Gallery One, One Year Later

Cleveland Museum of Art

Jane Alexander, Chief Information OfficerSeema Rao, Director, Intergenerational Learning

THE FIRST YEARGallery One

•4 Muse awards along with multiple design awards

•150s museums have sent staff for site visits to Gallery One

•Articles in the New York Times, Fast Company, and the Wall Street Journal …and more

•Featured as a Museums & the Web Deep Dive site for 60 museum professional

The Buzz

Gallery One Overview

•Use technology to help visitors see and understand art in new ways

•Technology is not the art – technology showcases the art

•Invite visitors of all ages to learn and play in ways that they enjoy (rather than dictating a single method of interactivity)

•Attract new visitors and surprise existing visitors

Design Through Collaboration

•Technology, Education & Interpretation, Design, Curatorial, and Collections Management departments

•Through this new collaborative development methodology, the Cleveland Museum of Art is leading the way not only in the robust blend of art and technology throughout the gallery experience but also in museum practice itself.

•

Limited opening 12/12/12

• How many people could be in the space?

• Was Wi-Fi working?

• App was on Test flight until January

• Worked out operations & functional space usage

• Open to public on 1/21/13

Gallery One Overall Montage

INTERACTIVES AND SPACE

meeting goals

Beacon

Beacon Goal

•Create a visual introduction to the space that draws people in

–Achieved: The Chuck Close in juxtaposition to the Beacon brings visitors into a new gallery experience

–Future: Look at adding more dynamic information–making it a dashboard for the museum

Studio Play Interactives

Studio Play Goals•A place for families to play together while becoming familiar with the museum and its collection

•Matching/Sorting:–Support incipient verbal and visual literacy

•Line and Shape:–Encourage familiarity with the breadth of the collection & create a connection between children’s art-making and the art in the museum’s collection

Lens

SLIDE TITLESlide Subtitle

15

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Lens Goals

•Allow visitors to learn about the art through multiple access points, from specific

information retrieval in the hotspots to interactive play in the games

–Challenges of “universal access”–Encouraging new behaviors–Challenges of easily posting to Social Media

without “sign-ins”

Collection Wall

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Collection Wall Goals

•Allow visitors to see and browse the breadth of our collection in new and engaging ways

•Offers a means for visitors to capture favorites for future exploration of the galleries

– Coverflow development (took months to discover code problems)

TECHNIANS AND HOSTS space operations

Gallery One is open daily, regular museum hours and upon request for

special events

Server Room for the interactives is imbedded in Gallery One

Hardware and software are reset on an automated schedule…

…but can be reset manually by the Gallery One Technician

Resetting the Collection Wall server

Additionally, Gallery One Support Technician can manage interactives via LogMeIn

LogMeIn provides flexibility by allowing technicians to access the server via multiple

platforms

Platforms include: desktop, laptop, mobile tablets and phones

Gallery One Support Technician cleans all touch screens:

…including rented ipads…

…lens interactives…

…Studio Play touchscreens…

Gallery One Support Technician manages rental and return of ipads

Rental requires drivers license (or state ID) for duration of rental

RFID scan automatically updates a custom Asset Tracking database…

…which in turn updates member activity on the Central Table (custom PostGreSQL database storing all member and donor activity from

multiple databases)

RFID tags are provided for visitors bringing their own Ipads

A unique tag (sticker) is permanently assigned to the visitor, allowing them to save their favorites

and tours for future visits

Gallery One technician instructs Visitors on how ArtLens interacts with the Collections Wall

RFID tag communicates wirelessly with docking station

Eight docking stations allow for eight visitors to interact with their ipads to the Collection Wall simultaneously

Visitors then explore the entire museum with ArtLens

Staff uses Gallery One as a learning laboratory

Specially-trained Gallery Host in Studio Play engage families & manage space

Gallery Host checks for little visitors

Gallery Host manage the library

MAINTENANCESustainable design/process

New operating costs for 2014 – over 100K

• Staffing (FT and PT)

• Wi-Fi (hosted solution) – now in-house

• Maintenance (equipment and response time )

• Printing

• Misc.

Rules

• Easily maintained parts on-site 45 minute repair window

• Established technologies

• Alternate content during software failure condition

Collection Wall is modular Christie MicroTiles.

Each MicroTile can be trouble-shot, and repaired or replaced individually.

The modular system accommodates rapid repair cycles.

MicroTile can be removed entirely,

…without effecting the behavior of the Interactive on any other tiles.

ISARTLENS

Design a mobile application that will offer a new level of user engagement (and do it amazingly well)

JANUARY 2014 (iPHONE)

APRIL 2014 (ANDROID)

WAYFINDINGGallery One

Wayfinding

Issues: wireless network• Original wireless network (2003) was intended to

provide access to visitors in seated public spaces – café and library

• Expansion and renovation project did not plan strategically for ubiquitous wireless access

• ArtLens (2012) required greater specificity and accuracy for wayfinding

• Installed as nearly an afterthought; network nodes could not interfere with aesthetics of new gallery spaces

Wireless Access point installationVendor determined the number of additional access points necessary to allow accurate triangulation

Recommendations required cutting in access hatches in the ceilings and pulling CAT6 cabling to each new location

•not feasible

Options for retrofitting?•Navizon (cloud based location services)

•Small form factor wireless devices linked via wireless mesh

•Fit in existing light track fixtures!

Options for retrofitting?

• Relays visitor location to a cloud-based system accessed via Navizon’s API’s by the ArtLens application

•Quickly installed to roll out ArtLens

Still not quite enough

• Increased usage volume due to ArtLens in addition to regular visitors on their own devices

• Migrated from an autonomous base wireless network to a centrally-managed controller-based wireless network

Since September 2013

• Upgraded to Cisco 1262 access points – CMA now provides speeds up to 100mb (802.11n) as well as

using both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bandwidths to provide the most optimal performance to the visitor’s mobile device

• Implemented best practices recommendations from Apple to help provide the best possible experience while using an iOS based device

• Created a specific wireless SSID for the ArtLens application that give those devices connected to it priority network access

Biggest Challenge - Architecture

• Marble, metal plaster, and lath interfere with signals

• Conducted a survey study as to how our current wireless network infrastructure is seen by the mobile devices most commonly used today.

• CMA is currently working with our internal design department to come up with creative solutions

EVALUATION PROCESSGallery One

Evaluation Process

•Literature review conducted•Iterative process throughout the planning and development•User testing (usability, content, tone)•Observations, surveys, interviews, and audience panels•Ultimately realized many different needs required different approaches•Will be completed January 2014

Mixed-Methods Approach

•Comprehensive in-depth analysis•Pre- and post-visit interviews•Range of topics explored•Visit videotaped with flip cameras•Usually 2 hours of video was recorded per visit•Phone interviews completed 2-3 months later•Testing re-use, memory, perception changes

Wayfinding and Wall Labels

• Visitor wayfinding concerns

Art and Interactive placement

Sneak Peak• Number of visitors to Gallery One to date? 96,000• Number of ArtLens apps downloaded? 9,151• How many images does the average visitor

"favorite“ per session? 5• On the Lens, between April 1 and October 31, over

5,300 people have struck a pose, 4,800 have made a face, and 2,500 vases have been made…

• How many visitor-created tours have been uploaded to ArtLens? Over 1000

• Most favorited artwork: Monet’s Water Lilies

PROCESSGallery One 2.0

Gallery One 2.0: January 2016•Implementing museum-wide digital strategy•Evaluate and sequence artwork rotations•Review evaluations and analytics•Plan and design through collaboration •Add Conservation and Collections to team•Add more analytics to the interactives to refine feedback•Beacon: Revisit •Keep researching and implementing innovative visitor experience-focused technologies