Optimisation using Natural Language Processing: Personalized Tour Recommendation for Museums

This paper proposes a new method to provide personalized tour recommendation for museum visits. It combines an optimization of preference criteria of visitors with an automatic extraction of artwork importance from museum information based on Natural Language Processing using textual energy. This project includes researchers from computer and social sciences. Some results are obtained with numerical experiments. They show that our model clearly improves the satisfaction of the visitor who follows the proposed tour. This work foreshadows some interesting outcomes and applications about on-demand personalized visit of museums in a very near future.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; Proceedings of the 2014 Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems pp. 439-44

Development of a decision support system framework for cultural heritage management

Decision support systems (DSSs) have been traditionally identified as useful information technology tools in a variety of fields, including the context of cultural heritage. However, to the best of our knowledge, no prior study has developed a DSS framework that incorporates all the main decision areas simultaneously in the context of cultural heritage. We fill this gap by focusing on design-science research and specifically by developing a DSS framework whose features support all the main decision areas for the sustainable management of cultural assets in a comprehensive manner. The main decision-making areas considered in our study encompass demand manage-ment, segmentation and communication, pricing, space management, and services management. For these areas, we select appropriate decision-making supporting techniques and data management solutions. The development of our framework, in the form of a web-based system, results in an architectural solution that is able to satisfy critical requirements such as ease of use and response time. We present an application of the innovative DSS framework to a museum and discuss the main managerial implications and future improvements

An examination of the development process of hands-on educational exhibitions for children

Educational exhibition projects are very complex. During their development a verbal, two-dimensional communication is transformed into a three-dimensional communication. It is extremely difficult to protect the integrity of the original intended educational messages. Perhaps the most difficult messages to protect are those embodied in hands-on exhibits. There are few research studies of the exhibition development process and existing ones tend to be reflective accounts of past experiences. This research project was designed to reveal the nature of the exhibition development process as it happens and to explore how, when and why communications can go off-course during exhibition development. The aim of the study is to describe the educational exhibition development process more fully so that practitioners can take steps to protect the integrity of their intended communications during all stages of exhibition development. The researcher studied the process of exhibition development at four different organisations. The data was collected through participant observation and analysed using grounded theory methodology. The researcher identified three common patterns of fundamental functional behaviours across the stories: 1. Keeping on Track behaviours: how a team co-ordinates their activities in order to keep to a schedule. 2. Focus Issues: how a team focuses on their intended communication outcome. 3. Flexibility Opportunities: how a team copes with unforeseen situations. A further, deeper level of analysis considered how the three fundamental functional behaviours interacted to have an impact on the educational exhibition projects. It was found that the dimensions of exhibition development were likely to be impinged on by three constraints: 1. Process: How the process of exhibition development unwinds. 2. Team Functioning: How the team functions. 3. Resources: How resources, such as money, staff time, offices and workshops, are used. The development of educational exhibitions is driven by the fundamental functional behaviours of Keeping on Track, Focus Issues and Flexibility Opportunities. Throughout the development process these fundamental functional behaviours patterns are impacted upon in a dynamic manner by the three major constraints. This study provides a fuller description than previously the nature of the educational exhibition development process, thus enabling exhibition developers to manage such projects more effectively than previously. This can help to ensure and safeguard the educational impact of their exhibitions

Curated routes: the project of developing experiential tracks in sub-urban landscape

The Curated Routes project reflects on the visiting routes’ ability to make apparent the internal characteristics of urban environments. The project’s name allude to the intellectual function of curation and the materiality of routes. Curate deals with the practice of arranging material –tangible or intangible- in a way that a new understanding of an area is revealed. The word routes refers to the linear associations that link places and guide movement. The Curated Routes aim to reinforce the development of bonding ties between people and urban environments by re-constructing the way we visit and explore a place. The overall goal of the project is to outline the conceptual guidelines of a visitors’ guide that could later be used for the development of the informatics model. The project follows the methodology that the context-aware routes apply, though particular attention is paid to the second phase of the process where an innovative approach is applied. The introduction of the “chronotope” filters enables us to “knit” the terrestrial route to a range of informative storylines, and hence to develop different interpretations of an urban environment

Passionate visions of the American South: self-taught artists from 1940 to the present: an Arts Administration internship at the New Orleans Museum of Art

This paper demonstrates the overall success of bringing non-traditional audiences to a New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) exhibition, Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present. It also highlights the success of some of its public programs. However, the process of attracting these audiences to the museum falls short in its attempts at developing long-term relationships with NOMA. The first chapter provides historical background on NOMA and offers an overview of the Passionate Visions project. Chapter Two describes, in relative detail, the project\u27s community outreach component and implementation of its public programs. It closes with an analysis of short range and long term impacts. The final chapter further analyzes the project experience, inclusive of the management style of the project director, issues surrounding conflict of interest and ethics, and the degree of NOMA\u27s commitment, or lack thereof, to long-term non-traditional audience inclusiveness

Passionate visions of the American South: self-taught artists from 1940 to the present: an Arts Administration internship at the New Orleans Museum of Art

This paper demonstrates the overall success of bringing non-traditional audiences to a New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) exhibition, Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present. It also highlights the success of some of its public programs. However, the process of attracting these audiences to the museum falls short in its attempts at developing long-term relationships with NOMA. The first chapter provides historical background on NOMA and offers an overview of the Passionate Visions project. Chapter Two describes, in relative detail, the project\u27s community outreach component and implementation of its public programs. It closes with an analysis of short range and long term impacts. The final chapter further analyzes the project experience, inclusive of the management style of the project director, issues surrounding conflict of interest and ethics, and the degree of NOMA\u27s commitment, or lack thereof, to long-term non-traditional audience inclusiveness

Arts for All: Connecting to New Audiences

Summarizes discussions among arts leaders and experts at an April 2008 conference on how to build arts appreciation and participation in a new environment through better marketing, new technology, and audience research

Applying Agile Project Management to Art Museums: A Proposal for Implementing a Generalist Scrum Master

This capstone project examines organizational change, along with its challenges, through case studies in museums and businesses in the private sector, subsequently providing a possible solution for museums to adapt to the current global market economy through the use of Agile Project Management (Agile). I cite recent case studies of art museums implementing Agile for digital product development. This project proposal aims to introduce Agile outside of digital departments, including Exhibitions and Education, with the goal of developing better visitor-centered offerings from museums. This may be achieved through the proposal of a job description for a new museum position of Generalist Scrum Master, along with a three-year strategy of implementing Agile Project Management across various museum departments, including digital, exhibitions, and education