Lifelong Personalized Museum Experiences

Previous research on the personalized museum exper i nc has largely focused on the single visit. New and emergi ng mobile technologies are enablers for a longer term view, where the personal ization spans multiple visits to museums and links them to other aspects of the u ser's life. There is a large body of research about the importance of this form f personalization. This paper reviews key literature that informs the direc t ons that seem most promising for “lifelong” personalization of the mus eum experience, identifies some of the technical challenges for such personali zation, in terms of the user modeling, ontologies, infrastructure and generation of personalized content. By taking this approach, technology can play a major r ole in supporting users in their ongoing museum experience, by modeling the vi sitors, “remembering” their history and recommending a plan for future vi sits. We explore the role of client-side personalization that makes use of a mob ile phone as a lifelong user model server and a platform for both interacting wi th a technology rich museum environment and for delivery of personalized inform ation.