Mobile Social Media

Cross-platform mobile content designbeyond the ‘stop’ and the ‘tour’

Universidad del País Vasco 7 July 2010

Nancy Proctor proctorn@si.eduSmithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution as a Distributed Network

or

What are our audienceslooking for?

What do they need?

The Smithsonian Institution

More than 30 million visitors in 2009& 180 million ‘virtual’ visitors

A Network for the Increase & Diffusion of Knowledge

• 19 Museums• 156 Affiliate museums• 9 Research centers• More than 136 million objects, artworks and specimens

In the Museum as Distributed Network…

5

…at least half of the Museum’s platforms are already mobile.

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So if we want to meet our audiences where they are

And take them some place new…

Mobile is a great vehicle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

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http://picasaweb.google.com/anup.rao/HaifaAkkoIsrael#4954285426665324562

Falling on deaf ears?

Fraunhofer Institute, Kunstmuseum Bonn: ‘Beat Zoderer’ exhibition (Listen project) 2003

It’s not about the technologyIt’s not about the technology

Thinking outside the audio tour box

Thinking about content and experience design

Thinking outside the audiotour box

Means going fromheadphones to microphones

Think beyond the research

2009

1. CHNM survey on Museums and Mobile Adoption

2. Learning Times International Survey on handheld use in museums.

2008

1. Whitney Museum of American Art: Audio Guide Technologies Survey Final Report

2007

1. Matthew Barney: Multiplatform interpretation at SFMOMA

2. La Placa Cohen Culture Track 2007 (with Antenna Audio)

Think beyond the pilot

Question mapping in the gallery:

Think beyond Think beyond what what we we want to tell want to tell

themthem

• Semi-structured interviews

• FAQs and comments cards

• Questions posed to staff…

Think beyond the ‘stop’

1. +-+-+-+-+ Soundtracks

2. o o o o Soundbites

3. x x x x Interactives

4. | | | Links

5. ^ ^ ^ Feedback

6. § § § Social media

Narrowcast/Offline orNetworked

Networkedonly

Think cross-platform& about pre-, during & post-visit

Audio player

Multimedia player

Personal media player

Cellphone

SmartMobile

Browser

phonesMobile App

ShortSoundbite

X X X X X X

LongSoundtrack

x x X (x) X X

Interactive

X X X

Links X X X

Feedback X X X

Social media

X X

Think outside the Acropolis

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The Reynold’s Center, home of the Smithsonian American Art Museum & National Portrait Gallery

Think about the Agora

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Kogod Courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; quotation by Steven Zucker, 2008

Photo by Mike Lee, 2007; from the American Art Museum’s Flickr Group

And reach audiencesbeyond the museum’s walls

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Think beyond the Multi-platform Museum

Edward Hoover, 2010, from Flickr.

From “We do the talking” to “We help our audiences do the talking.”

http://smithsonian20.si.edu/schedule_webcast2.html

Think beyond the blockbuster

Thinking about the long tail…

Museums are very good at niches

• Niche collections• Niche expertise• Niche content

Can we be good at long tail markets too?“It's possible to be niche and popular at the same time.”

– Natasha Waterson Royal Observatory

Mobile is personal

and social

The Un-tour

What would a mobile experience look like

That plays to museums’ natural strengths

That is not built for the mass market

That does not aim to be a blockbuster

That connects small communities of passion

That is not a tour?

That is mobile social media?

Gardening Change Model*

Build a platform &cultivate Web 2.0

as a way of thinkingabout work

* Via Josh Greenberg, NYPL & Mike Edson @mpedson

Every user is ahero

In their ownepic journey

http://tinyurl.com/y4g5c27

… Capture data & feedback on where visitors go, what they see, and what questions they ask

Analytics & metrics

Search & interactive maps (don’t forget the services!)

‘Create (comment), share, connect’ functionality

Contributors decide with whom they share their contribution

1. Listen to your audiences

… Help audiences connect: with content, collections, each other

Support the community/conversation with comments, answers, or new content ‘just in time’

“Don’t be stingy” – or cheap! Quality content is worth the investment (in time & expertise as well as money)

Develop strategies and events to help connect individuals: SlowArt; Nina Simon’s work; Brooklyn Museum…

2. Help communities of interest form around content & experiences

… Take the museum into the world

LBS

AR

‘Easter Eggs’

… Connect people, places & content

e.g. connecting web & on-site visitors

… Give audiences meaningful things to do

3. Create adventure, surprise & serendipity

Build a ‘distributed network’, not just a multi-platform museum

Every platform is a community

Use both generic & museum-focused social media platforms

Avoid ‘orphans’

Iterate

4. Connect the dots

Tate’s Miroslaw Balka: How it is & Tate Trumps

American Museum of Natural History’s Dinosaurs

Museum of London’s Street Museum

Scopitone, CultureClic

Musetrek

SM in Toura, Autour (Tristan), Nousguide

SCVNGR

Foursquare, Gowalla

Some models to look at

Let the artists be our guides

Oxygenate! 2006-7Joanna Rajkowska

Words Drawn in Water, 2005Janet Cardiff

Follow Through, 2005Jennifer Crowe & Scott Paterson

Euphorium2002-3 Antenna Theater

Smithsonian Mobile & more

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/mobile

http://www.youtube.com/user/SmithsonianMobile

#SIMobile

#SI20

http://tatehandheldconference.pbworks.com

http://museummobile.info/

#mtogo

Robin White Owen

James Bradburne

Deborah Howes

Bruce Wyman

iGo: 1994

http://www.worldmind.com/media/text/clients/visible/visible.html

SI Guide: 2005

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/From_the_Secretary_Guiding_Light.html

Podcasts

Cellphone tours

NMAI.SI.edu/mobile

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Fritz+Scholder+mobile+web+tour

Mobile.NASM.SI.edu

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/NASM+Mobile+Website

GoSmithsonian.com (mobile)

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/GoSmithsonian+Mobile

Design USA at Cooper-Hewitt“Don’t even think about not using it

because then you won’t truly see the show.”

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Design+USA+iPod+Touch+tour

Roberta Smith, NY Times, 14 January 2010http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/arts/design/15design.html

MEanderthal

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/MEanderthal

Yves Klein at the Hirshhorn

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Design+USA+iPod+Touch+tour

mLearning Workshops

Cooper-Hewitt TriennialMobile Exhibition Website

In the Pipeline Extensive research into Mall visitor audiences

Mall visitors’ app

NMAI exhibition tour app

Zoo app

Mobile giving

NMNH Leaf-identifier app

NMAH cross-platform game

Mobile cross-collections search

Experiments in Augmented Reality

Where are we going?1. Best practice documentation

2. Infrastructure: ubiquitous secure hosting platforms for mobile content management &

publishing analytics to support opensource applications

3. Standards

4. A Smithsonian Mobile Architecture and framework

5. A Mobile Toolkit

Some of the tools… Smithsonian Commons Mobile

Collections search

Image delivery

Events calendars

Maps and wayfinding

“About…” content and functionality

Visitor feedback capture

Social media functions/communities of interest

Mobile metrics and campaign functions

Mobile advertising and promotions

Location-based functions

Augmented reality

?? What would you add?

Smithsonian Mobile & more

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/mobile

http://www.youtube.com/user/SmithsonianMobile

#SIMobile

#SI20

http://tatehandheldconference.pbworks.com

http://museummobile.info/

#mtogo