On October 2, at one of Milan’s most iconic and innovative cultural venues, Fabbrica del Vapore, the book “Digital Museums and Generation Z. New Challenges for New Audiences”, edited by Elisa Bonacini (University of Bari, CHANGES), was presented.
The event offered an opportunity for dialogue among several experts in digital cultural heritage: Patrizia Schettino (CNR-IAS, RAISE, Spoke 5), author of a chapter in the book; Adriana Ferrari (ETT, Spoke 5), who moderated the discussion; Eva Degl’Innocenti (Directrice des Patrimoines, Direction Générale Adjointe Culture et Patrimoine, Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur); and Maria Fratelli (Head of the Special Projects and Fabbrica del Vapore Unit, Municipality of Milan; Director of CASVA, Casa della Memoria, and Fabbrica del Vapore).
Maria Fratelli opened the event, emphasizing the importance of reflecting on the use of technology in museums, especially during Milan Digital Week 2025 and in a place like Fabbrica del Vapore, which aims to engage all communities, with particular attention to young people.
Elisa Bonacini presented the results of a participatory benchmarking study conducted with students from the University of Bari, analyzing 30 museum websites and social media profiles. The research identified both strengths and weaknesses in these institutions’ digital strategies.
Patrizia Schettino summarized her contribution on the role of user experience design and user experience research in museum website development. She introduced a UX research tool—the user journey—to illustrate the experience of a 20-year-old student visiting a cultural site in Sondrio, highlighting how the young visitor sought fun and social interaction at the museum, enhanced by apps, immersive installations, and video games.
Eva Degl’Innocenti shared her experiences from various museums she has directed, focusing in particular on the National Archaeological Museum MarTa in Taranto, one of the first in Italy to develop a video game.
Patrizia Schettino and Adriana Ferrari then jointly presented the video EXPOsing RAISE as an example of a communication artifact designed also for a young and family audience, mainly Japanese, in the context of the 2025 Osaka World Expo.
In this video – as well as in the previous for the installation RAISE Cube at the Festival of Science – the two robots, R1 and Pepper, served as guides and narrating voices (through audio or subtitles) on a journey through the RAISE innovation ecosystem in Liguria. Robotics applied to cultural heritage is also one of the topics explored in the book Digital Museums and Generation Z, offering another opportunity for dialogue between RAISE and CHANGES.
Eva Degl’Innocenti went on to describe two projects at the Civic Museums of Bologna: one in a medieval art museum and another as a co-creation experiment with local associations from a queer perspective—both aimed at inclusion, particularly of young people, supported by the use of technology.
Elisa Bonacini also discussed a digital storytelling project about 1960s Bari, highlighting the intergenerational engagement achieved through the use of personal family photo archives.
Finally, Maria Fratelli concluded the event by returning to its central theme: the museum as a place where people can use technology but, above all, not be alone and meet others. Technologies, therefore, should not isolate visitors but rather facilitate and enhance in-person experiences within museums.
The director underlined the amount of time young people spend in front of screens and the need for museums to enter digital spaces to reach new audiences—then invite them into physical venues offering objects and activities of interest. The museum, she said, must be a welcoming, inclusive space for diverse publics.
The event proved to be an intense and enriching moment of dialogue, intertwining the themes of RAISE and CHANGES around the idea of technology as a tool that enhances the quality of cultural heritage experiences, both in museums and beyond.
