A cabinet of designs

Special report: Produce data at the interface of several social worlds
User figures at the heart of the design of digital mediation devices in a fine arts museum
By Thomas Faugeras
English

As museums are now required both to ensure accessibility and to provide digitalized services, Fine Arts museums are acquiring digital tools to accompany visitors before, during and after the visit. This article explores the design stages of these devices in a museum in Occitanie (France). Without audience studies, the designers have to imagine what users’ expectations and uses of cultural mediation devices would be. User figures then emerge, mobilized by the actors, who accompany the multimedia project. Based on a field survey and a sociotechnical approach, the author draws up a typology of these user figures during the design of the devices, and notes a convergence towards two parallel standards, that of the user and that of the device.

  • accessibility
  • digital device
  • cultural mediation
  • strategy
  • user
  • public
  • museum
Go to the article on Cairn-int.info