evolution of information
architecture is characterized by a progressive widening of perspective, from the single
page, to the website, to the system — a collection of several channels and devices that
participate, from the user’s point of view, in the same experience. This roughly comes
down to three identifiable movements:
1. IA as a synonym of information design (Wurman), where the focus is on the
single item or page
2. classical IA (Rosenfeld and Morville), where the structure and navigation of the
whole website become central
3. pervasive IA, where the structure flows across channels25.
23
Based on: Andrea Resmini (2011). Pervasive Information Architecture: Designing Cross-channel
User Experiences. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/resmini/designing-crosschannel-userexperiences. Retrieved on April 2012.
24 Based on: Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati (2012). A Brief History of Information Architecture.
Journal of Information Architecture. Vol. 3, No. 2. Available at:
http://journalofia.org/volume3/issue2/03-resmini/. Retrieved on April 2012.
26
Information Architecture involves a system, information, organization and users.
Furthermore, the design should be included, as a way to communicate organized
information/knowledge to the users, and the flow of information must be considered.
This could be a draft thought of what IA is.
From other studies, I can also add that, being IA a technique that requires very much the
eyes, the cognitive part, and more precisely the cognitive psychology, plays a very
important role concerning what our brain can reach more easily in the vision field. The
place where to put the information in a web site can be crucial for the information to be
found by our eyes and so, it creates a better usability of a system, in a way that usability
also requires fastness in the retrieval of our (eyes’) searches. Also, with the idea of
correlation, the perception must be very active.
Working with Information Architecture
The first thought about an Information Architecture framework for a website evaluation
was to use one of the many available, but this idea ended not supporting want I wanted
to do.
Firstly, we must also recall that this framework does not aim to support the construction
of a website but only to evaluate one, and so a large percentage of the IA frameworks do
not fit evaluation only.
Secondly, after finding frameworks for evaluation, these happened to not suit the
expected - they aim for very specific evaluations, going to items in detail, they still aim
for an evaluation linked to same phase of development and they usually expect that the
evaluator is working together with the responsible for the website or with a usability
specialist26.
I did not intend to have usability tests, information retrieval evaluation or search log
analysis, and neither museum marketing evaluation, although this last one would fit my
ideas better than the others.
I never meant to look for the specifics, but rather for the “house” itself and for its
“picture” on the web. The website as a whole is what provides an experience to the user,
further than the specifics, and the user experience is what has my best concern, as the
experience is what can create interest for the physical museum.
I wanted, in simple words, to evaluate what would someone be expecting from a
physical museum having in consideration it website.
Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati (2012). Pervasive Information Architecture: BLOG. A Brief
History of Information Architecture. Available at: http://pervasiveia.com/blog/history-of25
information-architecture. Retrieved on April 2012.
26 More about IA Evaluation in, for exemple, Steve Toub (2000). Evaluating Information Architecture:
A Practical Guide to Assessing Web Site Organization. and in Elaine G. Toms (2002). Information
Interaction: Providing a Framework for Information Architecture.
27
As this is an independent evaluation, I needed to find the framework that could suit my
needs, if there is not one, I should create my own.
In my idea of a perfect Information Architecture framework to evaluate a museum
website, the LIS approach to IA and the pervasive approach to IA could be used
together.
First of all, the idea of a museum website is not to replace the physical museum, like it
could be when talking about on-line shopping. Following this idea, the purpose here is
not to have a complete experience for the users, but rather to create a very good
experience that gives an idea of the physical museum and calls for the user approach to
the physical museum.
We must consider that, in opposition to the example of on-line shopping, the experience
of a museum in its virtual side and its physical side does not have the same result; in an
on-line or physical shopping, the result in both is often the obtainment of a good, but the
physical and virtual experience of visiting a museum have very different personal
results.
The perception of experience here has a human connotation, where the experience and
the user are both influenced by the environment and the result is a personal non-defined
experience – the wanted result should be compared to being with someone: the
experience of talking to someone every day by cellphone and see pictures of that same
person every day, does not replace the experience of actually being physically with the
person.
In a second line of thought about how to use IA, a museum must be a well-organized
place, otherwise the audience would not understand the exhibitions; this can be joined
with the results of the survey, where the sample of people who answered asked for
organization. And one way of achieving organization on-line is through the structure
and the display of navigation systems (the menus and sub-menus and items themselves).
Although the aim is not to provide a complete experience for the user, the experience is,
though, very important as we want to call attention to the possible physical experience,
and so the flow of information must be considered as well.
It should be noticed that I am seeing a museum website as welcoming card, as a sample
of the physical museum and as a powerful communication and marketing strategy.
By this, gathering structure, navigation, the flow of information and the user experience,
could make a very good framework for the desired analysis.
The “4 systems of information architecture”, of Morville and Rosenfeld, look for simple
aspects of a website, as being:

Organization systems
o Present the site's information to us in a variety of ways, such as content
categories that pertain to the entire campus (e.g., the top bar and its
"Calendar" and "Academics" choices), or to specific audiences (the "I
28



am a..." area, with such choices as "Prospective Students" and "Staff
Member").
Navigation systems
o Help users move through the content, such as the "AZ Directory" and the
"Go Quickly To..." menu of popular destinations.
Search systems
o Allow users to search the content. Here, the default is set to search the
Gustavus site, but one could also search the Gustavus calendar, its
directory, or the whole web from the site's search interface.
Labeling systems
o Describe categories, options, and links in language that (hopefully) is
meaningful to users; you'll see examples throughout the page, some (e.g.,
"Admission") more understandable than others ("Nobel Conference").27
Not going deep into items, exactly
as I wanted to, this approach
provides a simple and good way
to look for the most important
issues related to Information
Architecture, as we can see in the
side image, taken from Morville
and Rosenfeld’s book.
Further than this, these authors
also point out what is obvious
when looking at a website, in the
visual design - like the colors
used, images, tables and so on.
Also, it mentions the invisible
information architecture, being the
information architecture on the
background which is responsible
for, for example, the presentation
of the search results.
Complementing the “4 systems of information architecture” analysis, there are the
ideals behind the Pervasive Information Architecture, from Resmini and Rosati.
These author ideas of “synchronizing” the digital and the physical worlds, through a
cross-channel experience, go straight to my aim that a museum website should be a
reliable picture of the physical museum.
Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld (2007). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.
Publisher: O’reilly. Second Edition.
27
29
For instance, in their book (2011)28, we can find the example of Apple, which shows
how Apple Web site and Apple stores, although with necessary interface differences,
share a common information organization layer:
I can relate this example to the comparison I intend to do between the virtual museum
and the physical museum.
The Information Architecture Framework
Based in the authors and ideas I mentioned above, and especially on their books
(Information Architecture for the World Wide Web – 2007 and Pervasive Information
Architecture: Designing Cross-channel User Experiences – 2011), the framework for
the museum webpage analysis must answer the following questions:
28
Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati (2011). Pervasive Information Architecture: Designing Crosschannel User Experiences. Elsevier.
30








About what meets the eye in the website design, what image do I get from the
physical museum?
Visualization of basic architectural components: are there Organization Systems,
Navigation Systems, Search Systems and/or Labeling Systems presented in the
website?
o Where are they?
o Are they helpful, working, repetitive…?
On the homepage: answer and show:
o Where am I?
o I know what I'm looking for; how do I search for it?
o How do I get around this site?
o What is important and unique about this organization?
o What is available on this site?
o What is happening there?
o Do they want my opinion about their site?
o How can I contact a human?
o What is their address?
Across the website: answer and show:
o Where am I?
o What is here?
o Where can I go from here?
Are there browsing aids? Are there:
o Organization systems, Site-wide navigation systems, Local navigation
systems, Sitemaps/Tables of contents, Site indices, Site guides, Site
wizards, Contextual navigation systems?
Are there search aids? Are there:
o Search interface, Query language, Query builders, Retrieval algorithms,
Search zones, Search results?
o Is there any Invisible IA?
 Can I understand its basic working principles?
 About invisible components, are there:
 Controlled vocabularies and thesauri, Retrieval
algorithms, Best bets?
Are there components embedded in content and tasks? Are there:
o Headings, Embedded links, Embedded metadata, Chunks, Lists,
Sequential aids, Identifiers?
About Heuristics for IA, are there:
o Place-making? — the capability of help users reduce disorientation,
build a sense of place, and increase legibility and way-finding across
digital, physical, and cross-channel environments.
o Consistency? — the capability of suit the purposes, the contexts, and the
people it is designed for and to maintain the same logic along different
media, environments, and times in which it acts.
31
o Resilience? — the capability of shape and adapt itself to specific users,
needs, and seeking strategies.
o Reduction—the capability of manage large information sets and
minimize the stress and frustration associated with choosing from an
ever-growing set of information sources, services, and goods.
o Correlation—the capability to suggest relevant connections among
pieces of information, services, and goods to help users achieve explicit
goals or stimulate latent needs.
As said before, I did not create anything new, but rather joined two points of view from
different IA movements, which together I believe they create a good framework,
appropriated for this analysis.
The questions about the Heuristics are only going to be answered after going to the
physical museum, as it refers to the digital and the physical worlds.
The website analysis is going to be made before going to the museum and completed
after knowing the physical space.
32
Analysis
The approach to find answers to my research questions is using a case museum to have
a real life situation, from where to make a qualitative study that should help me
illustrate the problems of going to the physical world to the virtual one.
As I believe that the website is crucial for a museum, as it is barriers free (especially
geographical barriers), the website must be a credited image of the physical museum –
mainly because there is no point in deceiving the potential audience, or there is the risk
of losing people’s interest and trust.
As a welcoming card, the website must make the museum be known in the world,
provide a virtual experience that can satisfy those who cannot move to the physical
museum but also appeal for the physical experience.
However, it is not simple to provide the right image of a physical space in the
digital/virtual world.
Using a case museum must help to understand and illustrate some of the problems.
.Choosing a Website and a Museum
The first step to choose the museum was a search to museums websites in the north of
Portugal, as I had to return to my country in this period. It is still very hard to find
Portuguese museums with websites, and many of the existing ones only have the
contact and the address. Another problem was the inexistence, in same museums
webpages, of an english version of the site.
In fact, contextualizing a museum website in its environment helps to understand some
of the challenges, and the context of this museum is its country.
Portugal lived in a dictatorial regime from 1933 to 1974. During that period, the country
was very closed: it was needed a visa signed by the government to leave the country and
nothing from abroad would enter the country – nor television shows, no products, no
ideas.
The country was ruled by the idealism of family, nationalism and religion, and the
education suffered with the close ideas – for example, the women rarely had the right to
learn how to read and write. Portugal stayed out of the evolution that was occurring in
others countries in that time.
Although the mentality changed very fast since 1974, only the youth was born in a free
country without close ideals. As all the technologies arrived later to Portugal than to
other countries, the mentality of using the technologies arrived even later, and it is still
arriving.
33
With this scenario, it is not hard to understand the statistics: through the website of
museums of Portugal29, it was possible to get to know that, in the district of Porto (the
second largest city in Portugal and my hometown) are 77 museums. From those 77
existing museums, only 30 have their own website; only 24 have a sample – in images,
videos or sound – of what can be seen inside the museum; and only 8 museums have an
english interface.
Looking at this numbers but also looking at the content of the websites from this
sample, which is usually too simplistic and outdated, we conclude, indeed, that the
communication, disclosure and public appeal to the wealth and estate of the Portuguese
museums did not yet reach the web.
In the end, the chose museum was the Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis (MNSR), a
national museum with a diversity of arts (paintings, sculptures, furniture, jewelry and
others) from different centuries.
The website can be found at http://mnsr.imc-ip.pt/en-GB/default.aspx.
.The Analysis Approach
With the aim of comparing the virtual side of the museum (its website) to its physical
side (the museum itself), it was decided to make the following approach:



As the museum was choose for its website, the analysis will have a first step
focusing on the website alone and on what I expected from the museum
according to the idea passes by the website (an evaluation combining “what
meets the eye” and the Information Architecture framework decided);
Further on, I am going to present the physical museum. The second step of the
analysis is going to be on the physical museum in comparison to what I am
going to be expecting to find. Will it match my expectations? This evaluation
will be a “meeting the eye” only;
Finally, with the interviews made to the director of the museum and to its head
of communication, I will have information about what the museum wanted the
website to be, what kind of information they wanted to pass through the website
and what idea they wanted to pass of the museum through the website. This is
going to allow the final step on analyzing the website, comparing it to the ideas
of how it should be.
29
MuseusPortugal.org. Museus. Districto do Porto. Available at:
http://www.museusportugal.org/museus.aspx?menu=125&id=126&d=5. Retrieved on April 2012.
34
.Looking at the Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis Webpage
According to the idea of Morville and Rosenfeld, one is already judging a website since
the first look. This is because the layout, colors and other design issues are what meet
the eye, and they transmit sensations or perceptions.
According to this, I’m first going to make an analysis based on what meets the eye and
only after about the Information Architecture ideals.
It also can be compared to visiting the museum: first we have an overview, and only if
we like what we are seeing, we look into the details.
What am I expecting from a museum with this website?
The trip through this webpage starts after clicking on the “English version” icon. And,
right after that, a first thought could be “am I alone in here?”
The home page of this website is blank in content. As what call most the attention are
the links that compose the menu, it seems to be an invitation to move to another section.
It is not a good welcoming message, the lack of content seems to show that the website
has no life and can give the idea that the English version of the website is empty –
which is not true – and make the user leave the website.
The colors are not very inviting either. The dark red that frames the website gives an
idea of a heavy, dark and conservative place, which is completed with the header image
– in the same color tones as the frame, it represents an image that the user links to
35
ancient art, which continues the conservative idea. The usage of white, for example, in
the frame, would give a lighter and spacious idea.
Also, a vertical website alignment, when so vertical, seems to be an outdated layout,
that we associate to old webpages. A horizontal layout, combined with a white frame,
would give even more a spacious idea.
The menus and information presented are using a very basic text-font, which passes a
simplistic and poor idea.
Moving to the first section on the menu, the variation of colors that comes with the
change of the header image – and the existence of content – provide more life and light
to the place.
The usage of
images with soft
colors puts a
little away the
idea of a closed
space. And the
fragments
of
images from the
inside
and
outside of the
museum, makes
the user feel the
space that is
presented.
But, in total, this website only counts 10 pictures from the museum, being that these are
not complete pictures but only fragments – there is not a picture where one can see how
the space actually is.
Actually, two headers images show the sky and a piece of a green garden, which,
although beautiful, are things that we see outside a museum. Other pictures represent
pieces of the collections, in a very isolated way. This space for images should be used to
show the museum and its inside, once there are no more spaces for pictures in this
website.
Still about images, the dimensional idea is also passed in the 3 only pictures with people
on it that the website displays: the pictures present people altogether in a small space –
seems to be a compact space. Also, having so few imagistic references to people, gives
the idea of a place with lack of life.
36
About
the
exhibitions,
the
collections section shows a list of a
variety of pieces. It presents some
highlights of each category,
together with a description of the
object. The objects description is a
basic one.
The museum size is now rethink, as
a museum with such variety of
pieces cannot be in a small place.
The display of images is very
simplistic and too sober. It is not an
interesting presentation and passes an
idea of stagnancy.
The menu right above the header
image is text-based in a so simple
way that runs out of attention. The
information on the bottom has a
uninteresting design, also running out
of attention.
About the museum section, we
understand that it is an organized museum, with a chronological line of thought.
Summarizing the ideas, the website design gives a general idea of a conservative place –
this is especially due to the colors and images used – and of medium size – just because
the variety of collections suggests that the place cannot be small. Also, the too
simplistic images presentation passes a stagnant image.
The lack of a virtual tour and of images of the building, or the inside, leaves us without
any idea of the place, neither the display of the exhibitions, so the idea that remains is
the one passed through the design (conservative).
And, because pictures with people are few, it seems to be a place with lack of life; and
because of their presentation, it seems a compact space.
Meanwhile, it seems to have a few services and seems to be a place where one could
spend an afternoon.
However, this is my own idea, the idea I have about what to expect from the physical
museum (a conservative, closed, dark, stagnant, with lack of life, medium and compact
space).
37
Because this analysis was written after the visit to the physical museum, and because it
has a very strong personal component, I could risk being partial in this analysis. That
was why I asked to four close friends for help.
At this point, I needed someone that I know well and not some random anonymous
people. I wanted to ask to someone that likes to go to museums – and that had never
been to MNSR – what would they be expecting from a museum with this website.
I took some ideas from the usability tests I had read before to make a small matrix of
questions about my ideas – I did not want to have people around the website based on
free thoughts, because that I already have done: I aimed to clarify my doubts.
I sent it to four friends of my age, two boys and two girls, and students as well. The
results are on the following table.
After looking at this museum website, and based on the website only, what mental image do you have
about the physical museum?
Conservative or Modern?
Conservative (4 answers)
Small size, medium size or large size?
Medium (3 answers, 1 for Large)
Full of life or with lack of life?
Lack of life (3 answers)
Wide inside or compact inside?
“Tied”
Does it seem a museum with innovative ideas?
Yes (3 answers)
Does it seem an organized museum?
Yes (4 answers)
With variety of exhibitions or always the same?
Variety (3 answers)
With a display of information about the contents of the
exhibitions?
Yes (3 answers)
With a comfortable or uncomfortable environment?
Comfortable (4 answers)
Does it seem to have conditions to spend a few hours there?
Yes (4 answers)
With a variety of services?
Yes (3 answers)
Did this website make you interested in the physical museum?
“Tied”
These opinions go straight to my idea of a conservative place, with a medium size and
with lack of life, although with a variety of contents and organization and being a proper
space to spend a few hours.
Though, they claim that the museum seems to have innovative ideas, which I truly did
not understand. When asked about their reasons, they pointed out the mention to
education services, having a shop and a cafeteria and also the existence of the website.
Despite that, I do not agree that having a website means innovation, once the website
should exist by rule; a shop and a cafeteria are actually regular services in museums,
and educational concerns should also be regular for museums, in my opinion. That is
why I cannot agree in this point.
38
Also, I asked for “more ideas you may have got about the physical museum” and I got
three answers mentioning that the building itself seemed historical, well maintained and
“kind of an art piece”. Though, the attention was called to the fact that events were
missing, like a stagnant place, and that it seemed to transport us to a lifestyle of
centuries ago.
I do not need to go to the museum to understand the problem: the English version does
not have a home page but the original interface has and there is where the events are
disclosed. Also, the news section does not exist in the English version, and it is there
where the museum communicates about actual issues.
Also, the exhibits section does not exist in the English version as well; this section, in
the original interface, keeps a record of all the temporary exhibitions that the museum
had and communicates present and future temporary exhibitions. Without this section,
the museum passes the image of having a variety of contents of exhibitions but always
having the same contents.
Neglecting sections that communicates the museum’s activity makes the museum look
frozen in time.
An Information Architecture Analysis
Starting with the visualization of basic architectural components: are there Organization
Systems, Navigation Systems, Search Systems and/or Labeling Systems in this website?
Where are they?
o The navigation system helps the user move through the content, being
the main menu of the webpage. It gives the idea of an organized place.
39
o The organization system is very poor and it is not organized – it has the
sitemap together with “talk to us” and “press”. It is understandable that
this group is informational but the title of some sections can be deceiving
(the “register” and “login” sections are to receive information about the
museum through the email and to order items from the museum shop;
and the “press” section only has a text claiming credits for the pictures
on the website – these are informational like the sitemap, “information”
and “talk to us”).
o The search system is not reliable (more details in “search aids”).
The homepage should contain information to address the users' major information
needs, anticipating them. It should answer to 9 questions, but it only answers to 7:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Where am I?
I know what I'm looking for; how do I search for it?
How do I get around this site?
What is important and unique about this organization?
What is available on this site?
What is happening there?
Do they want my opinion about their site?
How can I contact a human?
What is their address?
Although two answers are missing, the main information is present. About what is
happening on the place, this website does no present events or news in the english
version. It passes an idea of a lifeless museum.
40
About the opinion about the website, it does not have any rating or similar. It is, though,
not so usual for a website to ask for rating, although it would pass the idea that the
museum cares about their audience opinion.
In the end, this website answers to the majority of users' main information needs.
Not only should the homepage answer to the users main needs. Also across the website,
the user should be able to answer:



Where am I?
What is here?
Where can I go from here?
Picking up a random page to answer to the questions, these are easy to answer, meaning
that a user does not lose the orientation on this webpage.
Going to the specifics, the webpage should present aids for the users and have a good
operation. Presenting good paths and helps for the users to move and search around the
website, would show interest on the user’s best digital experience, as it can be compared
to the care of having good paths and a proper space in the physical museum.
Browsing aids present users with sets of paths to help them navigate the site.

Are there browsing aids in this website?
This website presents site-wide navigation systems in the way of the menus presented
on the left. It also has a local navigation system inside the menu on the left.
41
There is an organization system represented by the
menu above the header, although it is a poor one.
It has a sitemap, which only represents exactly the
left menu with the sub-menus open.
It does not have organization systems, site indices,
site guides, site wizards or contextual navigation
systems.

Are there search aids?
As seen above, there is a search interface that allows to search in all
website or in specific
sections
(and
“all
words”, “any word” and “Exact
phrase” after the first search result).
After a search, a second search box
appears. The search interface provides
search results. It does not have any
query language or builders, neither
retrieval algorithms.

Invisible IA components are often presented in the search aids, feeding the
search results.
o Can I understand its basic working principles?
The working principle is a simple search. It does not have controlled vocabulary,
thesauri, retrieval algorithms or best bets.
It has malfunctions, like, for example: After a search made in the first search box, one
cannot use the second box without erasing the text from the first – it does not clear
automatically. The links presented in the results do not work: they exist but the click
function is not active. Also, when clicking on the “enter” button, the website loads but
retrieves zero results, which is often not correct – the search only works when clicking
the “search” button. And it does not retrieve all the expected results – for instance, as
the website highlights ceramic pieces, it should retrieve them when searching for
ceramics.

Are there components embedded in content and tasks?
This website has headings and Identifiers. It does not have embedded links, embedded
metadata, chunks, lists or sequential aids.
42
Summarizing this IA analysis:






This webpage has organization, navigation and search systems – the navigation
system helps the user move through the content, being the main menu of the
webpage. It gives the idea of an organized place; the organization system is very
poor and it is not organized; the search system is not reliable.
We can find 7 out of 9 answers about users' major information needs on the
homepage.
Across the website, it is easy to understand where we are, what is on each page
and where can we go from each page.
This website has browsing aids: it presents organization system, site-wide
navigation system and local navigation system and a sitemap that repeats the
menu.
It has search aids and invisible components: simple search without invisible
helpers. The search has many malfunctions and the retrievals are not accurate.
There are components embedded in content and tasks: headings and identifiers.
Before moving to the presentation of the physical museum, there is a need to synthesize
the answer to the question “what am I expecting from a museum with this website?”
Remembering the idea from the “what meets the eye” analysis, this webpage passes an
idea of a conservative museum, kind of frozen in time, with a medium size and with
lack of life, although with a variety of contents and organization and being a proper
space to spend a few hours.
The IA analysis confirms the previous idea: there is a very simple IA structure, with the
basics only. Further, the search system is neglected, which shows some lack of interest
in helping the user move across the place – together with the lack of content on the
homepage, it passes an idea of a general negligence about the user.
Is the MNSR a conservative, frozen in time, lifeless, medium size museum, which cares
less about its audience? Visiting the physical space is the way of answering this
question.
.The physical space of Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis
Aiming to compare the museum to the idea that the website left, I contacted the MNSR
to ask for the possibility of an interview about the museum and its website.
Visiting the Museum
Maria João Vasconcelos, director of MNSR, allowed me to study the museum and to
make an interview with her and with Ana Cristina Macedo, the head of communication.
43
When arriving to the museum for the visit and the conversation, the first surprise was
the staff, all very courteous and helpful. I was definitely not alone in that huge historical
building – with a very contemporaneous outside surrounding – that home the museum.
The museum is a large space, full of light and life. I went there in a Thursday, early in
the afternoon, and, although it was labor time, there were a few people visiting the
museum, more than I expected.
The main door leads to a large atrium where the reception is and where we can see the
stairs to the exhibitions, the corridor to the museum shop and to the cafeteria and to the
garden.
After a kind welcome in the reception, where I had a flyer about the museum – with
some highlights and the museum plan, available in portuguese and in english – I started
the visit on the first floor, holding a museum identification card.
The starting point is dedicated to the permanent exhibition, about paintings and
sculptures. There are introductory texts in each room.
The pieces are distributed in the place in a spacious way, where paintings, sculptures,
lights, windows, doors, sofas and people live together in harmony. I must say that, in a
few minutes, I forgot that I was studying such a comfortable environment.
The contents of the exhibition all have descriptions in portuguese and in english, being
the same basic descriptions that we find on the website. Later, during the interview, I
was told that the museum follows the CIDOC (The International Committee for
Documentation of the International Council of Museums) guidelines for museums
objects information, which are the most common, but very basic.
44
Is through the descriptions that we understand being following a chronological line.
The plan in the flyer is also a help to follow the chronological line along the rooms,
with labels on about the contents and period presented on each room.
A corridor, full of windows with view to the museum’s garden, makes the path to a
sculpture only space, with an elegant disposal of the pieces and a visual sense of a
diversity of places inside the museum.
Is still on this first floor that we find the educational service, a space with a few
activities for the youth and with some computers.
We also have two rooms for temporary exhibitions. On this day, there was one
exhibition that joined art, architecture and the media – showing and explaining models
45
of buildings that home museums – and other exhibition, exposing memories through
photographs.
Along the rooms, there are many windows providing natural light and a view to the
museum’s garden, which provides a visual contact with nature; the room that had the
photograph exhibition is a good example of this connection to nature.
On the way to the second floor, we have pieces of the exhibitions on the stairs, being
that a horse in armor welcomes us to a floor dedicated to the decorative arts, jewelry
and glassware.
46
The rooms in this floor are castle-like, with the primitive ceilings being themselves
pieces of art. One of the rooms is called the music room, where, later, I got to know that
some events actually take place on that room.
All the way along the visit, there were staff members willing to help. Moving between
rooms, I was asked if I was enjoying my visit and I was recommended to see the
temporary exhibitions; when I asked about the entry to the garden, I was accompanied
there by a staff member who was going to the cafeteria on that moment. A good
treatment causes a good impression and leaves the feeling that they care about our
enjoyment while in there.
The same feeling repeated when in the cafeteria and in the museum shop.
Besides the cafeteria, the museum shop and the educational service, the museum also
has other services, like the auditorium, the library (with contents about the artistic
periods, the authors and so on) and it is entirely accessible to the people in wheel chair.
The interview: communication purposes
When the time for the interview arrived, I was kindly welcomed by the director and the
head of communication.
I had a guide for the interview focusing some points I wanted to be exposed. The main
ideas are transcribed and arranged in the following lines.
47
About the collections, I aimed to know what the museum general purpose was; what
was the museum way of communicating with its audience; why they were doing it like
that; and what were that they wishing to accomplish.
I got to know that, about the permanent collections, they are linked to the Fine Arts and
to the Decorative arts because, in the XIX century, the museum purpose was to serve
the Fine Arts students. The pieces are not all in exposition, they can be exposed
accordingly to the events and ideas that emerge.
MNSR, with this director, aims to cross emotions with objects; through temporary
exhibitions and events, they pretend to not limit but to diversify. They have many
different temporary exhibitions that aim to cross the visual arts with other subjects, like
science, and with other artistic expressions, like theater and literature.
An example of the merge of artistic expressions, the museum already had theater plays
performed in the museum rooms and evenings of literature; these events use to occur in
the music room.
The aim of merging the arts with other subjects is educational, but it is also about
correlation – the museum believes that nothing is isolated and that, on the days we live
on, we all have the sensibility of wanting to understand everything as a whole.
An example of this correlation is a temporary exhibition that had a sculpture of a
neuron; this sculpture was exposed together with scientific material that showed
pictures of neurons and explained what it was and how it worked in the human body.
MNSR sees itself as a house of everybody: their patrimony belongs to the people and
they aim to make it available in a way that people can understand and feel it. They
believe that the physical experience is a unique experience, as no one sees and feels the
same about something, and it changes every time one looks at that thing again.
They wish to maintain and make useful the objects, making them available for direct
contact as they are witnesses of other times and carry the knowledge that was left
behind.
About the ways of communication, this is a museum with a very poor budget that tries
to deal with out the way they can.
On the website, they accepted a template provided by the government and accepted help
from a Fine Arts student, who was a trainee in the museum, for the complementing
design. They use the website to communicate about events and temporary exhibitions,
but not in the english version – they assume that they needed more staff to maintain the
website but they cannot afford to employ more people now.
They use the webmail to send invitations to expositions, only using the traditional mail
when strictly necessary.
They make posters to distribute in schools and other public institutions, appealing for
the viral communication.
48
With the media, they take advantage of some free journals and, every year, they accept
students of the Bachelor in Communication as trainees, who use the University journal
to communicate about the museum. Also, they communicate through the local TV
channel. Many times, they are talked in famous journals and on TV, but it is usually
after the events had occurred.
They realize that this communication is not enough and that often does not reach people
in time.
About the website, I aimed to know if they had “think new” when designing the website
or if they wanted the website to be more of a “picture” of the physical museum.
I got to know that, before launching the website, the museum asked to the staff to look
at it at home and ask to family and friends for opinion, especially to the youth – but no
one did. That way, they moved without comments from the outside.
The museum director wanted the website to be truth to the physical space. Even though
they had a defined template, the creation of the menus and the contents were their
responsibility. They aimed to make simple menus to provide an evident access.
About the contents, they did not want to expose the museum’s mission and similar
information, as they consider it “heavy” for the audience – and not interesting. They
also did not want to have too many images, for the website not to be exhaustive in the
eyes.
They aimed to keep the museum plan on the website and the chronological line that they
use in the exhibitions, for the website to have the same line of thought.
.Comparing the digital and the physical spaces of the Museu Nacional Soares
dos Reis
The primary conclusion is that the website passes a completely wrong idea about the
physical museum.
Dividing the topics, the website design gives a general idea of a conservative place,
especially due to the colors and images used. But the museum is not conservative at all:
it has innovative ideas, like the correlation with other areas on events and temporary
exhibitions and their idea of having patrimony that belongs to the people and the aim to
make it available in a way that people can understand and feel it.
The idea of a conservative space comes from the website, where the choice on colors
and images to display was not the best. In fact, not wanting to have many images to not
make the website exhaustive, made the website impersonal, making think of the
museums that are only focused on the preservation of the objects and not on their
communication.
It was also the colors and the images that gave the image of a small or medium size dark
place, compact inside; when, in fact, the museum is a large place, full of natural light
49
and artificial light in strategic points. Once again, the choice on colors and images,
especially the choice of leaving the images behind, was a wrong choice.
The idea of stagnancy and lack of life is also very wrong. The museum has many events
going on and a wide diversity on the theme of temporary exhibitions. The negligence to
communication sections in the english version of the website passed this idea, as well as
the lack of visual reference to people.
The negligence on the search system and the lack of content in the homepage passed the
idea of not caring about the audience, when it is a wrong idea. The first thought when
entering the museum is exactly the opposite of the thought when entering the
homepage: we are not alone in there; plus, the staff is very helpful and cares about the
audience.
In the end, only the idea about having a few services, being a place with conditions and
comfort to spend few hours and being an organized place were correct – even though
the website makes think that the organization is made by the pieces material (ceramics,
sculpture and so on) when in fact is more chronological and correlational.
Regardless of the director and head of communication think that the website provides a
picture of the physical space and a chronological line of thought, that is not the idea that
the website is transmitting about the physical space.
Although they actually provide evident access through the menus they created, this
access is not the same as in the physical museum. Also, even if they aimed to not have
heavy information on the website, the choice of having more text than pictures was
contradictory. For real, when going to a museum, one is not expecting to read but to see;
and, as the museum has the belief that the experience is, most of all, about what one
sees and feels, they should have be able to pass the same logic for their website.
Furthermore, this museum goes straight to the preoccupations of the sample of people
that answered to the survey about the motivations to go to museums: the exhibitions are
well presented in a very good environment (and there is information about the building
history), and with a display of information about the exhibitions (like the introductory
notes in the room’s entrance); it has all the necessary services and information in
english; a price table is available for the audience, together with the opening days and
hours; the physical museum inspires leisure; it reaches some kind of interactivity with
the pieces in the events they have, especially the ones that take place in the music room.
For being a museum that fulfills the main concerns of the audience (although being an
example taken from the sample of the survey only), it should not make the common
errors that, mentioned by the same amount of people, lead to not knowing about the
museum or its activity: lack of communication.
I believe that the error when building the website, was thinking digital instead of
thinking about synchronize the physical world with the digital world. There was an
attempt, as we can understand when they mention they wanted the website to be a
50
picture of the museum and when they thought about taking of the institutional aspects,
that are not for the audience; but they were not able to look from the outside (looking at
the website, the menus are similar to all the other websites) and realize that their most
important thought – the experience being about what we see and feel –was not there.
About the synchronization of the digital and the physical worlds, there is a step in the
Information Architecture analysis that is now possible to be made: look for the IA
heuristics.
The heuristics should be seen as problem-solving suggestions and directions, which is
what is needed at this point.
o The usage of place-making happens both in the digital and physical
world, but in different ways: in the digital world, is about the menus, that
provide the evident access, and in the physical museum is about the plan
and the chronological line. The problem is that it is not the same in both
worlds and it should be rethink in order to be.
o Consistency is present in the both worlds as well, but not on the same
matters, as the website is not like the physical museum. When solving
the differences, the consistency should be the equal in both
o Resilience is only present in the physical museum, as it has innovative
ideas that adapt the museum to different users and needs. The website,
though, passes the idea of a museum that does not care about the
audience.
o Reduction is used equally in both worlds: the website uses highlights and
in the physical space are only exposed some of the collection pieces.
o Correlation is largely used in the physical museum, exactly in the
correlation of visual arts with other areas. Through the website, we
would say that the physical space does not have correlation at all.
The harmony in the “reduction” heuristic is an example of how the synchronization
should be made between the digital and the physical worlds.
51
Discussing the Results and Presenting Suggestions for Improvement
One of the things that the MNSR director told me was that, without an audience, there
would be no point in communicating objects and that, if it was the case, it would be
imperative to try to understand the reasons for the lack of motivation.
There is no doubt that the website of this case museum is not passing a reliable picture
of the museum itself – and, for some people, it is a reason for a lack of interest in
visiting this museum.
After receiving the answers about “based on this website, what mental image do you
have about the physical museum?” (page 38), I sent to my friends some of the pictures I
took in the museum. The four got amazed by the pictures and one of them was truly
honest: “I had no idea the museum was like that! It seems cool! Now I wish to visit the
museum, after seeing the pictures, but not before. In fact, the website gives an idea of an
old house, with things with mold, but the pictures give a completely different idea”.
Even for me, this museum was a good surprise, but if I was another person, looking on
the web for museums to visit (if I was this friend of mine, for example), would I ever
think about visiting this museum?
As I mentioned before, the website must be a credited image of the physical museum,
mainly because there is no point in deceiving the potential audience. But we need to
understand that “deceiving” is not only about showing something better than what it
really is – is also about showing something worst that what it really is. And that is the
case of this case museum.
Before visiting the museum, the question I made was: “is the MNSR a conservative,
frozen in time, lifeless, medium size museum, which cares less about its audience?”
The answer is no, and it leads to another question: how can we change this completely
wrong idea about the museum that the website is passing and that makes people not
want to visit the museum?
Although the MNSR works with a template already made, it is not excuse for the
presented webpage. When searching, I found more portuguese museums using the same
template has MNSR, and some of them looked quite better. That is because the choice
on the colors and, very important, on the images is extremely important.
The following webpage (from Museum Nacional de Arte Antiga – national museum of
antique art) is an example of how, using the same template, although not being a good
website, the idea of a conservative and dark place can be changed:
52
If we look at both together, and thinking about design – colors and images – only, our
eyes are going to choose this website instead of the website of MNSR.
And, about homepages, the most important improvement would be to fill the homepage
with content – it would not only pass the idea of caring about the user and not being an
empty space, but provide information about events as well (if it keeps the logical of the
portuguese version).
Another idea would be to have a blog instead of a website. Although not being the most
interesting idea, it was smartly used by another portuguese museum (Museu Nacional
de Etnologia – national museum of ethnology). When reaching the website, it only stays
on air for a few seconds with the message that the user is being redirected to the
museum’s blog.
As seen below, it has a better layout and design than the presented websites, it is
completely free – which is a big help for a museum with a low budget – and it provides
a connection to social networks:
53
Focusing not only on the website from this case museum but on the entire
communication it has, a way to use the web and escape from the economic problems
would be the usage of the social networks.
Spreading the news on Facebook or Twitter is fast, free and can reach much people – as
people of all ages are now using social networks, in more than one language. Plus, it
does not have an institutional character, so the communication would not have to be
made in a formal language, but more with a personal approach.
The Museu Nacional Soares dos
Reis already has a page on
Facebook, but passes an idea similar
to the website: it is a poor page,
only with the references from
Wikipedia.
It shows lack of interest, reason why
it would be better to not be available
for the audience.
54
The best improvement of all would be to change colors on the website (choose light
colors, nor dark neither warm colors – base this choice on theory of psychology of the
colors could be a good idea) and choose to use images, instead of avoiding them, but
images that show the museum in its space, innovation and light.
Also, the texts should be summarized and easier to read because, if no one go to a
museum to read, no one wants to read in a museum webpage either.
To include events and news on the english version of the website is also needed.
Perhaps it could be possible to accept trainees from the languages courses as well, to
create contents in english for the website.
In all website, there is a need to have a search system that works correctly and there
should be correlation between pages
Important as well would be redesign the website having in mind the experience that the
museum wishes to provide to the users – based on what we see and what we feel.
It is urgent that a museum like MNSR, because of its importance and because of the
amazing experience that can provide to the audience, reconsiders its website: the low
budget can be even lower if it does not accomplish new audience.
Comparing museums: an example of how to synchronize the physical world and
the digital world
Even though I should not compare experiences, I believe that to give a small example
could be interesting, in order to understand how the synchronization can work properly.
The Frederiksborg Castle, in Denmark, homes a National Museum as well (the National
Museum of History) and is a museum that I had the opportunity to visit several times
while living in Denmark.
Because of that – and because, as a foreign user, I think its website is a good example
that was very helpful for me – I can relate its website to its physical space.
As can be seen on the next page, with a sober layout and being simple, this website is
much more appealing than the website from MNSR.
The usage of light colors and images provide an inviting idea. It is “light” to the eyes.
The presentation of the images, although simple, is enriched with the detail of the
rounded corners, making a difference to the eye.
In its homepage, the user can find all the important information, in a simple display at
the bottom, using a nice design and not compromising the user experience.
Comparing the whole website, its contents make it being a reliable picture of the
physical place. Most important, the images about the physical place make the user to
want to live to physical experience.
Also, it shows it approach to social networks, which passes an idea that goes
accordingly to the century we live on.
55
56
Conclusion
After all the theory and analysis, my research questions can now be answered.
As the results were all exposed during the entire thesis, and to not repeat information, I
will answer to my answers very simple.
Do museums introduce to the public what they want to communicate?
Sometimes, as seen in the case of Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis, a museum wants to
introduce something but ends up introducing another different thing.
The MNSR director and its head of communication were truly believing that the
museum website was according to their goals: passing the same image as the physical
museum. But it is not and only with punctual analysis and evaluations to the website it
can be changed – and also asking for external opinions.
Is the web page of a museum actually a reliable picture of the museum itself?
Not always. It would be important that the physical world would be synchronized with
the digital world because they are both part of the same reality. If one passes an image
and other passes a different one, the audience is deceived and it can affect the visits to
the physical museum.
To synchronize both worlds properly is, then, hard to manage, and the usage of the
pervasive Information Architecture (more proper to design webpages than to evaluate
them) is recommended.
Is a webpage of a museum capable to make the difference to its audience?
Yes, it is. Having the example of the sample that answered to the survey about
motivations to go to museums, the webpage is considered very important. Also, with the
example of the people I asked help for analyzing the museum website about “what
meets the eye”, only half of them would visit the museum after looking at the webpage,
but all of them got admired when looking at the pictures of the museum.
An error on a museum webpage can cost the museum its audience. And, without
audience, there is no purpose in communicating objects because we would be
communicating knowledge to no one.
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Discussion
It could be argued that the museum was the original "virtual reality," an immersive,
artificial world which bears some resemblance to places past and present, but which
has been consciously designed for the consumption and enjoyment of others.
"Information architecture" is a term used (…) to describe the structure and
organization of data. In this case, however, it refers to a real space that is augmented
by computer-enabled interaction.
This is not to say that an exhibition is the same as computer data or a web site, nor
should it be. Physical space has deeper effects; it's beautiful, for one. People go to
museums to see the real, in context. They go to see what they don't normally see, or take
for granted. Real objects are containers for information, attitudes, and ideas, as are
people. The technology should not compete with this, but augment it.30
As many others projects, academic or not, the end is not what we were expected in the
beginning.
Initially, this project aimed to inside on the objects presentation in the physical museum
and in the website, looking closer to rules for describing objects.
It was, though, in the very beginning, that the enthusiasm about the two sides of a
museum changed the goal of the project: the visit to the museum and the nice
conversation interview-like with its responsible, asked for more attention to the whole
experience than to specifics of describing rules.
During the research, more ideas were created and changes were made, and the finding
of the pervasive Information Architecture also created new horizons for this project, as
the idea, new for me, was going straight to what I was considering: to have a
“synchronization” of the both (digital and physical) worlds.
In the end, much more ideas could arise, but there is one topic that I cannot leave
without calling attention for: the unfortunately neglect of the english versions of
websites.
Today, the world is not so big and hard to reach as before. People travel more often and
many only goes to museums outside their country to get to know about foreign cultures
and history.
To neglect the english version of a museum website is a common mistake, unfortunately
not only happening in Portugal. Although I understand the patriotic ideas – and I agree
that a service must, first of all, serve the local community –, in time, having a solid
website, the english version should be of main interest of museums.
Kevin Walker (2001). The Museum as "Information Architecture". Journal of the Museum
Computer Network. Available at: http://www.exhibitresearch.com/mcn.html. Retrieved on May
2012.
30
58
The fact of this museum having a website to disseminate itself, using images from the
building and the inside, and the fact of having a website with an english version, already
highlights this museum within the portuguese reality. But, in the World Wide Web, the
environment of a website cannot be seen as the country that hosts it, but the world.
59
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