In September of 2013, Museums and the Web hosted a "Deep Dive" workshop at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Gallery One. The two day workshop was a focused presentation on a single groundbreaking project in the museum technology field. This is my presentation for the Indianapolis Museum of Art Research Forum.
3. Project Facts
• Large scale and
ambition
• Appetite for taking
chances
• Ten million dollar
budget
4. Project Goals
•
Create a nexus of interpretation, learning, and audience development
•
Build audiences—including families, youth, school groups, and
occasional visitors—by providing a fun and engaging environment for
visitors with all levels of knowledge about art
•
Highlight featured artworks in a visitor-centered and -layered
interpretive manner, thereby bringing those artworks to the Greater
Cleveland community and the world.
•
Propel visitors into the primary galleries with greater enthusiasm,
understanding, and excitement about the collection
•
Develop and galvanize visitor interest, bringing visitors back to the
museum again and again
22. Workshops
“Everyone I met, from the Director on down,
was able to talk knowledgeably about the
project. It was clear how much of a museumwide endeavor Gallery One was, and that may
be it’s greatest accomplishment.”
- Ed Rodley,
Associate Director of Integrated Media at Peabody Essex Museum
23. Designing for Immersive
Experience
• Boil down to basics. Keep
focus on the objects.
What? How? Why?
• Not all visitors want to look
at objects in the same way.
• Different types of
immersion. Wanderer one
day, seeker another.
24. Developing Rich Content for Mobile
Experiences
• Most users are in
Northeast Ohio
• Many international users
will never visit the
physical building.
• For international users,
ArtLens is the CMA
25. The Collection Wall: The Road to
Digital Capture
• Digitization push piggybacks on expansion/renovation of CMA
beginning in 2003
• Anything that gets reinstalled gets re-digitized
• Yields consistent images of the permanent collection, ideal for
use in a unified presentation layer
• Digitization is just one example of a more practical facet
without which something like Gallery One wouldn’t be
possible--metadata, inventory, good data
27. Evaluating Digital Technologies
• Usability tests of all
interactives
• Observations
• Skype conversations with
offsite users of ArtLens
(qualitative)
28. What Worked, What Didn’t
• On time
• Technical issues
• On budget
• Offsite usage?
• On target
• Are visitors interacting
and then going to take a
closer look at the
artworks?
• Fun, playful, memorable
29. Future
• Gallery One transforming
the role of digital media in
21st century museum
practice.
• Will influence the
institution and field for
years to come.
- MW “Deep Dive”- Focused presentation/workshop/group happening on a single groundbreaking project
Invites visitors to connect actively with the art on view through exploration and creativityAll ages/all types of visitors both novice & seasonedInspires visitors to see art with greater depth and understandingEncourages close looking / active making and sharing
Major building/renovation projectReinstallation/reinterpretation of entire collectionHow can we use interpretive technology to engage visitors actively in new kinds of experiences with works of art? What are the best strategies for integrating technology into visitor engagement?
Interpretation, learning and audiencedevBuild audiencesHighlight artworksHelp visitors gain a greater enthusiasm, understanding, and excitement about the CMA collectionReturn visitors
-two entrances (main entrance and atrium entrance)-Large dynamic display that welcomes visitors-Gives visual statement about Gallery Ones importance -Mixes preprogrammed content with visitor images from the interactives in the galleries
-Big, welcoming separate space for young children and families to explore art-Low tech (pads of paper and crayons) to multiuser, multitouch displays-Increasing family audience was a goal of the project
-Kids search the collection by drawing in Studio Play.-Once you drew on screen, application searched and pattern matched to find an image in the collection that used that shape-Matching games, asking users to look
-More space to play and image, including tents and a stage
-Real objects from the collection, carefully curated for an interactive/hands-on space (Lion example)-Objects pulled from all areas of museum’s collection to form a cohesive / engaging experience-Mix of games and facts-learn how works of art are made, where they come from, and how they are produced
-inspire group activities, simply because of their scale-emphasis on looking and reacting to art
-Mimicking, using your facial expression-body becomes involved in the art, kinetic experience WITH the art
-are people interacting with the lenses and then going to take a closer look at the artworks?
-use of the body to interact with the collection -wish I could have known the greater meaning of my poses. What they meant in that culture during that period-what were the content takeaways here-not just about matching the poseFUN, MEMORABLE, PLAYFUL
-40 ft, multi-touch display-Over 3,500 objects from the museums permanent collection-Discover the full breadth of the collection-Allows you to shape your own tours of the museum
-collection slowly slides by and regroups itself around themes-visual exclamation of bounty / vastness / exploration-No searching. This wall is for browsing-smart design decision to encourage users to browse, make tours and go explore the museum vs. standing and searching for collection items on a virtual wall
-look at art-grab pieces of interest-drag them to your personalized artlens tour-displays other objects with similar metadata-allows you to save objects and add other curated tours as well
-content management, database cleanup, images
-ipads to borrow or you can bring in your own-information transferred from collection wall through RFID tags-save objects for tour and go out and use in the museum
-can be used before/during/after your visit-indoor triangulation-location technology to help guide your way, find works, and seek additional content-lightweight easy to use foam holder
-DL of app is slow, must load resources and data before use-Catered toward a physical visit-Confusing and even frustrating to use offsite-Interface usability flaws-bad wifi/triangulation issues-holding up an ipad in front of an object instead of just looking directly at it?-limited wall labels for those visitors who do not choose to borrow an ipad
-creating digital experiences with the depth and breadth of Gallery One required CMA’s educators, curators, collections managers, contractors, visitor services, etcetc folks to work TOGETHER in ways they likely hadn’t before.-goals that had a broad consensus across the museum-unified vision
- Technology at best = a window to immersive experience- Immersion is about the place- Suspension of disbelief- transparency
-Keeping in mind this mobile app is many people’s first impression as they create content was important to them
- this particular digitization push started around 2003 when the expansion/renovation of the CMA began- that renovation provided a unique opportunity for digitization to happen -- anything that gets reinstalled gets (re)digitized- CMA was over something like 80% full digitization of the permanent collection at the time of the talk, expects to be at 100% very soon- since this is all happening as part of one push, the results are consistent which is HUGE when they all end up in one presentation target- inventory management also comes into play in a big way, in order for the guided tour part of artlens to work you need to have an accurate location for each piece at all times
-data flow for gallery one-similar process to how we manage collection content here (same issues / diff solutions)
-How does Gallery One & Art Lens change a museum visitors experience with the CMA?-Mixed methods approach-Comprehensive in-depth analysis -visitor groups placed into one of 4 test groups (people that come alone, family, small groups, control) -pre & post visit interviews -visit videotaped w/ flip cams -phone interviews completed 2-3 months later-Google analytics (valuable for counter to qualitative research)
- Hiring of an AV integrator at beginning of project- Kept in check how much “yes” would cost and helped present them with creative options throughout / flexibility- Team objective, group consensus on project plan, major features/roadmap, set timeline 12/12/12Wifi, tethers for AR, Must have an iPad (barrier to entry)Currently working on mobile version