What Clicks? – Online and On-site Use of Museum Technology

By Jim Ockuly
Published by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

View the reports at http://www.artsmia.org/what-clicks/

Summary: In 2004, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts completed a major research and development project—called What Clicks?—assessing its audiences’ relationship with the MIA’s interactive media and Web resources.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, an encyclopedic art museum, produces and maintains two Web sites (artsmia.org and artsconnected.org—the latter in conjunction with Walker Art Center). It also provides its physical visitors with a host of interactive media resources in the museum itself—from an interactive museum directory to a large number of permanent collection-based programs located throughout the building. The research was designed to a) measure audience awareness, use, and satisfaction regarding these resources; b) respond to those findings with improvements; then c) re-measure to gauge the effect of the improvements. A further goal of this project is to share its logic model, methodology, instruments, and findings with the museum community.