Advanced Museum Services

Maurizio Calderamo

, Simona Ibba

, Filippo Eros Pani

, Francesco Piras

and

Simone Porru

SoSeBi Srl, Via dell'Artigianato, 9, 09122 Cagliari, Italy

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari,

Piazza d'Armi, 09123 Cagliari, Italy

{calderamo, piras}@sosebi.it,

{filippo.pani, simona.ibba, simone.porru}@diee.unica.it

Abstract. The research project aims to develop a prototype of a web-based

application specifically designed to improve both the management of and the

dialogue between cultural heritage institutions, as well as providing cataloging

and web publishing tools for museums, primarily focusing on user interaction.

The main goal of the project is to build a product capable of understanding the

future evolution of museum services, which can no longer ignore how

technological developments are shaping and inspiring users' new habits, together

with more advanced and diverse expectations and needs. This project is

developed by the Department of Electrics and Electronics Engineering of the

University of Cagliari and SoSeBi Srl. It is financially supported by the

Autonomous Region of Sardinia with European local development funds.

1 Introduction

Typically, the cultural heritage sector shows an enormous potential for innovation, with

astounding development prospectives. This evolution scenario is of particular interest

to Italy, being it a country which owns a rich cultural heritage. Such heritage can also

be relevant as an economic asset, with fairly interesting and diverse consequences and

peculiarities.

Most software offered both in the Italian and international market almost always

separate functions related to the description and preservation of artifacts from functions

related to the presentation and sharing of the same artifacts with users, without much

concern for usability and user experience.

We thus believe that there is more than enough room to introduce an innovative

product that exploits the technology potential of web-based architectures.

In a globalized economic context cultural heritage is a strong element of attraction

for a region; starting from it, and thanks to ICT, it is possible to trigger disruptive

development dynamics.

The use of new technologies can offer a plethora of new opportunities for

dissemination and access to cultural heritage, especially to museums. A modern

museum can be seen as a complex ICT system, strongly interconnected, and responsible

for a vast amount of data to manage. Museums have to be extremely dynamic because

of time-changing temporary exhibitions, which are more frequently associated with

highly-usable applications to increase visitors' involvement [1], [2].

Piras F., Calderamo M., Porru S., Ibba S. and Pani F.

Advanced Museum Services.

DOI: 10.5220/0006163500380050

In The Success of European Projects using New Information and Communication Technologies (EPS Colmar 2015), pages 38-50

ISBN: 978-989-758-176-2

Aware of the potential shown by ICT when applied to cultural heritage, the

proponents aim to start an innovation plan with the objective of developing a prototype

of a web-based application dedicated to the management and communication between

museums, and to the cataloguing and publication on the web, including the interaction

between users. In fact, ICT application to cultural heritage is particularly interesting

because of the various innovation opportunities that can be specifically provided to this

context.

The latest ICT technologies can trigger a disruptive evolution in a museum system,

ranging from information management and communication systems to the creation of

a new typology of interactive museum [3].

Thanks to the Internet and to the new means of interaction with information systems

(e. g., immersive and natural means), the ways of enjoying a museum are multiplying.

In the near future we will be able to think about a cultural space projected towards the

external environment not only for pure management purposes, but also for entertaining

and educating.

Nowadays, as we can witness the birth of a innovative museum model which is

interactive, interconnected, multimedial, and more and more similar to a lively cultural

space to the service of a everwider audience, the main goal appears to be that of

studying and designing a unique software solution capable of providing the following

functionalities:

• traditional cataloguing management for collections hosted in museums;

• management of the exchange of items between museums;

• online publication of the museum collections;

• augmented reality and user interaction (creation of virtual thematic paths with

integrated digital information);

• semantic search and automated items cataloguing.

At the present day, museums in Italy are not provided with a single product capable

of combining the accuracy requested by cataloguing activities with the user need of

accessing museum items on the Internet. From a technological point of view, the

software, as for the reasons previously stated, will be installed on a cloud computing

web platform which will allow scalable access also for mobile devices.

This paper is structured as follows: the second section describes the prerequisites

and motivations behind the proposed project; the third section describes the context of

the research proposal. In the fourth section, the schedule of the project is outlined. The

last section hosts our final observations about the project.

2 Project Prerequisites and Motivations

A number of national surveys indicate limited growth for museum software

applications demand. It is possible to assert that the museum software market has

reached the maturity stage. IT companies compete for a market share, economies of

scale push for price reduction, and services value is rising. It is precisely to services

that the project proponents will address most of their efforts in terms of investments.

Advanced Museum Services

Studies and industries surveys predict an increasing demand for new high-

technology services, whose valorization will possibly constitute a new source for

revenues for all of those companies which will recognize the signs of this growth.

In order to fully satisfy the new needs of the reference market, the new product will

be designed and developed exploiting the technological assets that web-based

architecture offer, such as the QR code technology, and communication with the main

players in the market, including Google. The software will also fulfill all the technical

standards promoted by the Cultural Heritage Ministry through the dedicated web portal

provided by “Cultura Italia”

The technological innovation of the new product is threefold: quality enhancement,

evolved performances, macro-functionalities integration.

The future scenario for cultural heritage in which museums will operate will feature

an ever more central role of the web as a means to access knowledge, represented by

the collections belonging to cultural heritage institutions. The web itself is facing a

constant acceleration in technological innovation, thus offering more and more

advanced and sophisticated virtual environment exploration capabilities to users. This

makes more room for innovation in all of the contexts, and will deeply modify people

lifestyle and interaction on the Internet.

Through virtual tours, cultural tourism will turn into a fundamental development

opportunity for public institutions. New ways for accessing cultural heritage, enriched

by an immersive user experience for the museum visitors, will be offered to the public.

Semantic technology will allow for those software systems capable of effectively using

the available assets described in both public and private institutions' repositories to

cooperate on the web, at a global level.

The cooperation between these smart agents, together with their interoperability, will

integrate all the cultural assets hosted by museums connected through the web, thus

making for a more effective and easier to find cultural heritage for the final user, which

is currently fragmented due to the vast plethora of technological-divided institutions.

Users will be all the more drawn to share their virtual tours experiences through

social networks, thus opening new scenarios for interaction and museum exploration.

In fact, those experiences will be shown and suggested to their friends and

acquaintances with matching artistic taste. This will in turn create “emotional paths”

mediated by their own network of online relationships.

In this scenario, proponents aim at realizing a prototype of a new software for

museums, which will have the peculiar feature of integrating five macro-functionalities

into a single application. Usually, those functionalities are provided by different

software products.

The main goal is to design a product capable of fulfilling the needs originated by the

new direction he Cultural Heritage sector is heading to. The application will not be

indifferent to the technological developments demanded by the current users needs,

whose expectations and demands are more and more advanced; they are also modeled

and inspired by consumer technologies promoted by multinationals in the digital sector,

such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon. Moreover, the very same users

expectations are to be found in entertainment exploration activities in museum

environments, which is also an aspect that is gaining momentum because of the need

to answer the request for new means of access by younger generations.

Cultura Italia, www.culturaitalia.it

EPS Colmar 2015 2015 - The Success of European Projects using New Information and Communication Technologies

The resulting new generation application, characterized by an innovative view on

the concept of museum automation application, is expected to be the pioneer of a

general development trend in the museum sector, that is, it will be capable of

anticipating and understanding the market evolution in the next years. The current

Italian and international market landscape only offers applications which clearly

distinguish functionalities that are used for describing and preserving cultural assets

from those used for presentation and sharing among users. Less focus is then to be

found on usability and user experience, thus making more room in the market for an

innovative product featuring the integration of macro-functionalities, when associated

with a market proposal as innovative as the product itself.

As a result, the final product will be a network-oriented software, entirely web-

based. All the data management processes will be externalized into a Cloud Computing

infrastructure, and offered to the users as a service (Software as a Service, or SaaS).

3 The Research Proposal Context

Most of the Italian museums build their peculiar features mainly on their historical

background. Taken as a whole, Italian museums originated just after Italy was unified,

to avoid losing the cultural heritage as a consequence of the transfer of religious

buildings (e. g., churches) ownership to the central state. Therefore, Italian museums

were not conceived as depositories for exotic masterpieces intentionally collected, but

as places hosting heterogeneous objects, locally collected, and grouped out of necessity.

They were first created in a civic form, and placed inside buildings often of great

worth. Italian museums are also more densely aggregated in central and, sometimes,

northern regions.

Countless museum typologies exist, classified according to the sector they are

concerned with and the objects they host.

There are art museums and historical museums, the latter often dedicated to the city

where they are placed or to a main historical period or event, such as the Risorgimento

museums or Resistance museums. Always belonging to this typology, there are also the

archaeological museums, dedicated to the most ancient objects, and those concerned

with a specific civilization, which collect historical and artistic items, such as the

Egyptian Museum in Turin, or the various museums dedicated to the Etruscan

civilization in Tuscany and Lazio.

In all the cities that count among their past inhabitants a famous person (artist,

intellectual, historic character, etc.) it is possible to find a house museum, that is, a

museum placed in the very same space where they had worked or lived.

In addition, there are anthropological and ethnographic museums, dedicated to

different human civilizations and to their artifacts and endeavours. Besides local history

museums, Italy offers many other museums, such as those on rural traditions, traditional

craftsmanship (e. g., tailoring and dressmaking, marble and wooden artifacts, pottery),

or to a specific food (e. g., chocolate, citrus fruits, olive oil, cheese).

Considering natural science, we must mention the natural history museums, which

host collections of animals, plants, minerals, and reconstructions of natural

environments; also science and technology museums, documenting the evolution of

human discoveries in science.

Advanced Museum Services

In Italy, as well as throughout the world, capitals and other major cities are home to

the great state museums which arose mainly in the nineteenth century, and that host

countless objects and artifacts, mostly from earlier private collections. In recent times,

a number of museums specialized on many different topics have sprung up even in

small towns, aiming at valorizing and promoting the most peculiar local traditions and

finest local products.

There are also museums that have been founded thanks to donations from private

collectors. They usually focus on a certain objects typology, such as dolls, toys, stamps,

and so on. Recently, in Italy as well as in different parts of the world, a novel museum

typology has been established, one specifically designed for children, which offer

itineraries and laboratory activities designed for educating children. This kind of

museum has become particularly popular among schools and families. Museums and

similar institutions are, to a considerable extent, true cultural centers, capable of

combining the basic functions of safeguarding cultural heritage, research, and

exhibition, with those related to the promotion of educational activities, discussion,

information exchange, exhibitions, and contemporary art production, that is, those

concerning the entertainment of local communities. In a statistical study published in

2013, ISTAT

conducted a survey in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage and

Culture, where regions and autonomous provinces were throughly analyzed to list not

only all the Italian museums, but also similar institutions, that is, museum-like

institutions, either public or private, either managed by the public administration or not.

4 Research Project Description

The new ICT technologies can radically improve a museum system starting from the

information management and communication systems, so as to finally shape a new type

of interactive museum. Thanks to the Internet and the new forms of interaction with

computer systems now available, users can now choose among different ways of

enjoying a collection hosted inside a museum: in the near future, it will be possible to

think of an outward-looking cultural area, with more and more recreational and

educational services combined with the more usual informational ones.

The expected product will be a modern application with an innovative vision of the

concept of automation of museum services, that is, a pioneer software capable of

following the current development direction that the museum sector is taking,

anticipating and taking advantage of market trends in the years to come.

Our aim is to create a product that can anticipate the direction in which the museum

and cultural/artistic heritage sector is evolving. That is a sector that can no longer ignore

the technology development fueled by users' new habits, expectations, and needs,

which are in turn shaped by consumer technologies coming from multinational

companies in the digital industry.

Such expectations interest different aspects, namely game-like exploration of

museum space, which is becoming popular to address the learning style of young users.

Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, www.istat.it

EPS Colmar 2015 2015 - The Success of European Projects using New Information and Communication Technologies

The software will be designed for the Internet, as it will be entirely web-based, while

the management of all data will be outsourced to a Cloud Computing infrastructure,

and will be provided to clients as a service (Software as a Service). The platform will

have the distinctive and innovative feature of integrating five macro-functionalities

(which are usually managed via different software products) in a single application:

1. traditional management of collections hosted in museums: cataloguing, digitization

of museum collections, etc.;

2. management of the exchange of objects between museums: development of an

application to explore the entire cultural heritage belonging to each museum;

3. online publication of museum collections: development of a “front-end web portal”

for the exhibition of museum collections, which can increase and facilitate the access

by a multi-target user base;

4. user interaction and augmented reality: use of QR code to create virtual cultural

paths, customized and thematic, according to the new technological paradigm of

augmented reality;

5. semantic search: automated items classification in separate categories on the basis

of formalized taxonomies or user-generated folksonomies, which will be possible

through the interpretation of their descriptive content.

The homogeneous integration of the above functionalities will be an original feature

of the software platform. The application will address two different types of users:

museums end users and museum curators, which will also be able to easily handle loan

requests in order to improve the exchange of items between the various museum

institutions.

The prototype will be developed leveraging open source technologies in accordance

with the need of the Public Administration for using free software, and, at the same

time, to follow recent market trends that testify how FLOSS software is gaining

popularity also thanks to the greater social value it offers (especially if compared to

proprietary software).

The platform will be integrated with the most widespread social networks to enlarge

the targeted customer segment and gather feedback. A new type of visitor is in fact

becoming common in museums as well as in most cultural spaces. These visitors want

to communicate, and report their experience in a non-conventional way through their

smartphones or tablets. Comments and opinions, carried through social channels, will

be monitored and analyzed with techniques coming from sentiment analysis and

opinion mining, in order to obtain a qualitative confirmation of the appreciation felt

towards the museum and its web application by users.

4.1 Project Subdivision

The project officially began on October 1, 2015, and its conclusion is estimated to be

on September 28, 2018.

The project covers a number of operation stages. Every stage of the working plan is

organized in Work Packages (WP), parallel phases in which operative objectives are

reached with a work group activity, through the production of expected results and

products and the application of a specific methodology.

The WP included in the projects are five:

Advanced Museum Services

WP 1 - Traditional management of museum collections

WP 2 - Management of the exchange of items between museums

WP 3 - Semantic search

WP 4 - Online publication of museum collections

WP 5 - User interaction and augmented reality

Below is a brief description of each phase of the project development.

4.1.1 WP 1 - Traditional Management of Museum Collections

Ensuring compliance with both the current Italian and international industry standards

is a fundamental requisite for developing a software capable of dealing with a scientific

collection of museum resources. Assuring compliance with standards will allow for a

correct and consistent cataloging of items belonging to collections, also according to

the legislation of other countries. For this reason the first activity SoSeBi will have to

perform is a survey on standards and metadata to apply to the cataloguing and

digitization of museum collections in compliance with national and international laws.

In addition, with regard to this activity, it will be necessary to perform a survey also on

the assets and cataloguing management methodologies for museum collections, again

at both national and international level.

Concerning technologies and software development tools used in this project, the

proponents intend to undertake, within WP 1, a survey to investigate the possibility of

diversifying software production, as currently this process is strictly linked solely to the

technological paradigm related to proprietary programming languages. In contrast, the

investment through a special consulting activity aims at investigating the possibility of

introducing in the production process also Open Source technologies, assessing

weaknesses and strengths of open source software development tools and their specific

relevance to the realization of the software prototype.

The main proponents goal will be to define the application and the innovative

features of the Management Module. On the one hand, the macro-management

capabilities developed for collections will be an easy and effective means for the

museum operator to manage the descriptions of museum resources and the connections

between them. On the other hand, it will offer to the visitor the best and most effective

way for enjoying all the museum collections. This macro-functionalities allow for

controlling all management activities requested by museums, in a modular way with

respect to exchange, publication, interaction, and semantics. To achieve these results, a

graphical interface driven by a uniform and consistent operating logic will be

employed, thus allowing the back-end operators to make use of the different

functionalities without having the feeling of using different software products.

The web interface of the back-end addressed to museum operators provides a

customizable dashboard, specifically designed for focusing on the most used

functionalities. For example, an operator will have the opportunity to highlight the

cataloguing functionalities, whereas the museum director will have easier access to staff

management features or statistical data. On the dashboard, all the software

functionalities will be easily accessible. Their layout and activation will fully depend

on the level and type of the operator and the tasks assigned to them.

Another goal is the creation of a macro-functionality capable of providing the

museum curator to aggregate information on the nature, extent, and structure of the

EPS Colmar 2015 2015 - The Success of European Projects using New Information and Communication Technologies

assets hosted by the museum. The application will allow for the management of the

information associated to each resource according to a paradigm based on the concept

of complex networks, integrating “atomic” information (intended as referring to the

individual item, thus according to traditional cataloguing) with another type of

information associated with the connections between the various resources constituting

the assets of the museum (gallery, exhibition, etc.). This second type of information is

of a "topological" nature [4].

The application will be capable of generating, from the information contained in the

catalog, a complex network where the assets and their reciprocal relationships will be

made clearly observable (in aggregate form and at different levels of granularity). This

presentation will also be visualizable in a schematic form easily and immediately

explorable, and will investigate the complexity of the existing relationships between

items.

The proposed network is, in fact, a mathematical model on which to apply various

algorithms for network metrics detection, and perform analysis of a statistical nature.

For instance, it will be possible to obtain information on the nature and strength of the

connections between the assets through the use of clustering algorithms, or community

detection algorithms. The temporal evolution of the hosted resources will be

observable, and it will be possible to compare information on the resources with

information of other nature (e. g., geographical information). It will also be possible to

filter network elements on the basis of different parameters (period of history, style,

author, etc.), and then perform analysis only on subnets of interesting elements.

4.1.2 WP 2 - Management of the Exchange of Items between Museums

Another objective to achieve will be the creation of an application macro-functionality

allowing the operator to optimize the exchange of objects between museums, thus

making it possible to easily organize thematic cultural events.

The application will suggest optimal time and date for the scheduling of thematic

exhibitions on the basis of predefined constraints, such as the availability of the items

pertaining to the chosen theme. Each work will be eventually associated to a cost

comprising booking, transportation, and management. Date and place will be chosen

on the basis of the solution to an optimization problem, whose performance index

represents the potential profit deriving from the organization of the event.

The macro-functionality described within WP1 might find its best application in a

scenario where access to museum objects were extended towards other entities than the

museum, that is, for example, external users. In this context, the application will be

designed so to be able to integrate topological information on the reference structure

with those from other museums.

Starting from the information extracted from the local catalogue and those retrieved

from the catalogues of other museums, the application will also be able to generate a

complex network where all the items and the relationships between them will be clearly

distinguishable (in aggregate form and at different levels of granularity) [5].

The curator will be able to assess the nature of the relationships between the artifacts

kept in the institution where he works and those hosted in other institutions, in order to

evaluate any opportunities for partnerships in the organization of events, of guided

tours, or in drafting catalogues [6].

Advanced Museum Services

4.1.3 WP 3 - Semantic Search

This WP concerns the realization of a module whose objective is to automatically (or

semi-automatically) generate a taxonomy starting from the available textual data on the

museum resources.

The project will feature automated classification of catalogued assets in specific

categories on the basis of taxonomies built through a detailed analysis over the textual

description of the resources. This objective will be achieved through the correct

interpretation of the related descriptive content.

Taxonomies are hierarchical structures aimed at organizing information; their use

allows to improve the performances of information retrieval systems, such as vertical

search engines. Vertical search engines typically use ad-hoc taxonomies which describe

the domain of interest. This happens in cases where it is needed to provide a specific

service (e. g., a service addressed to tourism) and/or a localized service (e. g., addressed

to tourism within a specific region). Currently, the problem of the generation of ad-hoc

taxonomies can be dealt with by using groups of experts which operate without the aid

of automated tools [7], [8]. In addition to the long realization time this approach

requires, it is also often difficult to assess the adequacy of the generated taxonomies,

with a negative impact on the performances of the search engine which is using the

taxonomies. It must be also considered that, as of today, the application domains are

changing very quickly. Thus, employing a manual approach is not suitable for promptly

updating the taxonomy. For these reasons, the study and the definition of automated (or

semi-automated) solutions for taxonomy generation, specifically tailored to the domain

of interest, is steadily increasing, due to the plethora of applications in which they could

be exploited.

WP3 also aims to improve the relevance of the results given as a response to user

queries. The most suitable way for effectively and efficiently finding relevant

information on museum artifacts both for visitors and curators is using a vertical search

engine, that is, a search engine focused on a particular area, able to get to the most

detailed information about indexed items (in this case, museum artifacts) and quickly

and effectively return the most relevant results to the user.

The main goal of the WP is then to define and develop suitable techniques and

algorithms for automated or semi-automated taxonomy building, specifically tailored

to the cultural heritage domain, and subsequentely implement a vertical search engine

on top of it.

4.1.4 WP 4 - Online Publication of Museum Collections

One of the main objectives within WP4 is the definition of the application features and

the innovative functionalities of the Publishing Module. This objective is related to the

definition and detailed description of the application functionalities, also with regard to

the information exchange with the other application modules and the subsequent

production of the document for the analysis that will reveal which information are

necessary to identify the software development guidelines for the developers team.

Another objective within WP4 will be to pay attention, during the online publication

phase, to the web interface provided by the application. It will be designed with a user-

centric approach, to establish a connection between the observer and the observed

object to make the individual the main protagonist in the interaction.

EPS Colmar 2015 2015 - The Success of European Projects using New Information and Communication Technologies

The web front-end implementation, which will follow an immersive logic, will

present museum exhibitions as a open spaces, seamlessly integrated with the context of

cultural heritage tourism, and asking for continuous user interaction.

Therefore, context, space, and time, acquire great relevance: the experiential

interface is the place where relationships between individuals, places, historical

periods, businesses, and museum artifacts, are established.

The visitor is not a mere observer, as he interprets the object through an interaction

that starts online, before he visits the museum: the approach toward the museum object

is properly customized according to the visitor personal profile. Profiling allows for

customized browsing of that content considered as the most attracting to the visitor,

according to the user typology (e. g., school, critic, historian).

Through visual elements such as the front-end layout, multimedia, flash animations,

and 3D, the user is fully involved and invited to experience the effects of his presence

and actions when interacting with a museum exhibit or a single object. The object

acquires more value as the frequency of the interactions with users grow. Digital

information enhances the fundamental principles of any museum exhibition:

socialization as shaped by the museum communication strategy; the full understanding

of the real world which lays the foundations for a sensorial, practical approach to the

observation of the exhibits, as opposed to a virtual approach; the vision of humanity as

a multi-sensory experience able to enhance the human ability to relate to both the real

and the virtual environment. The user physical presence is at the center of his online

visit. The narrative associated to the various museum exhibits is thus made explicit

through a series of both original and user-generated multimedia content (which are also

highly integrated with the social platforms). The user experience generates strong

expectations about the exhibit: the object is presented to the visitor not only as

something esthetically enjoyable, but as an entity not separable from the context it

belongs to, with a special meaning.

The integration of artifacts, historical content, and user-generated content is a

innovative feature of the platform. The realization of the experiential interface requires

leveraging a deepest know-how on various fields, even profoundly different ones. The

achievement of the general and specific objectives of the project is possible only

through cooperation of the best actors belonging to different sectors.

4.1.5 WP 5 - User Interaction and Augmented Reality

Another key objective will be the definition of the application features and the

innovative functionalities of the interaction module. In addition, DIEE and SoSeBi will

work together on the creation of a macro-functionality whose aim is enabling the

visiting user to optimize their expendable time in a city of art or a large museum on the

basis of their cultural interests and context constraints [9], [10].

First and foremost, each user will be able to include in their profile their preferences

in terms of authors (painters, sculptors, architects, etc.) and will be constantly updated

on exhibitions and potentially interesting events.

Second, each user will be allowed to ask for a detailed tour plan about visits to cities

of art or great museums on the basis of a series of information the user provides to

enrich their profile. For example, user will be able to maximize the time spent in a city,

not only on the basis of the priorities he expressed, but also on constraints such as

opening hours and distance. Similarly, the user can optimize their visits to museums on

Advanced Museum Services

the basis of the available time, their preferences, recommendations from other users,

information from their previous visits, information on temporary exhibits, etc.

Another goal that will be achieved will be the creation of a social network composed

by the system users wishing to exchange and share information with other users

showing similar tastes and interests.

It will be possible to enhance the service quality of the user decision support system

taking advantage from the social interaction between users. The users will be invited to

establish relationships with other users properly selected by the system on the basis of

the similarity ratio between profiles and experiences. This will be useful both to users

who access the service as museum (or, more generally, cultural site) visitors, and users

who access it as curators of events, exhibitions, or sites of various typologies.

The social dimension of the system allows for establishing direct relationships

between new users and experienced users (i. e., those who have already enjoyed a given

experience in a city) thus showing the latter's opinion on the visit and, eventually,

receive immediate feedback and suggestions to improve their own experience.

The analysis of the interactions between the users and the information offered by

social networks will be useful to the events/sites curators, as it will serve as a tool both

for reviewing and validating their work, and for improving what future events will have

to offer, social marketing, and expected data about tourists participation to a given

event, on the basis of the activity recorded on social networks and the number of

scheduled tours planned by the users.

The platform to be realized will be integrated with the most popular social networks

in order to expand the reference customer segment and collect as much users feedback

as possible. In fact, for museums, as well as for most of the cultural points of interest,

a new visitor typology is starting to acquire relevance, that is, the visitor who wants to

communicate and that, with the help of handheld devices such as smartphones or

tablets, wants to relate their experiences in an innovative way. The comments and

opinions conveyed through social media will be monitored and analyzed through the

use of sentiment analysis and opinion mining techniques. This will allow for obtaining

feedback about the perceived quality of a specific museum, together to that of the web

applications it provides.

4.1.6 Protection and Exploitation of the Results

Protection and exploitation of the project results will be ensured via the following

actions:

1. deployment of the new product, as the summary of the results obtained from basic

and industrial research activities, and subsequent commercialization. It must be

taken into account that the product is the tangible form of its intellectual content. As

exploitable at different levels of research and engineering, its market penetration will

be, especially from the company point of view, the most effective valorization effort

for the content it represents;

2. generation of a momentum effect for the creation of even new experiences and

acquired know-how through the activation of a networking mechanism, that is, the

creation of a system built upon the relationships with research institutions within the

region and the country (especially, with the University of Cagliari through the DIEE,

and also with other companies operating in the ICT and cultural heritage sector);

EPS Colmar 2015 2015 - The Success of European Projects using New Information and Communication Technologies

3. production of scientific publications accounting for the results of the research effort

performed by the proponents.

5 Conclusion

The future of cultural heritage, in which museums will be called to act, will see the web

as an increasingly central means of access to knowledge and, more specifically, to

artifacts hosted by museums and other cultural institutions. Even the web is

experiencing a continuous multiplication of technology innovation processes, thus

offering advanced and sophisticated opportunities for exploring virtual environments

and for education.

To fulfill the new needs of the reference market (i.e., the customer segment

addressed by public and private museums) we chose to design and develop a new

generation software product, with an innovative vision on the very concept of museum

automation program. This product could pave the way to a disruptive development

trend in the cultural heritage sector.

The presented project is financed by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia with

European funds (Single Programming Document 2007-2013 - P.O. FESR 2007-2013 –

Line of Activity 6.2.2.d - Interventions to support competitiveness and innovation,

under the Regional Committee Resolution no. 33/41 of 08/08/2013).

The creation of the platform will stem from the strategic partnership between SoSeBi

Srl and the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (DIEE) of the

University of Cagliari. The motivation behind this choice is to use the results obtatined

both from fundamental research and industrial research to elaborate an innovative

prototype, that aims at being unique in the domestic market as for innovative features

it will offer.

This project is coherent with the strategic objective of the regional planning in

Sardinia, since it aims to implement innovative methods of the ICT sector in the library

industry, and it complies with the objectives described in the Regional Strategic

Document (Documento Strategico Regionale, DSR) 2007-2013 for Sardinia.

Acknowledgements. Simona Ibba and Simone Porru gratefully acknowledges Sardinia

Regional Government for the financial support of his PhD scholarship (P.O.R.

Sardegna F.S.E. Operational Programme of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia,

European Social Fund 2007-2013 Axis IV Human Resources, Objective l.3, Line of

Activity l.3.1).

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EPS Colmar 2015 2015 - The Success of European Projects using New Information and Communication Technologies