A Shoe Is a Shoe Is a Shoe: Interpersonalization and Meaning-making in Museums – Research Findings and Design Implications

ABSTRACT Digital technology is increasingly used to enhance museum experiences for visitors. Concurrently, research shows that people seldom visit museums alone, yet design often focusses on creating individual experiences. This article addresses this conundrum by examining visitor’s social interaction and meaning-making in museums in order to provide empirical results actionable for design. It does so through an ethnographic approach combining observations and extended focus group interviews in an analogue museum. Results highlight how museums are social spaces, made so by active participant visitors. Processes of social meaning-making occur as visitors draw on objects in social identity-making and recontextualization – linking the past to the present –, play, share knowledge, and engage in embodied practices. The study suggests shifting from designing personalized toward interpersonal experiences. Four design sensitivities are presented: Interpersonalized meaning-making, playful sociality, social information sharing, and social movement.