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Mobile technology in museums
1. Mobile Technology in Museums:
An Overview of the Challenges and Opportunities
Ian Rowson
Mobile technology in museums is a sector which Adlib Information Systems, as a leading
supplier of collections management systems (CMS), predict dramatic growth over the
next few years. Unsurprisingly, then, it is a subject that the company has become
actively engaged with. This paper outlines the key challenges faced and opportunities
open to museums when adopting mobile technology. It draws on research from a
number of sources, including real-world experience gained from implementation of
mobile technology projects.
Mobile technology is fast become pervasive in most areas of life, and is changing the
way people interact with information, products and services. This can easily be noticed
on any railway journey where on the platform and on the train, passengers are
engrossed in their smartphones or tablets. In a recent article on the CNN website,
portable devices employing a touchscreen interface were identified as number 1 in the
Top 10 Tech Trends for 2012. Technology expert Peter Cashmore predicts that such
handheld, touchscreen based devices (tablets, smartphones) are not simply nice
alternatives to the desktop and laptop computer; but that they will in time replace them,
in a similar fashion to the way graphical based user interfaces replaced the old command
line computer interface. For Cashmore, the end of 2012 will see mobile operating
systems already achieve a position of dominance in the marketplace
But it’s not simply through reasons of fashion that mobile technology is exploding across
the world. The time and the places people want to interact with information, as well as
how they do it, are changing. Museums and heritage sites have been beginning to
explore the use of mobile technology both in terms of curatorial practice and, perhaps
even more so, in interpretation for their visitors.
Curatorial Use
Julian Tomlin’s report Reviewing Machine Readable Labelling Systems for Collections
Management and Access reviews the use of mobile technology for collections
management. This report, produced in 2008 for the London Museums Hub, focusses on
the use of barcodes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags for automating
collections management, and includes a number of case studies. This report is
recommended reading for anyone considering this kind of project.
Museums who have so far employed mobile technology, have done so with the objective
of improving efficiency in the following processes:
Inventory checking
Movement control
Identifying objects (through rapid look-up access to collections database)
The chief opportunity presented is undoubtedly that of reducing the staff time spent on
these traditionally time-consuming activities and their associated paperwork. For
example, the RFID company Smarttrack claim that since the introduction of RFID tagging
to its collections, The Vatican Library estimate that staff can complete its annual
2. inventory process within one day, a task that previously meant it had to close for a
whole month.
In addition, there is always scope for human error in the recording of inventory data and
input to the CMS, particularly if the staff have to make paper notes while working in a
remote store which are later copied into the CMS, perhaps even by someone else.
Smarttrack term this the potential for ‘increased visibility’ of the collection. By their
definition; the certainty that the whereabouts of every collection object is known,
through simplification of the inventory process and the elimination of human error in
data entry. Errors in object location recording can be extremely costly in terms of the
both the staff time required to attempt to correct them, or worst case, the actual loss of
objects.
Of course, in order to reap the benefits described above, there are challenges to be
faced by the institution when introducing a fully automated system:
Before a project is started, a lack of familiarity with the technology can potentially lead
to expensive mistakes. It is best find a technology partner who are used to mobile
working such as Adlib Information Systems, who have a successful track record
implementing mobile systems that fully integrate with the collections management
system. It does not have to be an obstacle if the institution is not using an Adlib CMS.
The Adlib Mobile Suite can also work in conjunction with other CMS, for example Multi-
Mimsy. Tomlin asserts that; “The greatest success[es] may be found where suitable
systems, training and support, and procedures are [all] in place”.
Barcode labels or RFID tags need to be created or purchased and attached to the
objects. Modern CMS such as Adlib incorporate barcode label generation tools, but the
method of their attachment to objects can be problematic, depending on the type of
collection. Barcodes are certainly cheaper than RFID tags (Tomlin estimates they are
only about 10% of the cost), but they may not be so durable, and they do require a
‘line-of-sight’ from the scanner to be able to read them. A key advantage of RFID tags is
that they (usually) can be read without removing the object from its packaging, meaning
that the object, and other objects around it, do not have to be disturbed in order to
confirm its location (assuming, of course, that its tag remains securely in place). A
disadvantage is that you need a special scanner to read them.
Tomlin reports that; “When used for large-scale collection moves, the use of machine-
readable technologies have been highly successful, and cost effective.” To summarise his
findings, if the processes of labelling objects can be included as part of a planned
collections move when every object is already going to be handled, the institution will
reap the benefits of time saving in every subsequent operation from the unpacking and
re-location, and including every future movement.
This is certainly the experience that Adlib Mobile Suite customers have reported to the
company. Tomlin’s report concludes that “Major [collections automation] initiatives are
unlikely to take place outside the context of major re-display or storage projects”. This
was certainly true when the report was commissioned, but it could be argued that today,
four years on, the costs of technology have reduced to the point where if your
3. organisation undertakes a high level of object movements in the general course of your
work, then the potential for efficiency savings is there to be made.
Smarttrack give the example of the Australian Parliamentary Library, which recouped the
cost of implementing RFID technology within 3 years, purely through the gains in vastly
reduced stock-taking and audit times. Their white paper A cost-benefit analysis of RFID
for Museum and Art Gallery collections contains more detail for those interested.
Adlib Information Systems are addressing these challenges with our Mobile Suite
software, which is an off-the-shelf package which provides a flexible method of
managing the processes of inventory control and movement. The software can of course
be configured to suit the needs of the organisation, but no bespoke software
development is required for a typical museum installation. This keeps the
implementation simple, and the costs down.
The applications can run on a Windows laptop, notebook or handheld PDA. They can
work over a WiFi connection to the database, or off-line for later synchronisation.
Although PDA devices with their built-in scanners are very convenient, they are costly,
and users report that battery life is limited. At least one spare set of batteries is
therefore essential to swap out in order to keep working. Adlib plan to make the mobile
suite software more device-independent, which will mean that it can run on Windows
based smartphones or tablets. This will also reduce the hardware cost and provide a
more familiar interface for users.
Future product development plans include a tablet based application for the
documentation of monuments/built heritage. This will make full use of the tablet’s
capability for image capture with GPS location-awareness and 3G upload of data to an
Adlib database. One highly portable device will therefore replace the camera, GPS and
laptop previously required for this purpose.
Visitor Use
Aside from the ‘back-office’ functions of the museum, institutions are investing in mobile
technology for their visitors. A key decision is whether to aim for an ‘in-house’
experience similar to the traditional audio tour, where the aim is to engage the visitor or
provide supplementary information to the museum’s interpretation, or an ‘at home’
experience which aims to prepare the viewer for a visit or provide background
information to tempt a visit.
Loic Tallon’s analysis of the Museums and Mobile Survey 2012 provides a wealth of
interesting information about the current state of play in the field. The Museums and
Mobile Survey is conducted annually by the Museums & Mobile on-line conference, which
is held in May each year.
For instance, Tallon found the key objectives of an institution in providing a ‘mobile
experience’ to be:
To give additional data to visitors
To experiment with different ways of engaging visitors
To provide a more interactive experience
To raise the profile of the institution
4. Secondary objectives were:
Revenue generation
Response to visitor demand
To provide alternative language interpretation
To attract new visitors
The survey indicates that, at the moment, it is typically only larger institutions who are
making some kind of mobile provision. But if it is accepted that the above are all valid
objectives for all types of institution, what factors are blocking museums (especially
smaller ones) from going ahead with mobile projects?
Respondents to the survey cited the following reasons (in order of most given reason):
Too expensive in staff time to maintain
Not a priority for the institution
Too expensive to set up
Lack of demand from visitors
Lack of in-house experience in the technology
They also identified the key challenges with implementing mobile interpretation as
being:
Cost of keeping content up to date
Cost of set-up
The production of content
Encouraging take-up by users
Adlib Information Systems have come up with a completely novel approach to
addressing these challenges. In conjunction with mobile experience partners a:xperience
of Vienna, an off-the-shelf ‘template’ based solution for a smartphone application has
been introduced. This can be tailored to suit the design scheme and objectives of any
kind of institution. A template based approach means that the Adlib app is much cheaper
to implement than a bespoke development project, and in fact the set-up costs can be
minimal. As for the issue of providing content and keeping up to date, a solution has
been provided for that too.
The Adlib smartphone app includes a certain amount of pre-defined content, meaning
the user will always have access to certain prime material, even if no on-line connection
is available (or excessive roaming charges abroad mean this feature is disabled). The big
advantage is that it can also dynamically retrieve content from an Adlib collections
management database. This means that it offers a truly interactive experience, giving
access to content that is automatically kept up to date, simply by the museum staff
adding new data and media into the CMS in the usual course of their work.
This also resolves another factor against user take-up identified on the Museum Mobile
Wiki (a recommended source of information on mobile interpretive technologies) of users
being reluctant to download apps that include masses of content which fill up the
memory space of their smartphones.
5. The reason that the Adlib CMS makes such an excellent platform for running mobile
technologies is down to the way the system is structured. An Adlib system is designed to
act as a collections data server via its flexible Applications Programming Interface (API)
In layman’s terms, this means that the system deals with live requests for data from
external devices, obviating the need to dump collections data out into a separate
database to be used in, for example, a gallery interactive terminal, a web site, or a
smartphone app.
Of course, it is not uncommon for a museum to have all these uses for collections data,
and therefore to spend a lot of time dumping data into disparate systems, a process
which we regard as a waste of time and resources. Even worse is the situation where
collections content is specifically created for such applications, or information is culled
from visitors as User Generated Content (UGC) which never finds its way back into the
CMS, resulting in perhaps many silos of unconnected data which the museum cannot
effectively manage.
It is interesting to reflect that back in the 1970s, when the first version of the Adlib
software system was launched, a pocket size device that could perform live queries of a
database content from anywhere in the world would have existed only in science fiction.
The fact that we have now reached this point amply demonstrates the ability of Adlib
Information Systems to keep their products up to date with current technologies, while
at the same time retaining the long-term sustainability of the Adlib solution. These
remain core values for the company right up to the present day.
Ian Rowson, Adlib Information Systems, May 2012
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventory_(museum)
Cashmore Pete (2011) The Top 10 tech trends for 2012, Special report to CNN
December 19, 2011 http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/19/tech/innovation/top-tech-
trends-2012/index.html
Smarttrack (2008) A cost-benefit analysis of RFID for
Museum and Art Gallery collections available online at:
http://www.smarttrackrfid.com/pdfs
Tallon, Loic (2012) Museums & Mobile in 2012: An Analysis of the Museums & Mobile
Survey 2012 Responses. (February 2012: Pocket Proof & Learning Times) published at
http://www.museums-mobile.org/survey 10/05/12
Tomlin, Julian, (2008) Reviewing Machine Readable Labelling Systems for Collections
Management and Access available at http://www.smarttrackrfid.com/pdfs
http://museummobile.info/
http://wiki.museummobile.info/standards/tourml-miniworkhop-at-mw2011
http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Meeting-the-technology-and-business-
challenges-of-managing-mobile-workers