Designing the interactions in the museum

In cultural productions, and specifically in the context of museums and exhibitions, the process of construction of meanings has historically involved the audience in a relationship with the product. Nevertheless, this relationship is still designed using traditional language aimed at constraining the interpretation within the pattern suggested by the producer and reducing the room left for free interpretation by the user. Innovation, then, takes place in the offer of services and tools to support the process, and not in a proposal of a new approach to the construction of meaning. Our research discusses a case of an Italian cultural institution as a model for proposing a new approach to the process of interpretation of the relationship between the users and the product. The innovation in this case is the result of a redesign of the language offered to the users, and it is aimed at involving them in the process of sense making. Our article sheds light on the way in which innovation of language may impact the world of signs and symbols that determine the meaning of the product. © 2012 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved.