The document discusses using digital technology like mobile apps and kiosks to enhance museum and cultural site experiences. It provides examples of projects using different technologies, including a mobile trails project in Wales to expand access to heritage sites. The document emphasizes understanding audience needs and motivations to design appropriate technology experiences. It also outlines the services offered by Frankly Green + Webb, including experience design, digital interpretation strategy, and content design.
3. The choices can feel overwhelming:
•User owned devices?
•Kiosks?
•Mobile web or app?
•QR codes?
Technology is changing fast and we
can get very caught up in it
Frankly, Green + Webb
4. Who are we and how did we get
here?
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5. Organisational
Context
Mission
Technology
Audience Capabilities
Motivations, and
Needs & Requirements
Expectations for
Visit
Audience
Motivation to Use
Technology
Frankly, Green + Webb
7. National Gallery ArtStart: Kiosks Designed to
Support Visitor Planning and Learning
ArtStart: text, audio, film, Intended to enable visitors
high res zoomable images to plan and personalise
their visit
Visitors can choose from
themes, search for detailed They can design & print
information their own trails through
the collection,
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8. Expert Visits:
• Locate and identify ArtStart
as providing a source of
information
• Use on repeated visits
• Report very little impact on
plans - they come with an
existing plan but…
• Use ArtStart to support that Research
planning and research
• Explore the paintings and
specific details – use zoom
Expert
extensively
• Can be critical of the
system
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9. Social Repeat
Socials
Repeat Social:
• ArtStart lacks appeal for
Repeat Socials
Inspire
• Less than a third report
system affecting their
enjoyment & understanding
Research Activity
• No dominant functionality of
screen used on the system by
this group
• Use the museum as a sociable
space, meeting friends in the
cafes and browsing the
collection.
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10. Perceptions & Motivations “Talkback Stations” Designed
for Use: to support dialogue
Natural History Museum of
Utah
•Kiosk format appealed
to children & teens but…
•They use it as
opportunity to ‘show
off’ in front of peers -
more than 80% comments
‘spam’
•Older visitors failed
to see kiosks as ‘for
them’but…
•Open to engaging with
challenging topics for
discussion
Frankly, Green + Webb
11. Denbighshire County Council: Digital Trails
Project
Research & concept development to design a mobile
service to widen access to heritage interpretation
in rural Denbighshire
Frankly, Green + Webb
12. Mission
Trails to achieve strategic goals
Appropriate for digitisation
Concept design
Develops cultural heritage
interpretation
Meet the needs of current visitors
Support Destination Management
Technology
Snack not Dine
In the field
Mission
Audiences Limited
connectivity
Culturally attracted
Limited Battery
Independent
Mobile and Kiosk
Families
Technology
Activity focused
Audience
Spontaneous
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13. Identifying the right technology
Which technology?
• Mobile web enables
spontaneous access with
lowest possible barriers
• Can’t rely on good
connectivity everywhere so…
• Lightweight system
• Avoid experience
relying on rich media
• Build access to wifi
through partnerships
with local businesses
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14. WHS How it works?
Theme
Pontcysyllte
+ Surrounding Theme is an A4 trail
Area with locations and
interpretation
Activity is
additional sheet
Architec
Photo Walking
Activities
ture All can use existing
assets
Print or save to
Story phone (pdf, jpeg,
Natural mp3 or mp4)
telling
History
Resources used
across multiple
themes
Landscape
Place and
Resources
Photography Reading the Each theme and
Language Canal
Expert activity has
multiple tags
Reading Kate
User chooses using
Buildings Roberts
‘I like…’
Frankly, Green + Webb
Frankly, Green + Webb
15. WHS
Theme
Pontcysyllte
+ Surrounding
Area
Architec
Photo Walking
Activities
ture
Jen and Tim
Story Holiday Walking in
Natural
telling Snowdonia
History
Tim is a lab
technician and keen
Landscape digital photographer
Place and believes WHS will
Resources
Photography Reading the
Language Canal offer good photo
Expert
opportunity
Reading Kate Jen is a graphic
Buildings Roberts designer
Frankly, Green + Webb
16. WHS
Theme
Pontcysyllte
+ Surrounding
Area
Architec
Photo Walking
Activities
ture
Steve and Sue
Story Day trip to
Natural
telling Llangollen –
History
regular visitors
Stopped for tea &
Landscape saw sign in café
Place and for “I like…”
Resources
Photography Reading the
Language Canal
Expert
Both keen on
wildlife, Sue’s a
Reading Kate big reader, have a
Buildings Roberts life long learning
habit
Frankly, Green + Webb
17. What does the cultural
heritage organisation
need to achieve?
Mission
Mission
Technology What experiences
Audience does the
technology offer?
What is the
audience doing
already/motivated
to do?
Frankly, Green + Webb
18. 1. Experience Design and Concept Development
2. Consultancy and Advice
3. Service Design
4. Digital and Mobile Interpretation
Strategy
5. Content Design and Strategy
Frankly, Green + Webb
19. Images thanks to Flickr Commons: e: alyson@franklygreenweeb.com
The hidden treasures of the Worlds t: @FranklyGW
Public Archives
http://www.flickr.com/commons
Frankly, Green +
Created for: Webb Presented by: Date issued:
AHI Conference 2012 Alyson Webb 18th October 2012
Editor's Notes
Consultancy working with cultural heritage organisations wanting to develop digital interpretation – specialising in mobile. Our work is a mixture of design research, strategic planning, concept development and getting in up to our elbows in the implementation.
Digital technology has been adopted widely in the heritage sector for everything from kiosks to mobile web, apps, augmented reality, not to forget multimedia and audio guides Digital technology holds out the promise of enabling sites to deliver information and interpretation to the visitor. All those wonderful images from the archive, the oral history, the history of the site, virtual reality, 3D images… But, to what extent are we in control of these tools? Are we still flushed with excitement at the possibilities? Are we still caught up in thinking about the many ways digital technologies can meet our organisational objectives?
We often focus on the technology: how much it costs, how much content it will deliver and how innovative it is. Yet technology is used and thought about in profoundly different ways by different people. In this room I ’ m sure we have people with smartphones and tablets – but probably a few with an old dumb phone that they ’ re very fond of and think does just what they need. Some of you access the internet on a mobile, tablet or PC – only at work, only at home – only email, only facebook Some of you would rather lose your wallet than your phone, some spend all day with their PC and want to escape on their days off. Technology – static or mobile – provokes strong views, positive and negative – It can ’ t be forced on visitors – you can offer and they may or may not engage. And in our view we ’ re only just beginning to grapple with the implications of this for the heritage sector. Our view is that we should be focussing more on who it will appeal to, who it will impact and how it will affect them. There is no point in creating – and of course spending – a lot or a little - if it doesn ’ t meet visitor goals. We need to become more informed commissioners We need to move from using digital and mobile because ‘we have to’ ‘its current’ and and use the technology appropriately
We are an independent consultancy that… Have been working with digital technologies – mobile and static for many years Had led the design and development of new services, developed a ton of content and learnt a lot along the way When we first set up FGW we had a few things in the back of our minds: Digital technology offered an almost endless array of opportunities There was lots of experimentation going on BUT We could see a lot of the same mistakes being made over and over Commissioning seemed to be very haphazard and often technology/innovation led There seemed to be very little research and analysis in this area We wanted to develop a more structured thinking process To help organisations become more informed commissioners and to inform digital experience design and evaluation
So this is the model we use to support our thinking around evaluation and experience design. Looking for the sweet spot where motivation, mission and technology overlap This evening I ’ m going to give you just the briefest glimpse of a couple of evaluation case studies where you can see how these factors can play out to impact exising services and then a final case study where we ’ ve used this model to inform our own design process
ArtStart launched in 2007. We carried out research to discover whether it was still meeting its objectives and if so for whom and how. We filmed visitors using the system and audio recorded whole visits, coding the results and mapping against segments
People on ‘expert’ visits stumble across ArtStart and quickly identify ways in which it can support their needs and motivations. Tend to be serial visitors! They use it a lot so they are very well aware of its flaws but they also value it We saw incredibly rich and lovely uses – artists studying paintings in the gallery and returning to use the zoomable images in detail to understand technique for example BUT Expert visits form just 10% of the National Gallery visits
Under represented in sample This visit segment uses the museum as a sociable space, meeting friends in the cafes and browsing the collection. This may, in part, explain the low level of reported impact on their enjoyment and understanding - their time in the café is simply not connected in their minds with a learning agenda. It is interesting to note however, that all repeat social visitors respond positively to the idea of a service in the galleries. Our understanding of the motivations for this segment would suggest that such a service needs to provide a framework to support social learning and information that enables them to link the significance of the works to their own lives - little ‘bites’ of information to fuel a conversation.
Although the kiosks offered a form of interaction that adult visitors valued, they perceived the kiosks as for youngsters and few chose to use them. They found the system unappealing – particularly in the context of rich displays. The very small numbers who did engaged seriously with the topic though an even smaller number chose to leave their own comment. These are people who are not techno-phobes – two thirds owned a smartphone In contrast children and teens – particularly those on school trips – were attracted to the kiosks. Some were simply curious as to what it was and some persisted to figure out how it worked. Often one student would start interacting and would bring friends over to have a look. They then took turns to write scatalogical coments
This project was originally inspired by the first person tours given by Fiona Gale, County Archaeologist, about Medieval Denbigh. These trails have proved very popular as part of the Open Doors heritage programme and offer the visitor a specialist insight into the stories and townscape heritage of Denbigh. The Denbighshire County Council team identified the potential to use digital technologies to build upon this success - reaching a wider audience and bridging the periods between events - and to form a key part of a programme of work to modernise and enhance tourism in the region. The project sought to identify and specify the most effective approach - identifying appropriate technologies, content and infrastructure.
Gathered together existing research to develop picture of visitor needs and motivations Mapped these against organisation objectives Outcome – product Note: audience not culturally motivated Out doors, activity focussed Assumptions were that we would simply record Fiona, create an app and that would ‘ fix ’ the problem ’ But research suggested audience wasn ’ t motivated by heritage – they came to denbighshire for outdoors, activities They were typically spontaneous – not planners so relying on them to research, find and download an app in advance was a challenge
No need to search app store and download – always available Accessible on the widest possible range of devices Minimising obstacles to access Supporting local economy and developing partnership for local business to support system
The system relies on users being able to select activities based on their needs and interests: that might be for a specific activity or interest – a suggested walk or photography – or a need – something to do on a rainy afternoon or something to do with the kids Heritage interpretation is used to enhance and enrich activities– so something to do with the kids might be an outdoor drawing activity through which they learn about Beatrix Potter who lived in the area and how she drew from nature to inspire her stories or a walk along the Llangollen Canal with a spotters guide to industrial heritage Rich media is used to enhance experience but isn ’ t essential to the experience – but it is created with a focus on sharing authentic local experience – the historian talking, a reading from local literature, a choir practicing
A few things to keep in mind before we get to the numbers… Smartphones are not ubiquitous Refining, choosing the market Moving into the market and understanding opportunity Effect on visitors perception of mobile
Conclusion If we understand the audience need we can make more informed choices on budget, appropriately technology and the level of content.
Experience Design and Concept Development – What could this experience look like? Consultancy and Advice – How would we do this? Service Design – How would this work? Digital and Mobile Interpretation Strategy – How do we tell our stories? What stories are appropriate? Content Design and Strategy – How do we make this? What should we include?