Cultural Participation in the Museum II

Based on the results of the project "Cultural participation in museums - the potential of digitalisation" from the first funding phase, the second funding period will use a participatory approach to research what content in museums is of interest to people with intellectual disabilities and how this content can be made accessible. The Companion App developed in the first funding period will be used to guide people to the exhibits and content in a flexible and accessible way. In this context, particular research will be conducted into how people with intellectual disabilities can be motivated and encouraged to engage with the exhibition content independently through gamification elements. The second funding phase is initially based on two pillars.

One pillar is guideline - based interviews with people with disabilities on the topics of leisure interests outside the home, cultural participation in general and interest in museums in particular. Employees with intellectual disabilities of the Lebenshilfe Wolfsburg are interviewed for this purpose. In addition, the experiences of carers and employees from leisure activities will be surveyed with regard to barriers and needs in terms of cultural participation. As part of the participatory research approach, the interview guidelines will be developed together with employees with intellectual disabilities from Lebenshilfe Bremerhaven. The coordination of the interview surveys will be carried out together with the council of interest representationof people with disabilities of Lebenshilfe Wolfsburg.

The second pillar comprises the practical testing of the Companion App in the museum harbour of the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven by a group of people with intellectual disabilities. The technical prototype of a companion app developed in the first funding period, consisting of a digital guidance system and motivational elements, is to be further developed in the second funding period and analysed in terms of usability, accessibility and design using qualitative and quantitative empirical methods.