MUSE's Digital Strategy: Balancing Technology and Materiality

The MUSE–Museo delle Scienze di Trento is rethinking its digital strategy to enhance inclusivity and audience development without replacing the physical experience of objects. The museum emphasizes a 'responsive' technology that is invisible yet adaptive, such as augmented reality and 3D scans of its collection. It has achieved a 90% visitor satisfaction rate with its audio-video guides, developed through face-to-face interviews. A digital role-playing game, created with Fondazione Bruno Kessler, showed promise but suffered from inadequate device performance. The museum advocates for visitors using their own smartphones rather than provided tablets. Key challenges include economic constraints and the need for younger digital natives (ages 18–25) on staff. Future plans include a mobile app, geofencing for marketing, and a policy of rotating staff roles every five years to foster dynamism. The museum also runs a FabLab for prototyping. Italy lags behind other European countries in digital adoption, but MUSE is investing in internal audio-video production and partnerships for software development.