It has been established by several studies that interactive exhibitions in museums bring many benefits to the experience of its visitors. This thesis explores how to make the exhibition Människor och idéer i rörelse (People and Ideas in Motion) interactive. This exhibition took place at the Workroom of Rörelsernas Museum (Museum of Movements) in Malmö. The exhibition was designed so that no one needed to go inside, but rather view and interact with the content of the exhibition from the street, which was displayed on the windows of the Workroom.Through a context-based design approach, the design process consisted of three main phases: inspiration, ideation and implementation. Throughout the design process, it was defined that in order to maintain the distance measures needed, it was adamant to employ technology as a design material. Following a number of testings, the specific technologies that were to be used were defined, namely capacitive sensors. Following this, the project delves into the steps needed in order to define the output of sensors. The final product consisted of four sensors. Two of these were connected to surprise boxes that enhanced the visual content of the exhibition. The other two were connected to a sound system that employed the windows as speakers, providing extra information about the museum and the exhibition.

Publishing books and catalogs has long been the domain of large museums and historical societies that have an equally large budget. While large organizations can commit vast amounts of time and resources to publishing, many small organizations cannot. Before recent technological advances, small museums and local history organizations were unable to participate in the publishing of books and catalogs easily. However, today, there are several viable options for these organizations to begin publishing. This research aims to highlight the ways that small organizations in the Upper Midwest have been utilizing technological advances and strategic partnerships to publish. Using these tools and partnerships, independently published books, catalogs, and other publications can be academically sound, including peer review, while also being affordable and easily created.

Dark tourism, a subsection of heritage tourism, is growing in popularity and center around historic sites and museums. Those sites are put in the position to take advantage of the surging popularity of dark tourism by offering programming that complements it. Ghost tours, paranormal investigations, and haunted houses have all been utilized by museums and historic sites to boost revenue and attendance numbers. The implementation of dark programming raises difficult discussions on the role of museums in society and the ethics of profiting off of ghosts, spirits, and the paranormal. The decision to produce dark programming as a complement to dark tourism is best decided on a case to case basis, as no two museums or historic sites are the same. But every site that is considering dark programming needs to weigh their mission, ethics, their stakeholders, and the memory and space of their site before coming to a decision.

Museums, and museum professionals, engage in a significant role within society. This dissertation is a qualitative exploratory study of the ways in which museum professionals promote or hinder the social inclusivity of museums through curatorial voice. Through a series of exhibit evaluations and intensive interviews, the researcher investigates the mechanisms used to craft curatorial voice within museums that handle contested subject material. This research seeks to broaden the understanding of curatorial voice, as viewed through the theoretical lenses of gatekeeper theory and co-creation of identity, with the explicit purpose of aiding in the development of professional guidance to help make museums more socially inclusive. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2016. / April 1, 2016. / Collective Memory, Curatorial Voice, Gatekeeping, Identity Creation, Museum, Social Inclusion / Includes bibliographical references. / Paul F. Marty, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jennifer Koslow, University Representative; Melissa Gross, Committee Member; Michelle Kazmer, Committee Member.

This study was an exploration into how seniors who participate in art workshops at the senior center experienced and made sense of their art museum visitations. In light of the rapidly increasing aging population in most countries around the world and the corollary notion that their well-being would be a global benchmark for civilized living (Kinsella & Phillips, 2005), the arts and creativity have been gaining momentum as a model for healthy and purposeful aging (Cohen, 2000, 2001; Hanna, 2013; Hanna & Perlstein, 2008). Despite the efforts to make art museums accessible to senior citizens, little empirical evidence and literature can be found that address the museum experiences of older adults, especially those who are considered to be receptive to visiting art museums, based on characteristics of the art exhibition. This study fills that critical gap through the use of phenomenological research methods that incorporate observations, in-depth interviews, a focus group, and document analysis techniques. The research site was selected by conducting evaluations using Serrell's (2006) Framework for Assessing Excellence in Exhibitions from a Visitor-Centered Perspective to identify characteristics of six art exhibitions. The exhibition chosen was rated excellent regarding its levels of achievement for all criteria: comfortable, engaging, reinforcing, and meaningful. The museum fieldtrip was set up to take participants to see the selected art exhibition. The fieldwork contributed a comprehensive perspective of not only experience but also motivation and reflection dimensions of the museum visitation that seniors constructed through the dynamic interaction of personal, sociocultural, and physical contexts. The data from the observation field notes, transcriptions of in-depth interviews and the focus group, and document review were analyzed by using phenomenology data analysis methods and emerging themes were presented in the form of composite descriptions. The results of the data analysis showed that participants were infused by a spirit of inquiry and had a need for being social. Older age-related needs and life-learned wisdom played a key part in shaping seniors' museum experiences emotionally and intellectually. The essence and shared meaning of this group of seniors' art museum visitation experiences culminated in seven key findings: seniors perceived themselves as curiosity-driven museum visitors with older age-related needs and values; sociocultural circumstances played a key part in seniors' art museum visit motivations; seniors constructed their museum experiences on their interests in art with a touch of life-learned wisdom; not only physical but also communication and attitude accessibilities are crucial to older museum visitors; seniors preferred personal interactions in order to maintain social connections; sociable experiences made seniors' meaningful museum experiences memorable; and the art museum visitation cultivated seniors' senses of purpose in terms of staying creative. To make contributions to the current paradigm for creative aging, the findings put forward knowledge that conveys practical ways for art museums and senior centers to work together on making arts and creativity services. These services can dynamically play an important role in building an effective ecosystem of leisure activities for promoting active lifestyles and social well-being among senior citizens. The findings of this study were used to develop seven recommendations that revolve around how art museums and senior centers can foster older visitors' meaningful and memorable museum experiences and collaborate on constructing and sustaining a full cycle of arts experiences and creativity engagement, from passive observation to active participation, not only in but also across communities. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / December 2, 2015. / art museum, arts participation, creative aging, exhibition evaluation, museum education, museum experience / Includes bibliographical references. / Pat Villeneuve, Professor Directing Dissertation; Anne Barrett, University Representative; David Gussak, Committee Member; Theresa Van Lith, Committee Member.

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