DE Confenrentie 2006 Noortje Heijboer

Using technology to extend the visit ………………beyond the museum walls

Silvia Filippini Fantoni, Rebecca Scholten, Antenna Audio

December, 12th 2006

Silvia Filippini Fantoni, Noortje Heijboer & Gus MaussenUsing technology to extend the visit beyond the museum walls

December 2006© 2006 Antenna Audio

Introducing Antenna Audio

• Market leader in the production of mobile audio interpretation for museums and cultural heritage institutions

• Provider of over 20 million digital tours each year

• To more than 350 museums, galleries and historic sites worldwide

• Products include:

Audio tours

Multimedia Tours

Download Audio Tours and Podcasts

Group tour radio systems

Mobile Phone Tours

• We have been recently acquired by Discovery



Introduction

In the past few years museums have been experimenting with new technologies in the attempt to support the visitor before, during and after the visit:

• Before: by facilitating and supporting the preparation for the visit; e.g.online information, online reservation and ticketing, downloadable tours, personalized tour plans, etc.

• During: by facilitating access to extra museum related content and interpretation; e.g. kiosks, mobile phone tours, Multimedia and Audio tours, etc.

• After: by supporting the follow up to the visit and extending the museum experience outside of its physical walls; e.g. research on the museum website about artwork of interest, podcasts, access to information retrieved during the visit, etc.



The virtual circle

The technology is not only used to support the visitor in each individual step but also in some cases to support and facilitate the transition from one phase to the other, thus creating what some expert In this field call the “Virtual circle”

• From the pre-visit to the visit: e.g.downlodable tours• From the visit to the post visit experience: e.g. Bookmarking• There have been a couple of attempts to create an overall connection

between the three phases: e.g. J.P. Getty museum



The J. Paul Getty Museum virtual circle



Bookmarking and podcasts

• Among all the different tools that contribute to the “virtual circle”, we will focus during this presentation in particular on bookmarking and podcast, which allow museums visitors to access content of interest after the actual visit.

• As a company that specializes in mobile audio-visual interpretation for museums and cultural institutions we have experimented with these solutions in the past few years and have acquired enough experience to understand what works and what doesn’t.

• By sharing our experience with you we hope to help those museums and cultural institutions that are looking into possible ways of extending the visitor experience beyond the museum wall to make the right choices.



Bookmarking: a definition

What is bookmarking?

• It is a feature available on some museums websites, kiosks, multimedia and mobile phone tours

• It allows visitors to save information of interest for later use

• Visitors can retrieve the “saved” information:• Via links in an e-mail sent to the visitor’s address• On a personal page created for the visitor on the museum website

accessible via a username and a password



Bookmarking in museums: why?

• It strengthen the learning process:• It activates previous knowledge• Repetition is one of the major mechanism to retain memories over

time• It allows to pursue “individual interests”

• It allows the user to focus more on experimentation, discovery and the aesthetic experience during the visit leaving the more traditional didactic aspects for later

• By supporting the virtual circle, it ultimately strengthens the relationship between the visitor and the museum



List of bookmarking tools available in museums

My Art SpaceTate Modern MTStar Wars MT (BOS)Visite + (Cite des Sciences)

GettyGuideIngenious (London Science Museum)TechTag (The Tech)Visite + (Cite des Sciences)PEMOrlando Science CenterGulf of Maine Research Institute's (GMRI) marine science education center

METMIAGetty BookmarksVirtual Museum of CanadaFAMSEternal EgyptNational Museum of AustraliaNMWA (Art Tales)UK NMSI (Create)Seattle Art MuseumPEMMFA BostonTate onlineCleveland Museum of Art

Mobile PhonesPDAKiosksOnline



Bookmarking: Tate Modern



Tate Modern: evaluation results

• People generally respond positively to the idea of bookmarking

• Bookmarking rate: over 43%

• Click through rate: over 44% (19% of the total number of users)

• Most popular reasons for not bookmarking: Fear of junk mail, overload of information, lack of time and interest, “I forgot about it”

• Most popular reasons for bookmarking: popularity of the artist and curiosity

• Bookmarking results in a fruitful educational experience only for those visitors who came to the museum with a strong learning motivation (teachers, second time visitors, etc.)

• People’s expectations about the content they will receive or they will be given access to are very simple



Bookmarking: The Boston Museum of Science



Star Wars exhibition: evaluation results

• Bookmarking rate: 10% according to log data (3.333 out of 33.052 PDA users)

• Main reasons for not bookmarking: • 23% of the interviewed users was not familiar with the option• 19% had forgotten about it or didn’t know why to use it• 9% not interested• 9% didn’t have time • 7% didn’t like receiving an e-mail and wouldn’t have the time to look

at them

• Main reasons for bookmarking:• 50% wanted to try it out (curiosity)• 25% Star Wars fans• Other: Send it to other people, check out the technology



Star Wars exhibition: evaluation results• Click through rate: 37% which corresponds to 3.7% of the total number of

PDA users.

• Average number of bookmarks per bookmarker: 8.6 pages

• 14% forwarded them to friends

• In general bookmarkers valued the idea of sending information home. However they were less satisfied by the content provided after the visit.

• Bookmarkers are a dedicated population:• Higher interest level in science• Visit the museum website more frequently• Visit the MOS more recently• No first time visitor among bookmarkers• Greater Star Wars fans



Bookmarking: does it really work?

• The majority of museum visitors are not interested in these kinds of solutions (keep low expectations)

• Amongst the visitors who bookmark the majority does it out of curiosity and not in response to an informational need. What interests the visitor is the act of bookmarking in itself rather then its educational value. It’s a cool think to do, it is a tangible sign of the visit and it expresses the visitor intention of wanting to find out more.

• There is however a small group of visitors (second time visitors, teachers, art students, researchers, art connaisseurs) for whom the tool is and can be very useful in supporting their quests for information as well as their research and classroom activities.

• We need to improve the visibility of the applications.

• We need to improve the usability of the solutions.

• Make sure your own staff is aware of these tools, ready to promote it and able to train the visitor to do so.



What is a podcast/vodcast?

• Podcast is a term emerged in 2004 as a combination of iPod and broadcasting. It is like a radio broadcast that has been made available on the internet for downloading to a personal audio player. You can use an iPod, iRiver, Creative Zen or any other mp3 player.

• You will need podcast software installed on your computer, such as iTunes, which is popular, free and easy to use. Other software is also available (for a complete list see: http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html)

• Subscriptions allow for the latest content. Most subscriptions to museums podcasts are free.

• Types - audio journals, professional newscasts, special feature, archival audio files, promotional, educational

• Stats - more than 42 million iPods sold so far worldwide and a further 16 million use iTunes

• A vodcast is a podcast accompanied by images

• Not to be confused with downloadable tours !!!!!



Defining the audience: iPod generation

• Born 1982-1990 & after• Also called the Millennials or Generation M

(for media)• 30% own at least one iPod• 28% have downloaded a Podcast in the last

6 months (cp 17% adults overall)• Biggest and most diverse generation in

history• This generation wants to be more self-

directed• Very tied to group outreach and group

knowledge• More oriented towards people being their

own individual nodes of production

Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet and American Life Project, 23 March 2006

“A Quarter of all adult Internet users [in the UK] will listen to a podcast in the next six months.”

- BMRB research 15 March 2006 http://www.bmrb.co.uk/?component=news&action=show&id=252



Some examples of podcasts

1. Marymount Manhattan College “Art Mobs”: http://mod.blogs.com/art_mobs/

2. Victoria and Albert Museum, “Every Object Tells a Story” series: http://www.everyobject.net/static.php?page=interactive

3. SFMoMA ArtCast Series, March 2006: http://www.sfmoma.org/education/edu_podcasts.html

4. National Gallery, London, podcast series: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast/default.htm

5. MOMA podcast series: http://www.moma.org/visit_moma/podcasts/feed.xml

6. Guggenheim educational lecture series: http://www.guggenheim.org/podcasts/index.htm

7. MET podcast: http://www.metmuseum.org/events/ev_podcast.asp

and many more………………….



Podcasts: results

Overall• Results are mixed e.g. the MET registered more than 116,000

downloads since May while the Guggenheim achieved only 6,000 listeners between July and September

Content • A wide range of content approaches have been trialled.• Lengths range from 1-20 minutes for podcasts• Beware of rights issues, especially on music and images.• Quality content is king• The top 100 podcasts are not made by amateurs (see list on the

side: MOMA is in at number 48 and the National Gallery in London is at number 91

Technology• What happens if your podcast is successful? Make sure your

system is set up to deal with high traffic



Questions/Information:

Thank you!!!

E-mails:

[email protected][email protected]

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DE Confenrentie 2006 Noortje Heijboer

Education

Transcript of DE Confenrentie 2006 Noortje Heijboer