Anatomy of a museum guide, Maja Minoska-Pavlovska

The presentation will highlight how a project initially aimed at blind and visually impaired students evolved into a multifaceted tool for enhancing the visitor experience at a museum. Starting in 2018 and developed with local State School students, we created a museum guide featuring a chronological overview of our exhibits and selected museum materials that visitors were allowed to touch. This innovative approach quickly gained traction among general visitors for independent exploration. The guide’s digital format proved instrumental during the Covid crisis in 2020 and 2021, facilitating virtual engagement with our exhibits. By 2021, to accommodate a wider audience, the guide was translated into French and Ukrainian. In 2023, facing technical challenges and a lack of English materials, we leveraged AI tools for content translation and rewriting, and for producing quality audio in native English. Today, the “History on Hand” museum guide continues to be available on the Izi.travel platform, illustrating its sustained impact and versatility.