Museums for People: Maria Chiara Ciaccheri’s site decodes museum studies

Maria Chiara Ciaccheri, an Italian accessibility and visitor studies expert, launched Museums for People, a website and Instagram profile that makes complex museum studies concepts accessible. The project began anonymously on Instagram a year and a half ago to test feedback without bias. The site is in English to maintain dialogue with international colleagues, especially from the US. Ciaccheri creates her own illustrations, each accompanied by text. She argues that accessibility is often wrongly equated solely with disability, limiting its potential for facilitation and usability. She advocates for museums that are accessible to all, shifting focus from people to needs. Italian museums still lack awareness due to limited training and few museum studies programs, but competencies are growing across generations, intersecting with environmental psychology and social design. Ciaccheri criticizes virtual tours for lacking user experience evaluations—needs, motivations, and biases are not analyzed, leading to ineffective strategies. She recommends two books: "Nudge" by Richard Thaler on positive incentives for cultural designers, and "The Politics of Design" by Ruben Pater on interpretation and representation. Her site features a bibliography section available in visual and traditional formats.