Digital Trails Support Visitor Learning
•Download as PPT, PDF•
6 likes•1,590 views
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.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (19)
Similar to Digital Trails Support Visitor Learning
Similar to Digital Trails Support Visitor Learning (20)
More from Frankly, Green + Webb
More from Frankly, Green + Webb (16)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Digital Trails Support Visitor Learning
- 1. Frankly, Green + Created for: Webb Presented by: Date issued: AHI Conference 2012 Alyson Webb 18th October 2012
- 2. Digital Technology offers us a powerful set of tools Frankly, Green + Webb Frankly, Green + Webb
- 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? Frankly, Green + Webb
- 5. Organisational Context Mission Technology Audience Capabilities Motivations, and Needs & Requirements Expectations for Visit Audience Motivation to Use Technology Frankly, Green + Webb
- 6. 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, Frankly, Green + Webb
- 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 Frankly, Green + Webb
- 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. Frankly, Green + Webb
- 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 Frankly, Green + Webb
- 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 Frankly, Green + Webb
- 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?