As more and more art museums develop multimedia and mobile guides to be part of their interpretive offerings for visitors, some are developing guides specifically for family audiences. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art have both made that decision, and are using evaluation to develop and refine their guides in order to provide engaging and valuable experiences for families. A front-end study at the Nelson-Atkins surveyed parents about their preferences for mobile guide content from their own perspectives as adult learners, from their perspectives as parents, and from the perspectives of their children. A summative study of the Whitney’s Biennial 2012 multimedia guide explored the ways families use this type of interpretive device, as well as the their perspectives about the impact and value of the multimedia guide experience. Hear what lessons have been learned through evaluation at these two museums about developing family multimedia and mobile tours, and discover how they are impacting family visitor experiences.

1. Multimedia & Mobile Tours for Families:
How are they used and valued?
Presented by:
Jeanine Ancelet, Audience Focus
Emily Black, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Sharisse Butler, Slover-Linnett
March 7, 2013
National Art Education Association Annual Meeting

2. Front-End Research: Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art
The Situation
The Approach
The Key Findings

3. Front-End Research at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
The Situation
• Limited budget
• Acknowledgement of the work of
other organizations
• Awareness of multiple
perspectives: adult
learners, parents, and children

4. Front-End Research at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
The Situation
• IMLS GOALS
– To target and cultivate a growing population of
mobile users onsite at the Nelson-Atkins.
– To offer opportunities for families to learn and
discover together.
– To foster intergenerational experiences using
mobile devices.
– To employ mobile as a platform for uncovering
multiple perspectives and unique stories about
art.
– To encourage multiple visits.

5. Front-End Research at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
The Approach
• Online survey format
– Landscape review and prioritization of online assets
– Survey hyperlinks to these existing assets
– Respondents rank and rate, and respond to open-ends
– Frequent reminders to respond to content (rather than
design) and see them as examples
• Recruitment of parents
– Collaborative
– Similar recruitment process as focus groups
– Method allows for parents flexibility in responding

6. Front-End Research at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
The Approach (continued)
• Deliberately capturing multiple
perspectives: adult
learners, parents, and children
– Asked to respond to individual questions 3 times:
1. according to your own personal preference
2. according to what you as a parent would want your
child(ren) to experience
3. according to what you believe your child(ren) would prefer

7. Front-End Research at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
The Key Findings
• Content preferences
– Parents are highly interested in hearing the perspectives of
artists (for themselves and for their children), and less
interested in hearing from “experts”
– Parents want their children to see how objects are made
and/or used
– Some differences emerged depending upon the perspective
applied
– Parents want the content to inspire their children’s creativity
• Who is the audience?
– Parents, children, or families?

8. Front-End Research at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
LESSONS LEARNED
• Family Mobile Guide
• Current state: Working with IMAlabs to produce
game modules that fulfill the needs revealed in the
front-end evaluation.
– Picture taking and upload: User sends a postcard or posts photos to
social media outlets
– Polls
– Likes/Ratings
– Word Scramble
– Spot the Difference
– Word Cloud
– Picture Scramble
• Create content and mobile experiences that offer
opportunities for families to learn together.
• Experiment weekly with visitors onsite about
content modules and themes. Wireframes and
design are also informed by weekly visitor input.

9. Biennial 2012 Multimedia Guide
Summative Evaluation Study

10. The Multimedia Guide
 Features artists’ voices
 50 audio stops for adults
 14 audio stops for children
 19 videos (intros to
art, voices of curators and
artists) + 1 access video
 Access components
(transcripts, sound
descriptions, variable text
size, CC)

11. Purpose of the Study
How do families use the multimedia
guide? What do they perceive is the
value?
Build staff capacity in evaluation
methods and approaches, specifically
observations
 Inform future multimedia approaches
at the Whitney

12. EVALUATION
DESIGN
Methods
 Focused
observations
 2 Focus group
discussions
Participants
 33 adults and children
between the ages of 8-13

13. KEY RESULTS
USE OF
DEVICE
 Used like a traditional audio guide
 Adults listen to Kid’s Tour; Kids listen to Adult
audio
 Videos used less frequently
 Kids used the videos more
 Transcripts used by some as a “portable wall
text”

14. Key Results
Child/Family Interactions
 Children more likely to
use guide socially than
adults
 Variety of family social
approaches –
 Let’s stick together
 Split and rejoin, Split
and rejoin
 Go it alone – then
debrief

15. Key Results
Families especially value multimedia guide
experiences that:
 Engage children – stimulate
interest/curiosity
 Stimulate thinking
 Encouraged focused and careful looking
 Stimulate conversation

16. Thought-Provoking
Parents and children especially value
inquiry-based approaches – including
questions, pauses for
reflection, opportunities for
connections, and prompts for follow-up
discussions/conversation.
I like how it asked questions… it made
me actually think about the art. - child
With questions, you have time to actually
think about it. - child

17. Focused Looking
Parents, in particular, value experiences that
focus and engage their children
Sometimes children just walk around a
little and then are like “oh, let’s go.” This
keeps them a little more focused and
engaged with what they are looking at.

18. Stimulates Conversation
 Parents and children discussed the value of having
future guides function with the goal of conversation
in mind
We like to talk about how people create
things or the process. – Parent
Overall, [the guide] could have been
more ways to get engaged. It might
have added more value if it transformed
into ways to discuss the work. - Parent

19. Recommenda t i ons
The “voice” matters
If you WANT to make it
social…
Our definition of “Interactive”
and “Multimedia”
Let us choose (and have lots
of options)
Kid’s Tour is NOT the same as a
Family Tour
If you want us to watch the
videos…

20. The Voice Matters
 Have children narrate children’s audio
 Use child-friendly vocabulary and language
 No lecture-style approach
 Tone more conversational and natural
 If you have curators and artists, have them have a
conversation or a back-and-forth exchange of
ideas
 Have the same content for the adults and kids, but
use different narrators

21. If you WANT to make it social…
 Incorporate a “splitter”
 Incorporate [clearly indicated] stopping points
 Have more comfortable seating
 Incorporate social media functions
 Incorporate question
 Have different versions – group experience; solitary
experience

22. Our definition of “Interactive”
 Incorporate “questions”
 Make the home screen more “live.”
 Have pop-up question prompts
 NO lecture-style narration approach
 Have opportunities to sketch or draw
 Have the option to “like” your favorite artworks
 Click on specific areas within artwork to find out
more
 Have something akin to a treasure hunt for children

23. Let Us Choose (and have lots of
options)
Want multiple options for interpretation
Value choice over level of information they wanted
 Always include a “2nd level” way of listening every
time
 Have the option to use your own device (smart
phone), or borrow one from the museum

24. Kid’s Tour is NOT the same as
Family Tour
 Kids tour is different from a family tour
 determines how families approach and
engage with the experience
With a Kid’s Tour, we are free like
birds, but a Family tour with questions
would put us together as a family, rather
than kid and adult.

25. If you want us to watch the
videos…
Have comfortable seating
Have “Google goggles” for a “heads-
up” display that projects graphics onto
a screen
Make the videos shorter
Videos should be more than “talking
heads”

26. Lessons Learned at the Whitney
 Should content for families be interactive or
solitary?
 Should we have interactive discussion prompts?
 How can we make it less of an adapted audio
guide and more of an “experience?”
 For games or interactive multimedia – how do we
make it adaptable enough to stand up over
time, but specific enough to be interesting?
 Is it really worth the money and energy to produce
multimedia guides, or could they get the same
experience and value some other way?

27. Discussion Question #1
• Have you seen examples of
interpretive materials that hit the
mark in being designed for families
(not only children or only parents)?

28. Discussion Question #2
• What issues, challenges, questions
are you currently facing when
thinking about family audiences
and engagement with new media?