In the master's thesis, we investigated the importance of mobile applications in the role of a multimedia guide to a museum exhibition as one of the means of interpretation in a cultural environment, which is especially close to young visitors, considering that in today's technologically advanced world they are surrounded by virtual content. In addition to the traditional functions to collect, research, preserve, and exhibiting, modern museums pay increasingly more attention to visitors and emphasize the educational and entertainment roles, which are perceived in the literature under the common term of edutainment. Museum education deals with the latter functions in more detail. Its main task is to make the collections accessible to all visitors in a way that supports the possibility of upbringing and education and to ensure a pleasant experience. The mediation of museum objects and programs encourages communication with visitors, who nowadays want to actively participate and co-create the exhibition's message. Therefore, the use of mobile applications and technology is a suitable means of providing edutainment. With their functions and their interactive multimedia content, they attract the attention of visitors and motivate them to more active visits. However, in addition to the potential, it is necessary to highlight the risks. These are alienation from the museum object and the cultural environment, cognitive overload, inhibition of creativity, and technical problems. The use of smartphones as interactive guides is one of the latest trends in cultural institutions. The topic is current, as the applications are also gaining ground in Slovenia and are becoming part of educational programs in museums. We presented the applications in the National Gallery and the City Museum of Ljubljana and investigated the effect their use has on the experience of young visitors. We were mainly interested in whether the applications represent educational value for them and help direct attention to the museum object, or whether digital technology is merely a tool of entertainment that attracts youth. Only a detailed analysis of the effect of digital interactive content on visitors and their thoughtful design and meaningful inclusion in the exhibition can ensure a quality overall experience.
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