OBJECTIVES
An Empathic Approach to Transformative Cultural Heritage
The META-MUSEUM project adopts an empathic approach to Cultural Heritage (CH) to understand its transformative nature, fostering inclusion, participation, social cohesion, and improved quality of life. The Transformative Means theory (TMt) principles, initially based on project assumptions, will be progressively developed, tested in pilot studies, and refined into a final evidence-based version.
Pilot studies will be conducted in three distinct settings -museums, hospitals, hybrid spaces,- each preceded by a “status quo measurement” to monitor participants’ cognitive and neurophysiological responses without external stimuli, establishing a baseline understanding of how people currently perceive CH’s transformative nature and their existing confidence levels. In subsequent sessions of Pilots 1 and 2, participants will engage in experiences designed to convey CH’s transformative nature through narrative and participatory components developed using the evolving TMt. Pilot 3 will consist of a single phase, taking place in diverse settings, including a physical urban location during a public event like European Researchers’ Night, and extending to social media platforms to reach a broader audience.
Co-Creation, Participation, and Digital Interaction
The “attaCHbox” app will facilitate co-creation and sharing of content and empathic reactions, inviting users to “step into the shoes” of people from the past evoked by archaeological heritage, interpreting and even enacting roles in short videos. The project will also explore how human movement can reveal emotional responses, combining this data with other measures to provide a comprehensive understanding of visitor emotional states.
Building upon existing work from the partner, Vilnius Tech, the project will develop a real-time system (M4) for measuring visitors’ emotional, affective, and physiological responses.
Skills Development and Knowledge Transfer
The project will develop new skills related to museum mediation and cultural experience design, disseminating these through training modules and webinars, and establishing a META-MUSEUM Competence Centre to offer expertise, services, and further research beyond the project’s conclusion.
Evidence-Based Tools for Confidence and Empathy
META-MUSEUM’s ambition is to scientifically measure emotional reactions to cultural experiences, including states of confidence and resilience, and to provide cultural operators with evidence-based principles and tools to design experiences that foster empathy, understanding, and enhanced confidence and resilience. The project also seeks to equip cultural operators with tools to monitor visitor responses and assess the effectiveness of their interventions.