=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3243/paper5
|storemode=property
|title=Approaching Mixed Cultural Visits: Scenarios of use from COVID 19 and beyond
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3243/paper5.pdf
|volume=Vol-3243
|authors=Angeliki Antoniou
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/avi/Antoniou22
}}
==Approaching Mixed Cultural Visits: Scenarios of use from COVID 19 and beyond==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3243/paper5.pdf
Approaching Mixed Cultural Visits
Scenarios of use from COVID 19 and beyond
Angeliki Antoniou1
1
Department of Archival, Library & Information Studies, University of West Attica, Aegaleo, Greece
Abstract
Mixed musem visits are expected to remain and even to increase in the world after the pandemic. Not
only to stop the spreading of a disease but also to support visits of people previously excluded, like
people in remote geographical areas or people with moving difficulties, different forms of combining
online and onsite visits are already explored by researchers. The present work considers the Contextual
Model of Museum Learning in order to describe possible scenarios of use for mixed cultural visits.
Keywords
Mixed, hybrid cultural visits, museum, contextual model
1. From COVID 19 and beyond
The COVID 19 pandemic affected most aspects of human life from the beginnings of 2020.
Inevitably, museums and cultural institutions were also affected and many had to stop their
operation and close their doors to the public. Physical visits were largely prevented and many
people around the globe had to stay in their home in an attempt to control the spreading of the
disease.
Museums responded to the new conditions by using different approaches to engage their
visitors even from afar. For example, collections quickly went online, museums offered virtual
tours in their premises and in some cases, they came up with imaginative social media campaigns,
like the one from the Getty that asked people to recreate works of art in their home [1, 2]. In
particular, social media became a quick and effective way to engage people with museums and
cultural content [3]. Many museums almost doubled their online presence and became very
active on their websites and on their social media accounts [4]. The changes were so fast and
significant that many were left wondering what the future of museums will be [5] and if we are
moving towards museums without walls [6].
However, the pandemic also allowed us to envision new forms of engagement with cultural
content and to consider possibilities for future forms of cultural visits. In fact, researchers
around the world explored the idea of hybrid museum visits and suggested different solutions.
The numbers of these works seem to have significantly increased from 2020 onwards as a
response to the new conditions the pandemic created. The de-prioritization of physicality
and materiality became the new requirement for cultural visits [7]. Thus, the pandemic not
only allowed us to define hybrid visits (as a mode of visitation that emerges both online and
AVI-CH 2022 Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces and Interactions in Cultural Heritage. June 06, 2022. Rome, Italy
Envelope-Open angelant@uniwa.gr (A. Antoniou)
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onsite) [8] but also to study the field in depth with studies that started collecting data for the
effectiveness of hybrid museum visits [9].
Specifically, works focused on the different forms of technology that could support hybrid vis-
its, leading to a paradigm shift and a new museology. From virtual reality to games, researchers
were looking for ultimate solutions to support online and onsite visitors [10, 11]. However, the
way the terms are used seem to be mixed up. The terms are used interchangeably and there
does not seem to be clear understanding when terms like hybrid, mixed, or online visit are used.
For example, in museum literature the term hybrid seems to refer to the blending of physical
and digital experience [12], whereas in the education literature it refers to a group of people
some of which attend online and some onsite [13].
The present work focuses on new forms of visits that have emerged during the pandemic
and are expected to continue in the post pandemic era, also attempting to clarify and classify
these new forms, using the very influential contextual model by Falk and Dierking [14, 15] and
creating scenarios of use. Mixed and alternative forms of visit are expected to continue and
expand not only to protect people from the spreading of a pandemic but to also support cultural
visits from groups that were previously excluded, like geographically isolated populations,
people with moving difficulties, elderly, etc.
2. The contextual model for museum visits
The work of Falk and Dierking [14, 15] has been used widely to describe the processes taking
place during a cultural visit. The model provides a clear framework for understanding the
learning processes in a museum visit and has been tested over the years for its validity [16].
The model has three main components. The personal component describes learning as a
personal experience shaped by personal motives, emotions, interests, prior knowledge, etc.
The socio-cultural component emphasizes the importance of social and cultural elements. For
example, customary ways of behaving, code, assumptions, cultural and social expectations all
influence what and how people learn during a cultural experience. The physical component
stresses the importance of the physical-environmental setting. However, these components
also need a fourth dimension to be better understood and this is time. Cultural experiences
and museum learning need time. Learning and cultural experiences are dynamic phenomena,
always changing. The time element is thus crucial in allowing people to make meaning from
cultural experiences (Figure 1).
3. Mixed scenarios for the personal context
Regarding the personal context of learning, the field of cultural heritage can use knowledge from
the field of education where there has been substantial research to support different modes of
learning and engagement of learners with technology over the years. For example, in education
there are distinct types of learning mode, like distance, online, hybrid, blended and mixed
learning that incorporate technology.
In distance learning learners participate mostly asynchronously and at their own time
they can access learning material. They can contact instructors both synchronously and
Figure 1: Contextual Model of Learning (Falk and Dierking [14, 15])
asynchronously [17]. During the pandemic many museums seems to follow the distance access
paradigm, where they provided cultural content online and the public could access this from
home. Thus, many museums allowed free access to digitized artifacts and online collections
and tours. Communication between the museums and the public was often asynchronous, often
via email and it did not seem to be a priority (especially synchronous communication, e.g. over
a chat).
Online learning allows students and instructors to participate and communicate syn-
chronously from different locations. Not many museums seem to support such activities.
However, there are a few that use channels like YouTube to connect live with their audience,
like the Corning museum of Glass1 . For example, in a hypothetical scenario, museums could
provide live online access to preservation and other works taking place in their premises, while
people could watch from home and discuss over a platform with museum personnel.
In hybrid learning the instructor, together with some students is present in the class whereas
other students participate online [13]. Now, let us imagine a scenario where some people are
present in the museum and others follow their visit from home, like grandparents, people with
moving difficulties, etc. This could be easily done over the cameras of the visitors’ mobile
phones. However, questions remain about the quality of the experience for the remote visitors.
Over the last two years there are research attempts to bridge the physical space of the museum
with the online one and allow remote visitors active roles (e.g., [10, 11]). The cultural sector has
also experimented with forms of cultural experiences, like a theatre performance where some
actors are present in the theatre and others perform online from a prison. Despite the technical
1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUcLVVAnoeo
Figure 2: Types of mixed cultural visits
difficulties, the outcome was at least impressive, breaking barriers for cultural participation.
Museums could consider further scenarios where online and onsite visitors are actively engaging
with cultural content.
In blended learning all students are physically present in the class but they also use tech-
nology to access the learning content [18]. Blended visit practices are used in many museums
around the world, since different types of technologies are used to provide additional cultural
content. From mobile museum guides [19], to augmented [20] and virtual reality [21], games
[22] and the Internet of Things [23], museums employ different types of technology to engage
their visitors with their content and enhance the quality of their experience.
Finally, mixed learning is an umbrella term that can describe different ways online and onsite
instruction can be mixed together [24] forming a continuum from minimum to maximum use
of technology (figure 2). Figure 2 wishes to summarize the different types of mixed visits and it
is not an exhaustive visualization of the field. Therefore, more combinations could come up
when technology and cultural visits are mixed together. In the museum reality, we could thus
talk about mixed modes of visits where technology could assist in different degrees and levels
people to visit either online or onsite.
4. Mixed scenarios for the socio-cultural context
In regards to cultural experiences, considering what we missed the most during the pandemic,
was probably the social aspect of the visits. Whether people visit alone or in groups, in
museums and cultural spaces, the presence of others marks strong sociality elements that shape
the experience. Without them, the experience feels incomplete. From the beginning of the
pandemic, there were concerns about the ways technology could (not) support the sociality of
the cultural experiences and support people experiencing cultural content solely online [25].
Museums became increasingly aware of the lack of social exchanges in the experiences they
offered online and many used social media to compensate. Certain social media campaigns
were highly creative and had a large impact on social media. The Getty Museum Challenge 2 ,as
already mentioned, asked people to recreate works of art and post their photos on social media.
There were other influential efforts, like a famous DJ who was invited at the archaeological site
of ancient Messene, while people used the YouTube channel to discuss and have fun together in
a big online party 3 . Aspects of humor were also used in social media campaigns. For example,
famous people and historical events were presented as Playmobil figures to entertain the public
and increase their interaction with the museum’s social media 4 .
The social aspects of visits and the ways they could be blended with technology are now
investigated by researchers [26], although the popularity of such approaches in not yet very
high, probably because of the design challenges one needs to face when a group of people has
to be simultaneously supported. Nevertheless, there are current efforts that attempt to create
symbiotic environments for museum staff like human guides, visitors and technologies [27].
5. Mixed scenarios for the physical context
The physicality of the experience is central in the cultural experiences. It makes a huge difference
whether people are physically present or in different locations. The importance of the physical
aspects of the visit has been well acknowledged and there are many studies that show how
technologies can be adapted to provide content that is location specific [28].
During lockdown, a new trend appeared which was that of following a person walking in
a certain physical location through your device. People could pay a fee, to watch a person
walking through an archaeological site (e.g. famous online walks of Petra in Jordan or Pompeii
in Italy) or a city. The need to go beyond informative material and have a strong sense of the
physical space was obvious. Some museums responded to the need for physical content and
provided 3D online tours for the public. However, their efficiency in providing a sufficient
cultural experience is still questioned [29] and different elements are studied to understand why
some 3D tours are better than others [30]. As VR systems improve and become more affordable
for home use, museums might invest in virtual tours to support physical context requirements
for mixed visits.
The potential of mixed visits to support the physicality of the cultural experience is significant
since mixed visits can help people that cannot physically attend to have a connection with the
cultural space. For example, Pisoni [31] used a system that allowed elderly at a care home to
connect with their friends and family at the museum and co-experience the museum space.
In addition, De Carolis et al. [32] explored the ways social robots can be used in tourist and
2
https://twitter.com/gettymuseum/status/1242845952974544896?lang=en
3
https://www.onassis.org/news/charlotte-de-witte-at-ancient-messene
4
https://www.nhmuseum.gr/ektheseis/periodikes/item/17376-to-21-allios-i-elliniki-epanastasi-me-figoyres-kai-\
dioramata-playmobil-sto-mouseio-plinthokeramopoiias-n-s-tsalapata-ston-volo
cultural experiences. Following their example, social robots could provide an opportunity for
remote visitors to explore the cultural space by tele-controlling their movement.
6. Mixed scenarios over time
The importance of supporting a cultural experience before, during and after it happens, is
well recognized in the literature. Time as an important element in the Contextual Model and
different museum technologies seem to consider this, designing experiences to support the need
for an experience that has duration in time [33]. The temporal aspects of a mixed visit are very
important (the duration of support as well as the synchronous or asynchronous experience)
and they seem to determine the level of engagement and the quality of the overall experience
[25]. Especially during the pandemic when museums were physically closed, aspects of online
synchronous and asynchronous experiences were evaluated and their qualitative aspects were
emphasized [34].
7. The contextual model of mixed visits
Based on the above, the contextual model is thus modified to accommodate the need for mixed
visits (figure 3). The clarified use of the terms distance, online, hybrid and blended allows
a better conceptualization and makes easy to understand the different visit modalities. Any
plans museums might have for supporting mixed visit should also consider issues of physicality,
sociality and temporality of the experience. When mixed museum experiences are designed, it is
important to consider all the elements of the model, in order to plan for a more complete visitor
experience. Modality, physicality, sociality and temporality of mixed visits are all essential
elements in a museum experience that allows a smooth blending of technologies and cultural
experiences.
The present work attempted to organize the field of mixed cultural visits and our future
work will focus on testing the different scenarios formed when different combinations of the
categories are tried. We will for example test different modalities of mixed visits with different
combinations regarding space, social interactions and time and will study their effects on the
quality of the cultural experience.
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