‘eco-system v system’ developing holistic strategies for mobile interpretation eco-systems

elena lagoudi

museum knowledge workers network:1st skill sharing workshop for strategy and mobile experience design

30 november 2011@Benaki Museum, Greece

case study: The National Gallery, London

THE NATIONALGALLERY

The National Gallery, London, houses one of the greatest collections of Western European painting

in the world, from the 13th to the 20th century.

THE NATIONAL GALLERY EXPERIENCE

BELIEF HONOUR FAITH REASON HISTORY DESIRE PAIN GENIUS RELIGION TRUTH TORMENT LOVE DESTRUCTION ABSOLUTION HEAVEN HELL DREAMS LUST SORROW JOY WAR ECSTASY FURY EVIL INNOCENCE MADNESS DESPAIR DEVOTION TRUST PURITY CRUELTY PRIDE DESPAIR BLOOD FAMILY POWER VANITY SPIRIT HEART FLESH GLORY BENEDICTION VISION NATURE SEX BETRAYAL VALEDICTION SOUL ETERNITY DAMNATION REDEMPTION LIFE DEATH PASSION BEAUTY

Brand=not just a gallery of pictures, a gallery of the mind

and a gallery of life

4 Tonal Values to help shape our creative approach

ELEGANT EMINENT INSPIRING INCLUSIVE

Emphasis on the permanent collectionCampaign in London

DESIGN AND COMMUNCATIOS

FOR EXAMPLE:

Design, advertising and promotions

Gallery services

Publishing

Merchandise

Brand is consistent across all channelsBut what does it mean for mobile experiences in the

gallery?

Here is how the Tonal Values help..

ELEGANT- great voices, music and production, well designed accompanying print

EMINENT- curatorial input, educational input

INSPIRING- thought leaders interviews, innovative creative treatments for tours, varied interpretative approaches

INCLUSIVE- many languages, user-friendly players, good visitor service, varied family offer, pre-production user-testing

Mobile interpretation in the gallery

a. figures

• 13+ years of collaboration with Antenna Audio

• 2 sales points in museum+ 1 exhibition sales point

• 4.5 million visitors a year

• 250-300k visitors using guides a year

Mobile interpretation in the galleryb. offer

• 3 exhibition guides a year

• 1 hour tour in 11 languages

• 7 adult tours

• 3 children tours

Mobile interpretation in the gallery

c. content

• SKIM-1 hour tour, Sounds of the gallery

• SWIM- Manet to Picasso, Be Inspired

• DIVE- Life of Christ, Art in the Making, the Collection Tour (Random Access)

• 2 children tours (Art Detectives, A Right Royal Tour)+ 1 family interactive learning tour (Teach Your Grown Ups About Art)

Interpretation strategy

• Width 11 languages

• Depth skim-swim-dive content

• Age groups 7 adult, 2 children, 1 families

• Interpretational focus engaging with all parts of the collection, but using the ‘highlights’ as a quick art-history overview concept

• Methodology question mapping at sales+info points>participatory design>evaluation>researching audience needs

Production cycle=2 to 3 months

• Interpretation planning + assessing priorities

• Creative treatment+ production schedule

• Project team=Curator+creative manager+script writer+educator+production manager+designer

• Script>recording>sound effects

• Uploading mp3 players/PDAs+user testing

• Designing accompanying print with gallery map

• Launch and promote: podcast, poster, leaflet, website

Interpretation toolbox• Speech-type interview (curator/director)

• Interview + Soundbite

• Narrated Soundbite

• Soundtrack-narrative

• Dialogue (smarthistory.org ‘socratic’ technique)

• Soundscape, stand-alone or integrated

• Music

• Sound effects

• Vox pops

• Poetry, narrated

• Dramatised prose, ie letters, diaries, interview snippets

• Questions to user /call to action

What worked well?• Excellent production values

• Interpretational synergy

• Smart business plan

• Innovation, research and development

• Creation of a brand and an identity

• Development of an integrated eco-system of mobile content

• Fruitful collaboration

But there were also risks and limitations..

• User generated content v. authority voice of museum

• BYOD trend (BringYourOwnDevice)

• Highlights concept=paternalistic?

• Trends for randomisation+togetherness vs herding+alone

New developments=

Internet’s pirate radio?

iPod + broadcasting= podcasting

The first podcast..May 2005 Marymount Manhattan College

“The platform is already out there, in our bags, our coat pockets, on our belts … we have a seamless system for delivering any sort of homemade audio content we want. In a sentence, we are democratizing the experience of touring an art museum” (Gilbert, 2005)

Creators’website

Subscribers’ mobile device

2006 to nowMonthly

magazine15 mins

3 ‘articles’

Distribution via iTunes

A presenter gives a broadcasting flavor

Interviews with

specialists give

authenticity and sense of

‘now’

Enhanced audio podcast= audio interviews and a slide-show of images

ConsiderationsFormat, tone, feel, audience

Voice, sonic signature, indent, brand, metadata

Marketing, distribution

Content planning process, sign off process

Photography, copyright, shelf life

Hosting, production sharing

After listening to it, how likely or unlikely they are to visit the gallery:

What we learned using the new platform:

• It is an ‘everywhere’ experience

• It has a radio ‘feel’

• It offers ephemeral content

• Production is fast and furious

• It needs promoting on the web

• Subscribers means expectations, means relationships

• It made the gallery think like a broadcaster

Some user commentsI've enjoyed my visits using the

podcasts. Thank you for that.

I wish you could issue your podcast in Portuguese so my family and friends that do not understand English could also

enjoy it.

I live abroad and always listen as I am so far away from my favourite gallery and feel in touch through

this podcastIt's a well structured podcast which I find

interesting.

BLUETOOTH You should make these available in the gallery by bluetooth even

better if each picture had an audio guide available by

bluetooth AT/IN FRONT of the picture - anyone with a mobile phone could get it.

YES I know this would cost BUT you don't have to do it

for every picture - the highlights say .It is good to see the NG keeping up with information technology by using podcasts. They are thoroughly lovely in every

way!

The National Gallery Podcast really is an

excellent service and has become a highlight of each

new month. Whilst being in Australia

obviously limits the frequency with

which I can travel to the Gallery; the

podcast allows me a thoroughly

enjoyable and educational visit. Its

great and informative

June 2007

CLICK TO ADD TITLE

podcast-trail

mobile phone tour

Be Inspired and Grand Tour podcasts and the monthly Podcast

Split in shorter podcast-

trails

What we learned using the new platform:

• It was an experience on the street, in front of an artwork

• Or a trail and a group activity

• It had the energy of an exhibition, but the stories are stand-alone experiences

• Production was simple, the phone company logistics were not

• It was promoted mainly via word of mouth

New developments

June 29, 2007=Apple launches the iPhone

July 10, 2008= App store launches

By 2009=10,000 apps in App Store , but no museum apps yet

September 2008-May 2009= experimental development of 1st museum app in the world

LOVE ART app for iPhone and iTouch-Pentimento

Love Art app for iPhones- May 2009

Recycling content+experimentation+platform specific design

Insert image caption here

Ingredients

Zoom feature

Galleries=images

brand elements

Transcriptions project

Artstart interactive kiosks

New 5%

the grand tour

be inspired audio tour

Appcontent

Creative treatment

• Playfulness• Exploration• Creativity• Tactile• Ζoom feature• Voice that speaks the brand• Not a rigidly didactic experience• Authoritative voices v authoritarian• Gallery of the mind

Press loved itIt was downloaded 400,000+

φορές Innovation- 1η in the world

Conclusion= the experiment worked!

But technology keeps on developing.

What are we doing now?What are we doing tomorrow?

Idea 1Interacting with visitor experience. Suggesting

content and trajectories using:

Ιdea 2Experimentation

AdjustingTelling stories

• Smaller experimental projects

• Cultivating and researching communities of interest

• Platform specific experience design

• Surfing on other’s boards

• Telling compelling transmedia stories

• Polyphonic, no monophonic

New skills need to be developed in digital museography

• Script writing & editing skills

• Creative planning techniques

• Be a user yourself

• In-museum advocacy and improving decision-makers’ digital literacy

• Developing your in-house skills, talent sourcing

• Media production training

‘eco-system v system’ developing holistic strategies for mobile interpretation eco-

systems

elena lagoudi

museum knowledge workers network:

1st skill sharing workshop for strategy and mobile experience design

30 November 2011@Benaki Museum, Greece