Hi Tara!
This is a great question! I agree that the Spy Museum is a good example of this approach.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has given visitors identification cards that feature the story of a real person who lived in Europe during the Holocaust - a biographical sketch of the person, describing their life before and during the Holocaust, and their fate. I'm not sure if they still do this, and or if they include multiple touchpoints to help reconnect the visitor to the individual or other ways to create continuity through out the visit.
The Whitney Plantation did something similar the last time I was there, but there was no continuity or effort to leverage that individual's story into the ongoing experience of the guided tour. That was about 5 years ago, so it is possible they've build that out beyond creating empathy and grounding historical reality.
I look forward to seeing what others can share about this.
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Susan Zwerling
Associate Director, Strategic Partnerships
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-18-2025 12:17 PM
From: Tara Young
Subject: Visitor journey examples
Hi All:
I'm working on a project for which it would be useful to have successful examples of museum interactive experiences that involve a visitor journey. Specifically: one that requires some sort of onboarding for the visitor at the beginning, includes multiple touchpoints as they go through the museum, and some sort of reveal or culminating experience at the end. Ideally I'm looking for examples where there is intended to be continuity: the visitor follows the experience through rather than dipping in and out. The specifics of the technology (handheld device, mobile, wristband, etc.) aren't necessarily relevant to my question--I'm more interested in how the visitor is brought along on the journey in terms of the narrative or overarching content.
The Spy museum in DC is one example of this that I'm already aware of, but I'm looking for others.
Thank you!
Tara Young