Personalization Through it in Museums. Does it Really Work? The Case of the Marble Museum Website

In the past few years, personalization through IT has become a significant trend in the museum world, where more and more institutions are introducing it to complement their collections and to better reach out to their visitors. Despite this progressive success and the consequent implementation of personalization techniques in museums all over the world, very little has been written on the potential of this approach for this specific sector. This is why it appears necessary and timely to address this topic in an article that would provide examples of the most interesting on line and on site applications as well as an in depth analysis of the different techniques most frequently used. Particular attention will be devoted to the evaluation of a specific case study, that of the Carrara Marble Museum’s website, which offers a unique example of personalized access to the collection following three different techniques. Thanks to this evaluation, which has been carried out through usability testing and a limited number of questionnaires, it will be possible to draw some important conclusions on the effectiveness of this approach in the specific context of online museum applications.