What Clicked? A Report on Audience Research and Media Resources
James Ockuly, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, USA
Diane L. Herman, Cincinnatus, USA
Kate Johnson, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, USA
http://www.artsmia.org/what-clicks

Session: Evaluation Findings

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has completed a major research and development project -- called What Clicks? -- assessing its audiences' awareness of, and satisfaction with, its interactive media/Web resources. Following up on last year's mid-project interim report (delivered at MW03 in Charlotte, NC, http://www.archimuse.com/mw2003/papers/ockuly/ockuly.html ), this paper will draw some conclusions, and discuss lessons learned, insights gained, and other pertinent aspects of the project.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, an encyclopedic art museum, produces and maintains two Web sites (http://www.artsmia.org and http://www.artsconnected.org -- the latter in conjunction with Walker Art Center). It also provides its physical visitors with a host of interactive media programs in the museum itself -- from an interactive museum directory to a large number of permanent collection-based programs located throughout the building. The research was designed to a) measure audience awareness of and satisfaction with these resources; b) respond to those findings with improvements; then c) re-measure to gauge the effect of the improvements. A further goal of this project is to share its logic model, methodology, instruments, and findings with the museum community.

What Clicks? is funded by an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership grant.