Museums Web Strategy at the Covid-19 Emergency Times

Abstract

In these past months of emergency and closure, as highlighted by a recent survey by Network of European Museum Organization (NEMO), the digital contents published by museums on the web have multiplied. Museums demonstrate great resilience with proposals aimed at maintaining contacts, reaching publics and finding new ways of enhancing culture, or consolidating relationships on the web. Museums will have to outlive some restrictions and limitations. The web will represent a fundamental relationship channel. But quality and strategy must be analyzed in order to act with a clear strategy and not only driven by the impulse of urgency. What criteria can museums utilize to implement a quick efficient analysis of their choices and their strategies in the web environment? How is it possible to define, measure and evaluate their effectiveness on the web? Can we improve participation? The research group Digital Cultural Heritage ICOM Italia outlined a web Strategy Scheme (WSS) with a set of 17 parameters to enable a more indepth observation, to provide museums and cultural institutions with a practical tool for the analysis and monitoring of their strategic online orientation; to design a tool that precedes and supports the implementation of a web strategy. In a newly published book we explain in detail the provided web Strategy Scheme (WSS) and deepen the specifics of the web environment and the theoretical reference context.