Seventeenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Starting from the theoretical basis of sustainable tourism and based on Sandel’ s model (1998), the work evaluates inclusive processes and new technologies relationships and the possible contribution to managerial systems. To this end, an empirical study had been conducted at the Omero Museum in Ancona (Italy) to evaluate, measure, and interpret he inclusion processes. The work examines this aspect by answering the research question: “What are the relationships among new technologies in heritage institutions and the management of blind people inclusion for a broader cultural change? “ The research design is developed by focusing in particular on the role of digital strategies and e-tourism, and on the possibility for cultural and museum institutions to act and use digital tools to manage visits, inclusion processes and visitor flows improving socio-economic evaluation and monitoring systems. Furthermore, the focus is both on the literature that addresses the theme of accessibility and the inclusive museum (Sandel, 1998; Kavashima, 2006), and on the possibility of identifying innovative categories to understand the role of digital technologies within the museum, which are in particular elaborated by Bakhshi and Throsby (2012). The areas identified in the literature are extended to the tactile museum and specifically to digital technologies within the tactile museum. By analyzing the areas, which are proposed by Bakhshi and Throsby (2012), it is possible to highlight how each of them contributes to improving inclusion with respect to the dimensions proposed by Sandel (1998).