Presentation that I gave for the Museums and Mobile online conference in March 2011. Topic had to do with museums repurposing content that they have in a mobile experience.

1. Create. Consume. Repurpose.
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

2. Two Routes to Mobile Content
New Content
• Create internally
• Hire an outside content producer
to write or record new content
• Combination of the two
Repurposed Content
• Using content that you already
have on hand
• May require adjustments to
content
• May require lling in gaps
• Know what will work and what
won’t (we’ll get to that)
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

3. Museums HAVE a lot of content
whether they realize it or not.
Potential content:
• Labels
• Wall Text
• Catalogues
• Brochures
• Websites
• Interviews
• Photographs
• Audio Tours
• Videos
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

4. All of these can be used as mobile
content.
POTENTIALLY
• Look for consistency with this
content.
• Re-write sections if needed.
• Focus on your intended user.
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

5. Whether creating new or repurposing -
KNOW THE INTENDED AUDIENCE.
Are they a visitor to the museum or are
they offsite?
WHERE IS THE CONTENT FROM?
- Marketing
- Education
- Curatorial
They all have a different story to tell.
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

6. Text
• Most abundant
• Most in uenced
• Wide ranging
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

7. Text
• Users expect more text
on tablet devices
• Conversely less on
phone devices
• Re-purposing can result
in disparity in app focus
• May require revision for
mobile
• Fill in the gaps
• May carry formatting
with it from original
document
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

8. Images
• Pooling your image assets
• Slides
• Transparencies
• Photographs
• Digital images
•Shooting additional images
•Convert to digital
•Organized and labeled
•Think about naming to
aid identi cation
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

9. Images
• Ensure your images are
mobile ready
• Should be large enough to
handle tablet. Min. 1024px
• Resolution should be
larger to accommodate
zooming
• Plan now for future screen
resolution changes
• Compatibility - jpeg, png,
gif
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

10. Audio
• Likelihood you will have
pre-2000 audio?
• Now more than ever it is
easier to produce your
own audio content
• Past interviews with artists
• Interviews with curators
• Scripted audio
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

11. Audio
Things to think about:
• Do you own the rights to
re-use?
• Do you own the script to
re-record?
• Is it in a mobile compatible
format
• mp3
• wav
• Do you have access to the
originals to edit or re-
compress?
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

12. Audio
Things to think about:
• Does the audio length t
with mobile consumption
‣ Phone users prefer
smaller chunks
‣ Tablet users can handle
longer segments
• Are there images that go
along with the audio?
• Does the audio need to be
heard in front of object?
• Does the audio mesh with
other content you are
using?
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

13. Video
Things to think about:
Like audio
• Do you own the rights to
re-use?
• Is it in a mobile compatible
format
• mp4 (iOS and Android)
• .m4v (iOS)
• Do you have access to the
originals to edit or re-
compress?
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

14. Video
Other things to think about:
• How old is the video?
• Web video of the past
problematic
• Keep videos under 3
minutes for phone
• Longer videos acceptable
on Tablet
• Will the video focus on
something onsite or can it
work offsite?
• Will the video stream or be
native?
• File size rami cations
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

15. Technical Considerations
•Streamed versus Native content
•Flash
•Internet on site
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour

16. Chris Alexander
Program Director
Toura
calexander@toura.com
www.toura.com
Twitter: @touramobile
www.chris-alexander.com
Twitter: @cmalexander
Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/cmalexander
Chris Alexander Create. Consume. Repurpose. Program Director at Toura
Considerations About Content for Your Mobile Tour