CORONA - NuForm - Proximity despite distance - new forms of encounter communication in museum space; subproject 2: Visitor behavior, formats and indicators (of knowledge transfer).

Encounter communication in museums, visitor centers, show rooms, cultural institutions or at exhibitions/fairs is inherently linked to spatio-temporal contact - with staff, exhibits, other visitors. Hygiene requirements, distance rules and visitor/travel restrictions in a corona context therefore create special challenges for encounter communication. The NuForm project is specifically looking for approaches and options that are not merely acutely effective in relation to the crisis, but for measures that have potential for sustainable benefits for visitors and operators of encounter communication that extend beyond the crisis. In some cases, completely new solutions must be designed and implemented, and the process of digital transformation must be accelerated significantly. Using the example of museum visits under pandemic conditions, the project will investigate which factors play a decisive role in encounter communication, how individual factors can be substituted or overcompensated for with digital and virtual means, and which new possibilities can arise from a hybridization of real and virtual offerings. In particular, contactless and hygienic forms of interaction will be considered, as well as concepts for virtual visits, for the intersection of real and virtual encounters, for personalized visitor guidance, and for the expansion of the museum space. The two partners in the research program are approaching these questions from two different perspectives. The Museum für Naturkunde is investigating the factors and effects of different communication formats along a gradient from real to virtual with regard to visitor behavior and addressing different sub-publics.