NProctor: Mobile Interpretation Clinic at MCN 2010

October 27, 20101/65Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu
From Headphones to Microphones
Visitor-led mobile experience design for museums
Nancy Proctor, Smithsonian Institution
MCN Austin, 27 October 2010

Housekeeping
Questions & comments:
@nancyproctor
Hashtags: #mtogo #mcn2010
http://wiki.MuseumMobile.info

A Mobile Wake-up Call
Halsey Burgund’s Scapes
deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum
Lincoln, MA – until Nov 14

1. 8:00-8:30 Introductions & setting the agenda
Some suggestions:
• Why mobile? Making the case & responding to objections
• Mobile strategy
• Infrastructure
• Mobile business models
• Theory: audience-led mobile content & experience design
• Practice: key messages, audiences & their questions
• Evaluating mobile apps
• IPad: what is the potential for museums
• Wayfinding and Orientation
• Augmented reality
• Connecting the virtual and the real
Agenda for Today:

Why mobile?

Opening our eyes
6

Interpretation is as essential to the
Museum as cutlery is to a banquet
7

8
 Some visitors may bring their own,
 Some may eat only the finger food,
 Some may choose another restaurant,
 Many will go away hungry,
If the Museum doesn’t provide it:
feeling uninvited and unwelcome.

VelcroTeflon
http://www.slideshare.net/psamis/learning-in-museums-2008-intro-remarks

Tate Modern’s
Principles of Interpretation
1. Interpretation is at the heart of the gallery’s mission.
2. Works of art do not have self-evident meanings.
3. Works of art have a capacity for multiple readings; interpretation
should make visitors aware of the subjectivity of any interpretive text.
4. Interpretation embraces a willingness to experiment with new ideas.
5. We recognise the validity of diverse audience responses to works of
art.
6. Interpretation should incorporate a wide spectrum of voices and
opinions from inside and outside the institution.
7. Visitors are encouraged to link unfamiliar artworks with their
everyday experience.

In the Museum as
Distributed Network…
11

…at least half of the Museum’s
platforms are already mobile.
12

So if we want to meet our
audiences where they are
And take them some place new…

Mobile is a great vehicle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8
14

51%
53%
73%
79%
93%
2010 Mobile Tour evaluation…. (Top box %)
Made visit much
more enjoyable…
Strongly
recommend…
Very satisfied…
Very easy to use…
Q. Guide Ratings
Note: Percentages represent the highest rating
Made artworks
much more
meaningful…
Mobile Improved Visitors’ Experience
FUSION RESEARCH + ANALYTICS

Those who chose the iPod and cell phone
formats rated them more highly than
traditional headset tour users rated theirs.
(although the content was identical!)
Randi Korn & Associates, SFMOMA, 2006

Phone logs
enabled us
to see
patterns in
where
visitors
wanted
information
most:
(or perhaps where they or could find the labels!)

In fact, GuideBy Cell now mashes up area codes
and Google Maps to reveal where visitors are
from:

I spent
more time
66%
No Impact
33%
I spent less
time
1%
Q. How did the Mobile Tour impact the amount of time you spent in the museum today?
Multimedia Tours Impact on
Time Spent in the Galleries
FUSION RESEARCH + ANALYTICS study at SFMOMA Summer 2010

Feedback on Multimedia Tour
Kahlo exhibition at SFMOMA, 2008

Mean
Doing this type of activity in a zoo appeals to me. 6.1
This activity enhanced our conversation about the animals. 6.2
This is a good activity for a family. 6.4
I was able to pay attention to the information provided by
the application while I was doing it.
6.6
*Scale: 7 = strongly agree through 1 = strongly disagree.
Source: Institute for Learning Innovation & the Jacksonville Zoo.
Jacksonville Zoo’s Research

The more interpretation used, the
greater the visitor satisfaction

Concerns
1. Cellphone use will disrupt the galleries and encourage
people to talk on their phones.
2. Visitors will take pictures of the art with their phones.
3. Interpretation distracts visitors from actually looking at
the work, making it a superficial experience.
4. Not everyone has a cellphone or smartphone.
Signage and guards reinforce gallery etiquette.
They already do, but signage and guards protect SI.
Depends entirely on content design.
True, so multiple interpretation platforms are necessary.

Mobile Strategy

“For the increase
& diffusion of knowledge”
Mission Metric How mobile can help
Increase of
knowledge
Quality 1. Improve collections
information and
metadata
2. Improved visitor
experience through
timely interpretation
and information
Diffusion of
knowledge
Relevance 1. Integrate museum
content into every day
activities and contexts
on personal devices &
www access
2. Help understand
audiences’ needs and
interests better

“For the increase
& diffusion of knowledge”
Mission Metric How mobile can help
(Forever…) Sustainability 1. Connect individuals
and communities with
the collections across
platforms
2. Enable communities of
interest to form around
collections and
activities

Non-profit network effects
Edward Hoover, 2010, from Flickr.

1. Mobile is global, and its reach is key to “the increase and
diffusion of knowledge” in the 21st century
2. Mobile is opening up access to and dialogue with new
audiences in:
• Emerging global markets
• Developing nations
• Rural/remote communities
• Spanning generations
• Niche communities of interest and passion for SI’s
collections and research
3. Mobile gives us new tools for scholarship, research,
outreach and staying relevant to our constituents
4. Mobile challenges us to ‘think differently’ about how we do
business in a new learning & communications economy
How does mobile help SI?

An iterative process

The Mobile Strategic Planning:
First principles
1. The only certainty in the mobile landscape is
change – so we need an adaptive, standards-based
approach to our mobile strategy and solutions
development
2. Because of the rapid rate of mobile technology
obsolescence, we will build for mobile audiences,
not specific platforms and gadgets
3. Because of our public mandate and responsibility,
wherever possible SI Mobile will make its resources,
best practices, and mobile products available for
others to adapt and build upon

What will SI Mobile look like?
1. A Smithsonian Mobile Architecture
and framework
2. Standards
3. Best practice documentation and
training
4. Infrastructure
5. A Mobile Toolkit

Some of the tools…
• Smithsonian Commons Mobile
• Collections search
• Image delivery
• Events calendars
• Maps and wayfinding
• “About…” content and functionality
• Visitor feedback capture
• Social media functions/communities of interest
• Mobile metrics and campaign functions
• Mobile advertising and promotions
• Location-based functions
• Augmented reality

Infrastructure: Network
 Free, ubiquitous wifi is essential
 Foreigners won’t use cellular networks
 Why should visitors leave their Web 2.0 lives at the
door
 Creating community spaces: museum as community
(BM research found this is a large % of visitors)
 Incremental solutions (a small % of visitors will use wifi
right now, we grow the infrastructure with them)
 Download is still more stable and scalable than
streaming (See Peter Samis’s talk at Tate Handheld
conference)
 Managing expectations:
 People increasingly expect ubiquitous wifi (coffee
shop culture)
 Are also use to managing connectivity themselves

Mobile Business Models
 What we need to own
1. Content
2. CMS
3. Standards
4. Mobile website
 What we don’t need to own
1. App publishing/wrapping platforms (&
maintenance on all mobile devices)
2. Distribution channels
Nancy Proctor & Peter Samis’s presentations at Tate Handheld
2010

Mobile Business Models
 Up for discussion
1. Exclusive branding
2. Marketing
3. Hardware & distribution operations
4. When should museums build their own
interface or customized app, and when
should they integrate into existing social
communities or apps?
Nancy Proctor & Peter Samis’s presentations at Tate Handheld
2010

Audience-led Design: The Theory

The Audio Tour Box:

Thinking outside the audiotour
box
Means thinking about content & experience

October 27, 201040/65Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.eduFraunhofer Institute, Kunstmuseum Bonn: ‘Beat Zoderer’ exhibition (Listen project) 2003
It’s NOT about the Technology

Recent Research & Resources
http://wiki.MuseumMobile.info/research
2010
1. Smithsonian studies of Mall and Zoo visitors
2009
1. CHNM survey on Museums and Mobile Adoption
2. Learning Times International Survey on handheld use in
museums.
2008
1. Whitney Museum of American Art: Audio Guide
Technologies Survey Final Report
2007
1. Matthew Barney: Multiplatform interpretation at SFMOMA
2. La Placa Cohen Culture Track 2007 (with Antenna Audio)

Who is your target audience?
 Tied to mission & key messages
 What are the desired outcomes? What do we
want them to know, think and/or feel?
 What platforms do they already use? How do
they use them elsewhere & what excites them?
o Traditional audio tours
o Cellphones or smartphones
o Podcasts
o Mobile social media: SMS, Twitter, FB…

A Minority of Visitors Use
Technologies in the Galleries
2006 study by Randi Korn & Associates at SFMOMA
BUT they use technology everywhere else:
WWW = Whatever, Whenever, Wherever

Question mapping in the gallery:
What do they want to know?
• Semi-structured interviews
• FAQs and comments cards
• Questions posed to staff…

Collecting questions…
 Online question collection:
o Specialized Q&A services, e.g. AJOA
o Comments on social media sites
 Include audience research in order to segment
 Go deeper with more experienced museum
visitors
 Where are visitors not being served by existing
interpretation?

Organize & Filter
 Group questions:
o Thematically
o By object
o By location
 Prioritize by mission and key messages
 Prioritize questions that elicit great stories

Organize questions
Painting Sculpture Folk Art Architecture
Dramatic
change in style
in display
Why multiples
of same work?
Lures aren’t art
Story behind
the
architecture
Triple painting?!
Memory
vessels: idea,
ones with
stones…
Glad you dead
you rascal
you?!

Which content modalities?
1. +-+-+-+-+ Soundtracks
2. o o o o Soundbites
3. x x x x Interactives
4. | | | | Links
5. ^ ^ ^ ^ Feedback
6. § § § § Social media
Narrowcast/
Offline or
Networked
Networked
only

Soundbite Sample

Soundbites
 Are ‘atoms’ of information.
 Commonly called ‘stops’ – or ‘starts’!
 Facilitate going deeper on a specific object/subject.
 Usually require a visual (actual object or image).
 Can be collectable & portable to other platforms e.g.
via bookmarking, saving or sharing.
 Can be reused across the museum’s analog & digital
platforms as well as those of third parties.

Soundtrack Sample

The Soundtrack
 Recalls original ‘linear’ audio tours.
 Provides a sequential narrative and contextual
information: tools for understanding the principles
of the displays, both in the gallery and beyond.
 Immersive, but may be divided into a number of
connected segments.
 ‘Downloaded’ for audiences on-site and beyond.
 Like a good album, book or catalogue, should be
possible to enjoy over & over again…

Soundtracks & Soundbites
Combined
53

ArtBabble: the ideal interface
http://www.artbabble.org/video/meet-william-christenberry

Identify soundtracks &
soundbitesPainting Sculpture Folk Art Architecture
Dramatic
change in style
in display
Why multiples
of same work?
Lures aren’t art
Story behind
the architecture
Triple painting?!
Memory vessels:
idea, ones with
stones…
Glad you dead
you rascal you?!

Architecture Tour
History of the building, style, architect
----------+--------------+------------------+--------
O O O
Tiles Skylights Ironwork

Folk Art Tour
Why is folk art, art?
----+-------------------+------------------+-----------
/ / /
O O O
Lures Memory vessels Glad you dead…

How best to tell the story &
create the atmosphere?
1. Monologue:
o Artists & curators
o Staff
o Related experts
o Professional narrators
2. Reinactments/ plays
3. Interview
4. Dialogue
5. Vox pop / comments
6. Music

 Knowledgeable or insightful – trusted
 Relates to the mission or key messages
 Good communicator with target audience
o Engaging voice
o Confident manner
o Makes it relevant
 Facilitates the desired outcomes
Who best to tell the story?

The audiences’ conversations
 Comments and questions (audio/text/links)
 Search-research-share
 Bookmark/Email/SMS to self
 Collect (MyCollection, ArtStream)
 Share (Twitter, Facebook, SMS)
 Forum
 Voting (show the polls!)
 Quizzes/games (multimedia/SMS)
 Mobile giving

Crowdsourcing experiences
Halsey Burgund’s Scapes
deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum
Lincoln, MA – until Nov 14

The right vehicle for your content
Audio
player
Multimedia
player
Cellphone
Personal
media
player
Smart
Mobile
Browser
phones
Mobile
App
Soundtrack x x (x) X X X
Soundbite X X X x X X
Interactive X X X
Link X X x
Feedback X X X
Social
media
X X

Platform considerations
1. Users’ own devices or supplied on-site?
2. Can you support network connectivity at your
site?
3. Can you support multiple platforms?
4. What kind of location-based/content triggering
solution do your visitors & experience need –
really?
5. Can you manage user-generated content?
6. What do your sponsors/funders require?

Audience-led Design: The Practice
Key messages,
target audiences
& their questions
64

What are our audiences
looking for?

Mission:
SI: Increase and diffusion of knowledge.
AA: Be the resource and facilitator for experiencing, understanding
and engaging with American art in the US and the world.
Objectives:
Repeat visitors; Membership sales; Integration into the curriculum

1. Identify your target audience(s)
1. Explorers
2. Facilitators
3. Experience seekers
4. Professionals/Hobbyists
5. Rechargers
 Virtual visitors
 Non-visitors
Falk’s Identity Segmentations
10 min

Are you an Explorer?

Are you a Facilitator?

Are you an Experience Seeker?

Are you a Pro/Hobbyist?

Are you a Recharger?

2. Record your questions
about The Museum of
Meaningful Things
The Museum’s Mission: Enable meaningful
conversations & build ad hoc
communities & collaborations around
personal objects & their stories.
1. Install your exhibition
2. Record your questions
3. Ask the curator
20 min

3. Identify the key messages
 Please list 1-3 main ideas visitors will take away
from visiting the site or exhibition. What objects or didactic
components of the presentations will help them learn this?
 Describe the rationale and originality of the presentation. Is the
site or exhibition bringing new scholarship to the field, exposing
an under-recognized subject, etc.?
Why is this presentation important now?
 Please note other interpretive components at the site that
should be considered (labels, docent tours, audio tour, in-gallery
videos, interactive feature, blogs, etc.). Are you aware of
existing media created by other organizations that address the
key messages/topics of this presentation?
How does mobile fit into the interpretive mix?
SFMOMA's "Interpretive Goals Questionnaire”
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/papers/samis/samis.html
10 min

3. Who will speak to these
questions?
10 min
Museum’s Voice Visitors’ Voices
 Monologue
 Dialogue
Voice(s):
 Artist
 Curator
 Related expert
 Interview
 Vox pop. / comments
 Music
…
Comments & questions:
…
Bookmark / Save:
…
Games:
…

4. Put the experience in context
 On-site or Online visit
 Visit life cycle: Before, During, After
 Special context: At home, In school, On the go…
 Networked or ‘on board’?
 Other interpretation, information or services
available?
1. Museum-authored
2. User-generated
3. Third parties
10 min

5. Choose your platform
1. Users’ own devices or supplied on-site?
2. Can you support network connectivity at
your site?
3. Can you support multiple platforms?
4. What kind of location-based/content
triggering solution do your visitors &
experience need – really?
5. Can you manage user-generated content?
6. What do your sponsors/funders require?
15 min

http://picasaweb.google.com/anup.rao/HaifaAkkoIsrael#4954285426665324562
From Headphones to Microphones
From “we do the talking” to “we help you do the talking.”

…methods, techniques, results: Has anybody
analysed the use of mobile apps on and off site
from a qualitative and quantitative perspective?
Evaluating mobile apps
Forrester’s SWOT analysis of SI Mobile projects

IPad
What is the potential for museums? Are you aware of any
projects being developed besides adapting iphone apps
for the iPad?
• Access:
“Using Technology to Support STEM Reading:
Matthew H. Schneps, Jamie K. O’Keeffe,
Amanda Heffner-Wong, and Gerhard Sonnert
Laboratory for Visual Learning Harvard-
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics”
- Journal of Special Education Technology,
JSET 2010 Volume 25, Number 3
• Yves Klein for iPad
• Please touch the exhibit! Melbourne Museum
• iBiennale
• Catalogue publishing: mixed retail + subscription model
• Tablet Enhanced Group Tours: Scott Sayre, Sat 13:30-15:00 Tannehill

I am interested in possible solutions that have been implemented
with or without using location aware technology, results of tests,
prototypes, evaluations? Has there been any progress on this?
Wayfinding and Orientation
• AMNH Explorer
Wifi positioning
• Brooklyn
Museum’s ‘virtual
positioning’ with
accession #s
• Halsey Burgund’s
Scapes,
deCordova

I'd be interested in some in depth feedback on
usability and user experiences.
Augmented reality

 http://museummobile.info/ wiki, blog & podcasts
 MCN Conference Oct 27-30, 2010, Austin, TX http://MCN.edu
 Mobile Content Standards Summit 27 Oct, at
MCNhttp://wiki.museummobile.info/standards
 http://tatehandheldconference.pbworks.com
 Koven Smith: http://kovenjsmith.com &
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/papers/smith/smith.html
 SFMOMA (Peter Samis & Stephanie Pau):
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2007/papers/samis/samis.html &
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/papers/samis/samis.html
Nancy Proctor: ProctorN@si.edu @nancyproctor
http://MuseumMobile.info
With many thanks to Kate Haley-Goldman for help with this method!
Opportunities to continue our work:

NProctor: Mobile Interpretation Clinic at MCN 2010

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NProctor: Mobile Interpretation Clinic at MCN 2010