Inclusivity and digital technologies in museums: lessons from an Italian experience

ABSTRACT

This paper explores an emerging research field that considers both digital technologies and social inclusion to create a novel approach to museum management. It investigates the use of digital technologies for developing new services for people with disabilities in terms of the creation of museum inclusivity based on the case of the Museum of Geology and Paleontology located in Florence. The study analyses a special project consisting of a digital tour supported by a robot that allowed disabled people to visit the institution virtually from their homes. The results indicate that the quality of the visits and the experience were perceived by the visitors as completely real and not simply virtual; consequently, the results appear particularly promising when compared with other technologies such as virtual tours and augmented reality.

KEYWORDS:

• Social inclusion
• disability
• digitalization
• museum
• Italy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/ (accessed on 18 May 2023).

2 Data retrieved from: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/disability-eu-facts-figures/#:~:text=Percentage%20of%20people%20with%20disabilities,The%20EU%20average%20is%2024%25 (accessed on 23 May 2023).

3 The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex, while the American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific and cultural institutions.

4 Distributed System of Scientific Collections Research Infrastructure; https://www.dissco.eu/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Silvia Fissi

Silvia Fissi is an Assistant Professor in Business Administration at the Department of Business and Economics of the University of Florence (Italy). She holds a Ph.D. in Planning and Control from the same university. Her research interests include public management and accounting – in particular, local authorities – tourism management, museums, corporate social responsibility, and non-financial reporting.

Elena Gori

Elena Gori is Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Department of Business and Economics of Florence University (Italy). She is also director of the Centro Interuniversitario di Studi sul Turismo (Interuniversity Centre of Tourism Studies) of the University of Florence. She holds a Ph.D. in Planning and Control from the University of Florence. Her research interests include public management, tourism management, museums, corporate social responsibility, and accounting history.

Alberto Romolini

Alberto Romolini is currently Associate Professor in Business Administration at the Università Telematica Internazionale Uninettuno, Rome, Italy. He is also Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics in the same university. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Management at the Università di Siena. His research interests are in the field of corporate social responsibility and non-financial reporting, public management in local authorities and health-care entities, museums, history of accounting and tourism management.