The document summarizes four tests conducted by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art over three summers to assess visitor preferences for different handheld audio tour options. The tests found that there is no clear preferred option, as different devices support different touring styles. Visitors appreciated having multiple experience options. While newer options like iPods and cell phones seemed to skew younger, the majority of visitors still did not use any technology during their visit. The museum is continuing to test different options to enhance the visitor experience through a mix of analog and digital offerings.

1. Four Tests in Three Summers: Assessing visitor preferences in handhelds at SFMOMA Peter Samis Associate Curator, Interpretation San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Tate Handheld Symposium • 5 Sept. 2008

2. Case Study: Matthew Barney .

3. Matthew Barney sculptures in the gallery

4. Our problem: subtract the man/film from the gallery, and… How to make the mute plastic speak?

5. Traditionally, this would have been cause for a multimedia feature. … online, by the galleries, in the Koret Center.

7. Downloadable podcast map

8. Cell phone promotional card - collab w/ Guide by Cell

9. At first, we thought we were setting out to measure visitor preferences for three different types of audio tours. And we did that.

13. 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!)

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

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

17. So somewhere along the way, the target shifted.

18. The elephant in the room is that: The vast majority of our visitors do not use technology during their museum visit. So how do we reach them?

19. If our goal is to use technology, we may just nod and move on . But if our goal is to enhance visitor experience, we have to think larger.

20. “Variable on-demand mediation.” –Brad Johnson, Second Story Interactive

22. Here’s what that looks like: Use of offerings by respondents:

23. But on the other hand: What helped make meaning?

25. Or put another way: This is our Opportunity Space! Is it time to re-train our visitors? Change their expectations? Change our approach? All of the above?

26. How do we activate that opportunity space?

27. Next Tests: 2007 Traditional audio tour vs. iPod Picasso & American Art & Brice Marden Matisse: The Painter as Sculptor Take your time: Olafur Eliasson/ Joseph Cornell /Jeff Wall

28. When visitors were given the choice … 49% 51% Eliasson / Cornell / Wall 45% 55% Matisse 41% 59% Picasso & Marden iPod Antenna XP - “Classic”(mp3) Exhibitions in 2007 (in sequence)

29. Do we detect a trend?

30. Visitors liked the fact the iPod showed an image of the work. But the menu function was poor.

31. Fast forward to summer 2008 (right now):

36. Antenna XP-Vision multimedia player

42. Visitor Feedback

49. NEXT STEPS

51. Unless we rewrite the spec for what a quality tour experience is to a low enough threshold that it can be delivered with confidence to a wide variety of visitors in a non-proprietary manner

52. Does that mean we bypass the bells and whistles of Flash and the iPhone ?

53. Or do we opt for that expressive power and continue to supply the hardware on the old lease contract model ?

54. I, for one, no longer believe it will all sort itself out… “ in two years.”

55. Soon to come… an SFMOMA iPhone title: In the meantime…

57. Thank you.