Digital literacy and digitized museum collections communicated via website: the user as protagonist at the Museu Nacional dos Povos Indígenas

This article discusses the challenges of Brazilian museums on the internet, emphasizing digital literacy of museum teams and communication of digitized museum collections. The discussion is grounded in authors such as Tolentino (2020), Miranda (2021), and Rocha (2023), and is supported by a literature review by Miranda (2023) and Parry (2018). As a strategy to strengthen digital literacy, the study explores the application of usability testing in museum and digital collection websites, drawing on research by Chaves (2024) and Silva (2016). Based on these references, an evaluation framework was developed using Nielsen’s heuristics (1993) and applied to the website of the digitized collection of the National Museum of Indigenous Peoples. The usability test, conducted with five users, was rated as unsatisfactory. However, with the improvement opportunities highlighted—especially in terms of site maintenance—there is considerable potential to enhance the user experience.

KEYWORDS
digital museum collection communication; museums; digital literacy; Museu Nacional dos Povos Indígenas; usability testing; Nielsen’s heuristics