Applying Human Centered Values to Transformation Projects

Focussing on visitors, working together, providing access, measuring success and sharing results are common objectives in museums, appearing in mission statements, plans, strategies and reports. But what does it look like when they are actually embedded as core values in digital projects, and applied across all phases of work? Experts from different areas of different museums will share their experiences and learning while working with these human-centred values on major in-progress online and in-situ digital projects, and the impact this philosophy is having on their institution and the visitor experience. Carolyn Royston will share her experience of how she is developing and implementing a digital-first, audience-centred approach to digital experiences across the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum through a new website project and development of onsite digital tools. She will discuss how this is driving new ways of working for a Museum new to digital and the wider impact this is having beyond digital projects. For the past 15 years, the Virtual Museum of Canada has invested in online projects by Canadian museums, and provided access via a website. Megan Richardson will share the process of reimagining this major digital initiative to be more responsive to the needs of the people it serves, and better aligned with the evolving state of digital in museums. Eric Espig will share the unique approach at the Canadian Museum of History of reflecting collected visitor engagement data back to the visitor. This experimental “meta” approach to analytics allows the visitor to visualize Speakers Session Leader : Megan Richardson, Director, Virtual Museum of Canada, Canadian Museum of History Co-Presenter : Carolyn Royston, Director of Digital, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Co-Presenter : Eric Espig, Head of Digital Projects, Canadian Museum of History MCN 2016 New Orleans, LA