Extending Museum Walls: Reaching out with site-specific, digital, and participatory interventions

As museums are shifting their traditional focus away from collectionsand toward their audiences, they are experimenting with new strategies forcommunication and participation. Consequently, in recent years, a large numberof outreach and visitor engagement projects, implemented by museums, have seenthe light of day. Although these projects vary significantly in design and setting,they are typically informed by ideas of inclusion, dialogue, and sharing ofknowledge – principles that have been inspired by social media and significantlyimproved by developments in digital technologies. Despite the increasing numbersof museum-facilitated outreach projects, we still know relatively little about thequalitative outcomes for either users or museums. This article investigates thepotential impact of including an outreach component in a new museum projectthat combines an urban setting and the use of digital media