Design Thinking for Digital Heritage: Developing Communities of Design Practice for Visitor Experience

Project Information

MuseCoP4DT

Grant agreement ID: 703682

DOI

10.3030/703682

Project closed

EC signature date 22 February 2016

Start date 1 July 2016

End date 31 December 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 195 454,80

EU contribution

€ 195 454,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MuseCoP4DT (Design Thinking for Digital Heritage: Developing Communities of Design Practice for Visitor Experience)

Reporting period: 2016-07-01 to 2018-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project is situated within Design Research – the field that focuses on the study of design methods, techniques, practices and outcomes – focusing on the area of Design Thinking (DT) for Digital Cultural Heritage – the study of digital media and technologies in museums and other cultural and heritage institutions. The main scientific objective of this action has been to conduct a systematic study of design in the context of digital cultural heritage for the theorisation of design thinking, and thus directly contribute to the advancement of the state-of-the-art in design thinking research. This overarching objective set the normative orientation of the research, which achieved three intertwined “sub-objectives”:
Objective 1: To build the basis of a design thinking Community of Practice within the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge (during the 6 months secondment) through an action research intervention and to observe and gain insights from it; Objective 2: To gather qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with museum managers to understand what are the attributes that characterise Design Thinking in museum context; and Objective 3: To presents a conceptual framework for a novel way to approach the study of collaborative digital production in the museum that foregrounds the ways in which museums foster design thinking practices.

Design is fundamental to twenty-first century society and organizations. Design can lead to significant organizational change and innovation. Design is a driving force for all types of organisations – including museums – increasingly being considered as a “strategic resource” to advance existing business models and practices. It is by contributing to understand emerging design thinking practice in museums that this project is generating innovation for ERA, fully in line with EU policy. It is no coincidence that Europe is promoting design as a high priority strategy to foster “value creation through design-enabled innovation” (H2020-CO-CREATION-02-2016), “support innovation in Europe” (Design4Europe2017), and “accelerate the take-up of design in innovation policies” (Action Plan for DesignDriven Innovation 2013) including the promotion of “Cultural Heritage Innovation” (H2020-SC5-19-2018) and Cultural and Creative Industries that are changing “as a result of increased digital technologies” (Creative Europe).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work performed for objective 1 included all research activities related to the implementation of a design thinking approach Framework at the Secondment Organisation, Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. In addition, it included analysis of the data that were gathered throughout this intervention by employing a “participatory observation” approach. The findings presented at the International Conference of Digital Cultural Heritage, Manchester 2017.

Work performed for objective 2. Informed and inspired by what I learnt and saw during the secondment, I gather qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with museum managers to understand what are the attributes that characterise Design Thinking in museum context. Also, I collected secondary data from interviews published in academic journal and/or professional articles. These data have been then analysed. I have identified a list of intertwined attributes (i.e. conceptual themes) and traced their relationships. The constant comparative method I adopted as an analytic tool promoted reflective thinking that I then supported with extant literature in design thinking. I have written a paper and presented at ICOM-Italai international conference in Turin, November 2018.

Work performed for objective 3. I elaborated a conceptual framework for a novel way to approach the study of design thinking practice in museum context. that foregrounds the ways in which museums foster design thinking practices. The conceptual framework resulted from a combination of practical insights (gained through the secondment) and an extensive literature review on design thinking and “practice theorizing” in organisational studies. I have submitted a paper titled “Design as Social Practice in Digital Cultural Heritage”

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Museums nowadays raise new design problems that have been expanding from usability between user and technology, to the way in which digital systems are placed physically, socially and culturally within the overall
visitor experience. Second, the growing demand by “digital native” audiences for novel ways of engagement is leading to an adoption of creative practices within museums to envision effective responses that intertwine physical
and digital dimensions. Third, embracing a holistic mindset, museums have started to think in term of service-based experience considering the whole visitor experience as a run of different input.

The emerging design challenges are asking museums to develop new strategies. As result, design is entering into museum practices driven by Human-Centered Design approaches such as Design Thinking which are increasingly being considered driving forces for innovation and as a “strategic resource” to advance existing practices. these approaches promote highly collaborative, multidisciplinary working practices, where museum professionals are called to take active part on design activities in collaboration with specialists and stakeholders across teams and departments. This is changing internal social interactions and structures, introducing new tools, re-configuring workplaces, and affecting the organisations’ working practices. My research has shed light on this emerging practice.

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