Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration becoming digitalized

The French National Museum of Immigration History

June 17, 2023 marked the reopening of the Musée national de l'histoire de l’immigration after a 3 years period of work. Installed at the Palais de la Porte Dorée, its permanent gallery has been completely redesigned and enriched with the latest research on immigration in France.

The museum is one of the cultural institutions that have decided to integrate digital solutions in their redesign. The objective? Giving visitors with an illustrated guest experience beyond collections, with dynamic content.

An enhanced visitor experience

Since its opening, visitors of the Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration have been able to interact with touch screens throughout their journey. Unlike looped content on which visitors don't have the capability to interact, the devices allows to decide playing videos to enrich the visit. The other advantage is that the kiosks can also replace information panels for condensed tours.

Throughout the exhibition, we have the opportunity to discover 10 touchscreens allowing us to start a video that illustrates each of the key dates. If the device seems simple at first glance, however each terminal has a hidden menu, secured by password, allowing access to all the videos.

The use of this private menu is intended for cultural mediators in charge of guided tours. Because they don’t always have time to review all the key dates of the journey, this menu allows them to access all the video content from the terminal of their choice. It is a flexibility to adapt the visit at any time.

The attention of the visitors is also drawn to an arrangement using two screens operating in concert: the first is used as a touch remote control to control the broadcasting of videos on the second screen. This device allows to select extracts of the program of immigrant cultures "Mosaïque", broadcast from 1977 to 1987 on the third channel

Finally, the latest remarkable use of digital signage is the presence of a touch-screen terminal with an interactive map that allows visitors to navigate across countries and obtain information on immigration over time.

Studio Demarque, the museums digital maker

Founded in 2008, Studio Demarque specializes in creating virtual objects and interactive staging. Its leitmotiv? Create tailor-made digital interfaces that are sustainable.

After more than 500 projects, the studio now benefits from a recognized expertise, especially in the cultural sector, which allows it to accompany the largest French museums.

Faced with the specifications of the Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration, Studio Demarque wanted to innovate in its approach to the project. The objective was to find a front-end solution to build a proposal to meet high maintenance challenges, without losing sight of usage.

After a careful benchmarking step, the studio decided to respond to the museum’s call for tenders with the interactive display software Touchify. The richness of the integrated design studio as well as the simplicity of implementation have been important arguments against alternative solutions often considered too complex.

A positive feedback

“I find Touchify incredibly rich, flexible, and scalable. I don’t see anything technically impractical.” entrusted us with Julien Demarque, founder of the eponymous studio. He particularly appreciates being able to “fully express (his) creativity without ever being blocked” and being able to meet the needs of his clients without making concessions.

On the museum side, the contract is also fulfilled. Maintenance? «None» answers us soberly Richard Fortin, Head of Information Systems at the Palais de la Porte Dorée, who even describes the mechanism around the Mosaïque show as a «technical feat».

Beyond the exhibition, Touchify is also integrated on the screens of the administrative hall. Used in digital signage, the solution allows a video and a web page presenting the program of the day to agents and external providers.

And even if some needs are still partially covered today, the support of Touchify’s teams to propose adapted technical solutions is in the spotlight. The upcoming launch of the new version of Touchify Analytics will also allow the museum to benefit from statistics and to see the benefits of digitalizing the museum journey.