In this presentation Becky will discuss the mobile application "Storyteller" made to accompany the World War One themed "Love & Sorrow" exhibition at Melbourne Museum. Opened in July 2014 the mobile application was an ambitious project telling the stories of eight people and the way their lives were impacted by the First World War. Designed to work across both iOS and Android devices, with limited content upon download and an unlocking of character content only available once the visitor made it onsite to Melbourne Museum not only did the application have to provide a dense amount of multimedia content it also had to work with onsite infrastructure, indoor location and content arriving from multiple management systems within the Museum's intranet. As digital producer on the project Becky will share her insights from creative inspiration, collaborating with third party developers (Art Processors) and technical challenges that were overcome. After being live for over twelve months now she will also look back at the reception post launch. From a technical perspective this presentation will discuss working with external developers, working with multiple internal departments within the Museum, iOS and Android application development and deployment and Raspberry Pi hacking. Becky Sui Zhen Freeman: Becky Sui Zhen Freeman is the producer for Art Processors, a company that designs and develops visitor centric mobile experiences for cultural institutions. In her former role as Multimedia Coordinator for Museum Victoria’s Love & Sorrow exhibition, Becky produced the Storyteller app using a location-triggered content delivery system with Bluetooth beacons.  It was the first app to use this technology within Melbourne Museum and was quickly followed by the Imperial War Museum’s WWI Exhibition Guide, of which Becky also produced within her role at Art Processors. Becky has worked as an independent creative producer throughout the last decade since receiving her BA in Communications from the University of Technology, Sydney. With a passion for storytelling across multiple platforms and mediums, her work has spanned the production of interactive and digital content including exhibition web sites, online documentaries, in-gallery interactive content (apps, touch screens, large scale multi-user video installations), film and sound production.   Throughout these varied projects Becky has worked alongside programmers and designers who strive to seamlessly integrate technology into the core exhibition experience thus allowing visitors to connect more deeply to the stories being told.

1. Hello! I am
Becky Sui Zhen
@beckysuizhen
Producer,
Designer &
Musician
NOW…
Art Processors
Producer
THEN…
Museum Victoria
Multimedia Producer

2. Museum Victoria
Australia's largest public museum
organisation, which operates three
venues, Melbourne Museum,
Immigration Museum and
Scienceworks.
An agency that uses technology to
change the way that people interact
with space, we do that by creating
engaging digital & mobile
experiences.
Art Processors
My perspective:
looking at the
experience.

4. Goals
• Provide an intimate & personal
experience
• To learn from this pilot project
(in-gallery mobile experience)

5. • Physical and psychiatric injuries
• Burden of war
• Lasting a lifetime
• Modern constructive surgery
Why Love & Sorrow?

6. • Storyteller app
• Intimate & Personal
• Enhance connection
• Spatial constraints
• Experiment with indoor
location
Why an app?

7. Love & Sorrow – Trailer

10. Trail of crumbs “Can you imagine spending
43 years in this bed?”

11. • You need the app
• In-house devices
• Downloading on-site
• iBeacons
• Physical vs Digital
experience
• Effectiveness?
Did it work?

12. • Download off-site: trailer, crumbs & gallery
• Download at onsite: trailer, some crumbs, gallery
• Borrow in-house device: some crumbs, gallery
With more use-cases comes more problems that
you need to test thoroughly and take time to
perfect.
Inconsistent use-case

18. • Eight characters
• Choose one
• Personal
• Progressive reveal
• Additional content
• ‘Everybody moments’
• Intimate listening
• Before/After engagement
Storyteller app
• Eight characters
• Multiple characters
• Personal
• Objects in realistic setting
• Contextual, thematic
• Touch screen interactives
• Immersive installation
• Farewell to descendants
In-gallery experience

19. • Storyteller?
• Gallery multimedia?
• Touch screens (3)
• Immersive installation
• Videos on screens
• Labels and wall panels?
• Objects?
Hierarchy of ContentWhat’s taking
the lead?

20. OPEN
SPASM 1561
EXHIBITION PLAN
Scale: 1:1001
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21. OPEN
SPASM 1561
EXHIBITION PLAN
Scale: 1:1001
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Scale: 1:1001
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EXHIBITION PLAN - SHOWCASE CODES
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23. OPEN
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EXHIBITION PLAN
Scale: 1:1001
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24. 20029 20028
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Beacon behind door
Beacons under screens
Beacon behind photo
frame on mantel
Up high, on wall or case
In case or cabinet
Under or behind text panel
Behind wall or wall text panel
Near lighting
Beacon Maintenance

26. • Character content: linked to cases, with exceptions
Did we need these delivered on the app?
• ‘Everybody moments’: contextual & thematic linked to cases
• Year/Statistical: overview content, did not link to cases
How did it impact the visitor experience?
Over categorising

27. GALLERY
• Overview Character
• Contextual, thematic
• Yearly, statistical
DEVICE
• Detailed Character content
• A focus on audio experience
If I could re–categorise?

29. Example audio:

31. The good:

32. The bad:

33. • Codebase
• Forced chronology impacted the locative awareness
• Network drama
• User interface testing
• BYOD vs In-house
• Audio in-gallery, on device
• Rasberry Pi triggering app
Technically Ambitious…
More info? @goawaygeek

34. Onboarding: Blockers
Help. The wifi
isn’t working?
Which wifi?
Why can’t I access
this at home?
Where can I rent
a device?
Do I need this
experience?
How do I turn
bluetooth on?

35. What was our biggest problem?
It’s complicated.

36. Additional
Optional
BYOD or borrow
Can’t connect
Where’s bluetooth?
Too many chances to say no.

37. The stories
Audio from descendants
Letters & diaries
What was the biggest strength?
Could we have taken this further?

38. Reflecting: re-thinking resources…
• Fewer & better multimedia experiences
• Streamlined production
• Ownership, a long term vision
• Content wrangling
• Was there a missing role?

39. Content wrangling
1. Spreadsheet
2. DAM
3. eMU
4. Approval chain
5. Word Docs
6. Editing Rounds
7. Double handling when
8. entering into the app CMS
A need for more
efficient processes.

40. Final thoughts
• Make decisions for the visitor
• Listen to the experts
• Focus on the strengths
• Design the service around it
• Mandatory, a must have
• Staff & ownership
• Make it easy!

41. • Simplify experience
• Leverage the device & missed opportunities
• Prioritise one type of content
• Remove BYOD
• Staff lead tours - make it easy!
The next steps for Storyteller:

42. Other WWI mobile experiences…

43. Thank you! :)
Becky Sui Zhen
@beckysuizhen
@artprocessors