CAM - Mobile Tour Basics and Best Practices

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Just a Touch Away Mobile Tour Basics and Best Practices Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums About Me Was at the San Jose Museum of Art Manager of Interactive Technology Active with mobile Blogged about on my website www.chris-alexander.com CEO of Toura discovered my work via site Consulting led to full-time work Now Program Director at Toura Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Things I’ll “touch” on: What is an App? •App as the New Website •Web App vs. Native App Best Practices •WiFi as Necessity •App Size •Common User Interface •Baby Step •Sustainable Technology Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums What is an App? Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums The App as the New Website 2000ish Now Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums The App as the New Website • App market right now is similar to the website rush of the late 90’s - early 2000. • Like a website, the App is becoming a new way to deﬁne ourselves, our companies, and our products. • Applications are a way of extending your presence into another market. • Does having an App make you relevant? Of course not, but the perception seems to be taking hold. Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Web Apps vs. Native Apps What are they? Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Web App like the highway - All information must travel to web browser Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Native App like a warehouse - info is stored on the device Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Hybrid combines the two - code and info live on device, but app can pull information when updates are available Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Code Features • All code resides on a web server. • Limited amount of storage thru HTML5 • App is viewed thru a web browser. • Limited functionality Web App HTML CSS • no access to camera • no access to GPS JavaScript • no access to accelerometer • can deliver A/V • Needs a constant connection to wireless. • All code resides on the device • App takes over screen/no web browser Native App • All functionality Objective C • Camera • GPS • Accelerometer • A/V • No need for a wireless connection Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Code Beneﬁts • Code is updated in one place Web App HTML CSS • All devices update at once • Can be made to act like a native app JavaScript • Can potentially be cross-platform Native App • Easy access to locally stored info makes for quick loading of content Objective C • More cumbersome to make updates to. Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Hybrid Apps Code Beneﬁts • Best of both worlds • Content can live local or externally Objective C • New content is searched out and HTML updated in the App accordingly CSS • Access to all functionality (camera, GPS, Accelerometer) JavaScript • Could function without wireless, but cannot update without it Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Best Practices (or Random Ramblings?) Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums WiFi as Necessity • Many factors for deploying a mobile tour depend on easy access to WiFi. • Whether you decide to allow visitors to download a tour or o er a tour with streaming audio and video you will need WiFi. • Video delivery via streaming can take a lot of bandwidth. • Downloading a mobile tour with audio and video to local storage can be cumbersome. 100mb+. • Allow your visitors to connect with you whether it is via mobile, laptop in the café or tablet device. • Some museums face issues with WiFi because of thick walls and old buildings. • Great partnering opportunities with ISPs and Telecom companies. Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Keep it Small • Closely tied to WiFi • Museum should want to make it as easy as possible for the visitor to use their own device. • App sizes of 50mb+ can be a time consuming download • Rather than download all the content, visitor can pick and choose what they want to view or hear by streaming through the museum’s WiFi. • Make sure there is something for the visitor to see or read in the initial download • Images and text take up very little space in an App. Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Common UI • Think about the visitor’s experience with other mobile tours or apps. • There should be consistency among the tours to prevent visitor frustrations. • iPhone has championed this with its suggested interactions documentation and UI guidelines available via developer.apple.com. • Because of iPhone and other devices users are used to seeing choices in certain areas. • O er as many ways as possible to access information. Di erent strokes for di erent folks. Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Baby Steps • Start out small • Don’t throw too much at the visitor initially. • Iterative process. • Train visitors on the basic functionality of the app before adding more • New features keep the tour App fresh and exciting. • Sink your money into e ectiveness, not into something visitors won’t use • Great example of iterative development is a game called Doodle Jump for iPhone. • http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=65-lopbdySY Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Sustainable • Museums need to consider whether they want to spend money to build one o apps or use a sustainable system. • Sustainable meaning able to publish updates or create new apps easily and e ectively. • Museum should not have to resubmit an App to correct a grammatical error in the tour. • Museums need a system that changes with the times and adds new functionalities as they become available and accepted. Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums It’s not all about iPhone • Android • Nokia • Microsoft • Palm • Blackberry • They’re all still there competing with iPhone. • Number of handsets utilizing Android expected to surpass iPhone by 2012 Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chris Alexander - Program Director at Toura Just a Touch Away California Association of Museums Chris Alexander Program Director Toura calexander@toura.com Twitter: @cmalexander Twitter: @touramobile Slides: www.slideshare.net/cmalexander www.toura.com (coming soon) www.chris-alexander Saturday, March 6, 2010

CAM - Mobile Tour Basics and Best Practices

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