The Palembang City Museum collaborates with the Indonesia Hidden Heritage Creative Hub (IHHCH), launched a Museum and Technology Discussion that explored the use of technology to improve user experience. This program is the closing of a series of Culture Talk events 2022 which was held online starting in February by inviting discussion partners both from within and outside the country. Mengangkat tagline ‘How Tech Savvy Museum Can Be?’ This discussion presented speakers from digital specialists, Widya Jauhari, City Tour Operator Bung Zaim from Palembang Good Guide and Executive Director of IHHCH, Nofa Farida Lestari.
Nofa emphasizes that at least there is 4 things that must be considered in implementing the use of technology in museums. Starting from understanding the objective to be achieved and the message to be communicated by the museum, then how technology can help provide effective solutions to the challenges faced by Museum Management, such as the analysis of visitor demographic data. The third most important thing is product readiness, which means the museum ecosystem and the quality of its collection, and the last thing is just talking about the User Experience. By focusing on the museum's understanding of who their audience is, what visitors want and what technology suits those needs.
The same thing was also expressed by Zaim whose routine as a City Tour Guide made him interact a lot with travelers from Gen Z. A generation that is very tech savvy and wants a unique and different experience when visiting a place. In his presentation he emphasized that the virtual tour experience is a form of promotion that encourages visiting the Museum in person, therefore the Museum as a Product must be ready physically and service, for visitors to enjoy.
The data released by the IDN institute shows that 49% Gen Z travelers love visits with cultural nuances and 43% love to do the City Tour. According to Nofa, this figure can be used as a reference and trigger for managers of Heritage Museums and tourist attractions to maximize the use of technology to improve the quality of their products and map out effective marketing and promotion tools so that they are right on target at the target market..
The discussion also presented experiences on how some of the world's leading cultural institutions use innovative digital solutions to enhance the experience of museum visitors either through VR or AR.. Among them through a Virtual Tour at the National Museum of Malaysia and a sharing session from Irmak Wober, Digital Platform Supervisor of the Pera Museum in Istanbul. Meanwhile, digitalization of museums is an absolute must to promote history and heritage without boundaries throughout the world, the use of technology to maximize the experience of visiting museums is an innovation that continues to be developed in all countries. Utilization of Google Arts and Culture as a learning medium to improve the quality of museums and promotional tools is also considered very good. In Indonesia, for example, visitors can enjoy an immersive space that makes collections come alive and makes visitors feel as if they are inside the collection at the National Museum., Museum Macan and recently temporarily organized by the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics in Jakarta.
The Palembang City Museum is currently developing a 3D Temporary Exhibition which will display several selected museum collections. This exhibition, according to Widya Jauhari as the development team, will be fully enjoyed by the public through the link Museum SMB – Virtual Tour (kotapalembang.id) at the beginning of the year 2023 to come. And will continue to experience the addition of collections gradually.
