A presentation from Museums and the Web 2010. This paper is about a fundamental, three-fold issue concerning interactive multimedia communication. What is the best timing for providing information about an exhibition? And, depending on the answer: what should be the goal(s) be? What kind of information should be provided? We want to challenge the implicit assumption that ’before the visit’ is the best time for delivering synthetic, promotional and practical information, while ‘during the visit’ is the best time for providing in-depth information. We propose here that two additional important segments should be considered: users who have already visited the exhibition, and users who will never visit it at all. We suspect that ’after the visit’ could be a suitable time for pursuing a strong cultural impact (providing in-depth content, multimedia material, links to interesting sources, etc.). Moreover, past visitors are usually easy targets to reach: they bought tickets! Also, non-visitors could be interested in receiving in-depth communication. Our discussion is based on observations and data collected during two extensive user studies (involving more than 250 users) conducted on the occasion of the exhibition Enigma Helvetia, held at Museo Cantonale d’Arte and Museo d’Arte Moderna, in Lugano (Ticino, Switzerland) in 2008. Additional observations are drawn from a third user study, still ongoing, for the exhibition Look at me, at the same museum.

1. WHEN-Why –WHAT-HOWCommunication ISSUES Paolo Paolini : HOC-LAB, Politecnico di Milano, IT 1

2. Authors Marco Franciolli Director of “Museo Cantonale d’Arte”, Lugano, CH Elisa Rubegni TEC-LAB, USI: University of Italian Switzerland, CH Paolo Paolini HOC-LAB, Politecnico di Milano, IT TEC-LAB, USI: University of Italian Switzerland, CH 2

4. Whywe should deliver this info?

5. What are we trying to achieve?

6. Howshould we deliver it? What’s the best medium?3

8. During a visit

9. After a visit

10. Independently from a visit

11. …..

12. A combination of the above4

13. USER STUDIES Two exhibitions at Museo Cantonale d’Arte “Enigma Helvetia” : spring-summer 2008 (in conjunction with the city “Museo d’Arte”) Swiss identity and stereotypes 2 user studies: 201 surveys “Look at me”: winter 2009-2010 Faces, seeing, staring, …in the last 50 years of art 1 user study: 84 interviews 5

14. ENIGMA HELVETIA- First User Study : 1 When user utilized the MM narrative, had they visited the exhibition? 32% not visited yet and may be would visit; BEFORE 48% not visited and no plan for a visit; INDEPENDENTLY 20% already visited ; AFTER 6

15. ENIGMA HELVETIA- First User Study : 2 No important difference for consultation time!!! 7

16. ENIGMA HELVETIA- First User Study : 3 AFTER “Visitors” Find the MM narrative more interesting than the others!! 8

17. ENIGMA HELVETIA- First User Study - 4 AFTER “Visitors” slightly outperform “non visitors” 9

18. ENIGMA HELVETIA- Second User Study 2 MONTHS AFTER THE END OF THE EXHIBITION! An overall high appreciation People who “totally missed” the exhibition seem to appreciate the narrative Also “visitors” seem to appreciate “reenacting” the experience 10

19. Look at me - User Study Interviewing VISITORS “I do not want to be prepared for my visit” “I like to be surprised by the exhibition and get the info later” “After the visit I’ll know what to look for” 11

20. Conclusions : questions Are we focusing on the proper “timing” and goals? Focusing on AFTER and INDIPENDENTLY would our “multimedia products” be the same? What for? 12

21. Current and future work Focusing on AFTER: giving in depth info to people who had visited the exhibition (easy to identify) Improve the research methodology We would like to cooperate with cultural institutions in different contexts (avoiding specific production bias) 13

22. Contact: paolo.paolini@polimi.it We are looking for cooperation! 14