Per una introduzione a Musei digitali e Generazione Z. Nuove sfide per nuovi pubblici

Over the last thirty years, the ‘museum phenomenon’ has been approached from multiple points of view, in a crescendo of inter- and transdisciplinary processes, which embrace historical, artistic and scientific disciplines, such as museology, museography, teaching, pedagogy, communication, management, marketing, economics and, in particular, information technology. In this evolving horizon, the debate on the present and future of the historical-artistic discipline named Digital Art History takes place, too. According to a studying approach to artefacts and artistic and cultural processes (able to answer art history’s typical research questions through computational and interdisciplinary approach and procedures, and to present art historical data in new ways, both in the scientific and in the educational field), the use of digital analysis tools and methods (research, iconological analysis and artistic techniques, manipulation, presentation and dissemination of images, mapping and timelines, use of online and open data databases and museum collections) pushes this discipline to find its own space, still not fully recognized, within the broader panorama of Digital Humanities. From a perspective, increasingly oriented towards the new perspectives of Digital Art History, it is necessary to understand how museums behave when faced with these tools and the multiple values of their mission and, consequently, how their ‘digital footprint’ is perceived by new audiences, especially younger ones.