M.A.P. Museums Accessibility Platform

Abstract

Completing the learning journey started at Cà Foscari University and continued at Venice International University and Duke University Durham NC, this thesis describes a multimedia project effectively drawn for and developed for an existing museum centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The goal of this project was to develop models and digital tools that would succeed in upgrading the museum’s accessibility and learning experiences. This thesis shows a multidisciplinary approach encompassing and analyzing changes in cultural and museum economy brought by recent technological improvements. The platform itself was crafted accordingly with economy of collaboration principles: openness, sharing, peering, and acting globally. These principles identify an open platform as the leading tool that could implement both knowledge sharing and access to the “Heritage”. The platform was named MQUADRO as to emphasize the shift in experience that new digital technology allows, expanding the space available both for contents as well as relations. Contents: because it help re-crafting and sharing information, not just about the objects the museum encases, but also about the cultural and historical context that enshrine it. And relations: because technology – especially digital – augments levels and occasions for interactions between people and institutions. These interactions build special and lasting relations that stimulate scholars, visitors, amateurs and local stakeholders – belonging both to the public and private sectors – to share their knowledge and contributions, participating in value creation. In this way a museum becomes a platform by itself, bound into sharing information and expanding common knowledge. Some examples of this behavior are reported at the end of the thesis.