Audience Analysis in the Age of Engagement

The Internet has changed how heritage institutions can deliver content, and on-line audiences in 2006 are much more sophisticated about what they expect and demand from the Internet. The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) is developing and deploying innovative strategies and tools to effectively determine its audiences' overall engagement with the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) (virtualmuseum.ca). In existence since March 2001, the VMC is a cultural gateway created by CHIN in collaboration with the Canadian museum community. Ultimately, the interaction between the VMC and its audiences must be seen as a discourse in which the audience is central to a new type of communication, where they are target and co-creator. Our approach to audience analysis must therefore respond accordingly.