Museum Application FINAL

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Kaitlin Buickel Ray Bussolari May 1, 2014 Assignment 3: California Academy of Sciences App Conceptual Overview The main purpose of this application is to inspire visitors at Thursday night’s NightLife event at the California Academy of Sciences, who are primarily young adults, to interact with each other as well as the rainforest exhibit. The application allows for visitors to compare their own personality traits to those of various specimens throughout the Rainforest and to have the opportunity to find other visitors with similar personality traits. This creates the potential for increased social engagement and provides a more fun and personalized way of learning about science and nature. This is a social networking, informational, and educational application. The app even allows for visitors to create a customized profile with information about themselves, similar to other social media websites. While the California Academy of Science’s Nightlife event does provide visitors with a forum for social interaction and learning already, the Rainforest is lacking in any type of supplemental technology that could help engage visitors further. This application will provide this technology while simultaneously inspiring meaningful interactions between visitors, which is one of the main goals of the NightLife event. The app will also provide the user with access to basic Cal Academy information, such as ticketing, a map, and a calendar so that visitors can plan their visit. The name of this app is, “Identify Me! - The Cal Academy Rainforest App”. The name is in two parts so that people can shorten it to “Identify Me” when talking about it with other people. The second part gives a more formal description of the app so that users know where it is meant to be used. The name is a play-on-words in that visitors use the app to 1

Transcript of Museum Application FINAL

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Kaitlin BuickelRay BussolariMay 1, 2014

Assignment 3: California Academy of Sciences App

Conceptual Overview

The main purpose of this application is to inspire visitors at Thursday night’s NightLife event at the California Academy of Sciences, who are primarily young adults, to interact with each other as well as the rainforest exhibit. The application allows for visitors to compare their own personality traits to those of various specimens throughout the Rainforest and to have the opportunity to find other visitors with similar personality traits. This creates the potential for increased social engagement and provides a more fun and personalized way of learning about science and nature. This is a social networking, informational, and educational application. The app even allows for visitors to create a customized profile with information about themselves, similar to other social media websites. While the California Academy of Science’s Nightlife event does provide visitors with a forum for social interaction and learning already, the Rainforest is lacking in any type of supplemental technology that could help engage visitors further. This application will provide this technology while simultaneously inspiring meaningful interactions between visitors, which is one of the main goals of the NightLife event. The app will also provide the user with access to basic Cal Academy information, such as ticketing, a map, and a calendar so that visitors can plan their visit.

The name of this app is, “Identify Me! - The Cal Academy Rainforest App”. The name is in two parts so that people can shorten it to “Identify Me” when talking about it with other people. The second part gives a more formal description of the app so that users know where it is meant to be used. The name is a play-on-words in that visitors use the app to learn about themselves and others around them, or “identify” themselves, just like biologists identify specimens in a rainforest. By using the app, visitors are also identifying qualities of the different animals they encounter.

The application is primarily meant to be used while at the museum on Thursday nights since the “personality trait pin” will be given out for free once visitors have gone through the Rainforest and completed the personality quiz. However, the app will be available at any time, whether it be during normal daytime museum hours or outside of the museum altogether. If the application is not used at NightLife, visitors can go to the museum gift shop to purchase their “personality trait pin” rather than getting it for free. In this way, the application allows for anyone who wants to learn more about the various animals in the Rainforest to do so as they please and for the museum to earn revenue from the application. Also, since the app does provide additional information about the Cal Academy, such as ticketing, a calendar of events, and merchandising, users outside of the museum can use the app to plan their future visit to the Cal Academy. However, since the application is meant more as a means for visitors at NightLife to engage with each other

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and the Rainforest, receiving the pin for free gives these particular visitors more of an incentive and advantage to use it while at the event.

The app is hybrid. It is web-based because it pulls information from the Cal Academy website, such as ticketing information, merchandise information, the calendar of events, videos, and a map. However, since the app has access to the phone or tablet’s various devices, such as the camera and address book, it is also native to the hardware. Also, the main purpose of the app, which is the personality quiz section, does not pull information from online, thus this section is also native. Although the app might run a bit slower than one that is completely native to a device, this should not pose a problem to the user since the app is not a game and does not necessarily need to be fast. Also, since native apps can be quite expensive to develop, the museum will be saving some money by making it hybrid.

The app will be downloadable from the app store, specifically Apple (iOS) and Android. Also, because the Cal Academy has a mobile website, users will also be able to download it from this website via a link to the app. Because the app can be used at the museum or outside of the museum, users will be expected to use their own devices in order to access the app. Since the rainforest does house some free-roaming animals, it would be a challenge for biologists to keep these animals away from, say, a stationary IPad if the museum were to provide one to visitors. It would also be difficult to keep such technology clean and working properly in such a humid, “natural” environment. Also, since the museum is not charging users for access to the app, having users use their own devices saves them some money in the long run.

The app will be designed for both a smartphone and a tablet since these hardware systems are fairly similar and they can each access the internet. Also, since the museum is not providing visitors with the means of accessing the app, visitors should be able to use whichever type of smart device they personally have access to if they wish to use the app.

The app will use different components of the device’s native functionality, such as the camera, audio, video player, GPS, and address/phone book. The camera will allow the user to take a picture of animals in the rainforest and post them, along with their quiz results, to a social media website of their choice. The section titled “Contact your NightLife Friends” will allow users to see which of their friends from their contact list has the app or is currently using the app, and to then either text message or call them. Because there are videos about different animals available on the app, it also utilizes the audio and video player on the device. Lastly, once a visitor has completed the quiz, they are able to locate other visitors around the museum who received the same results by using the device’s GPS system. If the GPS system is not enabled, visitors cannot find one another, thus this function is not always available to every user (particularly since not all visitors will want to have their location displayed). However, users not using the GPS system can still view other visitor’s customized profiles. Visitors can also interact with each other by seeking out other “personality trait pin” wearers.

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The app allows users to share the results of their personality quiz and their customized app profile on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. They can also take a picture using the native function to upload that along with their results. The app itself is somewhat of an extension of these larger social media sites and plays off similar functions, such as finding friends and building a profile. The sharing feature works in the same way that posting the results of a Buzzfeed quiz would work.

There is no charge for this app. As mentioned above, visitors not using the app at NightLife who want to receive their personality trait pin must purchase it in the gift shop, which will in turn allow the museum to gain revenue from the app. Charging for the app would sway people from wanting to use it, and because the goal is the engage people with each other and with the exhibit space, the museum will want to generate as much of a user presence as possible. Plus, if the app becomes widely popular, similar to other social media websites, the museum could then consider charging a small fee for future downloaders.

Process

1. Digital Engagement Strategy:

Assets – Collection; Innovative exhibitions and exhibition environments; knowledgeable leader and creator/director; professional staff; location within Golden Gate Park and proximity to the de Young Museum; unique and established programs that include events such as NightLife, lectures, and workshops

Reach – Create a “buzz” by publicizing on Academy’s exhibiting website, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram pages; post app images and download on Academy’s front video kiosks; include app info, link, and images in email campaigns to NightLife

Audience – Likely to reach: NightLife attendees; online audience; general visitors between the ages of 21 and 35; Harder to Reach: Younger (10-20) and older (35+) visitors that do not attend NightLife

Metrics – NightLife and general audience; engagement on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram; social buzz; web traffic

Channels – Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, museum website; web entertainment guides; on-side (video kiosks, posters)

Guidelines – Trustworthy; authoritative; educational; welcoming; fun; engaging

Engagement – Activate: Visitors are activated by the apps challenge to id themselves and engage with the Rainforest exhibit and with fellow visitors; visitors outside of the museum are activated to explore the Academy by taking the quiz and connecting through social media

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Involve: Social media fans are invited to attend special events, purchase discounted tickets; upload photos/comments to social media outlets; invite others to visit the Academy or try the appInterest: Share collection; interact with collection/other visitors; meeting and converse with others in and out of the Academy (interest in the Academy is a focal point)

Objectives – Increase the NightLife community; provide additional avenues of engagement for both NightLife and regular Academy visitors

Vision – To explore, explain and sustain life; to provide both physical and virtual access to the scientific and natural world; to be a leading visitor, educational, and research authority in the scientific and museum communities

Trends – Increase mobile device usage to enhance engagement with the world around us and within the museum; “wearables” (personality trait pins) as additional tools for engagement, way finding, social, and social media interaction

2. Project Team:

Script Development – The script development for the app will be handled in-house by the museum. The development team at the Cal Academy is already proficient in creating scripts for online content, exhibits, and other apps, and knows what their visitors are more likely to successfully engage with. Also, museum staff would have more insight into the information being provided to visitors overall and the development team could reference biologists and researchers in order to fill in any additional information they will need to create the educational content on the app.

Media Production – The media production of the app will be a shared effort between the museum and an outside vendor. While the Cal Academy has their own AV department that develops media content, they also utilize outside vendors to help with various forms of media, such as Magic Memories for photography. It is easier for the museum to provide the raw data to an outside vendor and have them edit it to use for the app then to go through the entire process in-house. Since images and video content are large portions of the app, it will save them time if the museum works with a vendor.

Publishing to Devices – Publishing the app to the iOS and Android devices will be carried out by an outside vendor. While the Cal Academy has an IT department that deals with in-house technology concerns, it does not have a department that specifically publishes apps, thus they are lacking in any formal expertise on the subject. Also, because the app is specifically for iOS and Android devices, an outside vendor who has experience working with these platforms could easily get the job done.

Hardware Provisioning – While the Cal Academy is not providing users with devices to run the app on, they will use an outside vendor to plan and design the network that will allow users to access the content on the app, particularly since it is hybrid. This provisioning includes internet access provisioning, mobile content provisioning, user provisioning, network provisioning, and server provisioning. Since it is critical that every aspect of the hardware works in sync in order

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for the app to function, an outside source that specializes in hardware provisioning would better handle this job. Also, the museum would face no liability if any of the hardware malfunctioned or was damaged in any way, thus it provides them with security.

Marketing, Sales, and Distribution – The marketing, sales, and distribution will be handled in-house by the museum. Not only is does marketing team at the Cal Academy have a strong social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, but because the app is not being sold, they will not have to focus on ways to get users to spend money on the app. This makes the job much easier to handle by just the museum alone, and allows them to just focus on creative strategies that are familiar to them. Also, the marketing department knows the museum’s audience much better than an outside source would, thus they have strategies in place that will help ensure the success of the app and its continuous usage.

Analysis and Evaluation – The analysis and evaluation of the app will be a shared effort between the museum and an outside vendor. It is necessary for the museum itself to analyze and evaluate the app, particularly since museum staff will be more aware of how to gauge how successful or unsuccessful it is overall; however, since the museum is utilizing outside vendors on different aspects of the app, the analysis and evaluation would benefit from gaining an outside opinion. Also, an outside vendor would be less biased when judging the success of the app, and could provide more innovative and effective strategies for measuring the success. A combined effort would help the museum make changes to the app and plan for future apps.

3. Request for Proposal:

The California Academy of Sciences seeks to establish a contract for the production, publishing and hardware provisioning of a digital platform for iOS and Android devices to create a mobile application that will provide educational and interactive services as a way to promote visitor engagement.

The objective of this RFP is to produce a digital platform for iOS and Android smartphone and tablet users that will allow The California Academy of Sciences to develop an application to engage visitors with the rainforest exhibit and with other visitors. The platform should have the ability to host short videos, a space for users to create a personalized profile, and basic website information, such as a calendar, map, ticketing, and merchandising. The platform should also host a personality-quiz to allow users to answer a series of questions and receive a generated result, and then access the GPS to find users with the same results. The platform must allow for the app to be updated whenever necessary, and be capable of connecting to various social media websites. The app must also have the ability to meet HTML5 standards while maintaining consistent branding throughout. We expect the digital platform to have high quality images and videos, move seamlessly from one page to the next, be responsive to user’s smart device, encourage sharing via the user’s personal social media accounts, and detect where a mobile user is located within the museum. Demonstrated experience in designing digital platforms for museum visitors as well as clear concept development is necessary for the completion of this project. The proposal must include a concept outline demonstrating how multiple educational and interactive components would be organized in the proposed platform. Successful

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respondents will work with The California Academy of Sciences and contracted vendors to finalize concept development once all parties are under contract. Content development is not a component of this RFP. The California Academy of Sciences will provide content for the proposed platform.

4. Visitor Survey:

Front-End Evaluation – In an attempt to increase the level of visitor engagement with both the rainforest and with other visitors, the museum first had to measure existing levels of engagement with available technologies and the exhibit space. To do this, the museum conducted a front-end evaluation using quiet capture to record how many people are using the museum’s existing apps and other technologies and for how long. Specifically, different types of software were installed in the iPads throughout the museum to record what pages were popular and how long they were used for. The museum also tracked how many people downloaded their existing apps, and if they were being used while at the museum. This showed that a large amount of visitors did use existing technologies, thus suggesting that the creation of the Identify Me app would be able to successfully engage visitors. The museum also used the quiet capture method by installing small cameras throughout the rainforest exhibit to determine how quickly visitors were moving through the space and how much visitors were engaging with one another. The lack of camera focus allowed the museum to view the footage without violating the visitors’ privacy. This webcam showed that people were moving quickly through the exhibit, only stopping at each section for roughly 30-seconds or less at a time. It also showed that visitors tended to wander off away from their party, demonstrating a lack of engagement with other visitors. This suggested the need for a way to engage people with the different components of the rainforest as well as each other, which is precisely what the app’s purpose is.

Formative Evaluation – In order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the app as it is being used, the museum conducted a formative evaluation using embedded evaluation. Once the visitor has completed the personality quiz on the app, or once the visitor has been using the app for approximately 10 minutes, a display box appears that asks the visitor to complete a short survey that addresses how easy the app is to use, what the visitor is primarily using the app for (social media, learning about the animals in the rainforest, taking the personality quiz/finding visitors with similar personalities, retrieving basic museum information), how enjoyable the app is, if they would use the app again, etc. This approach is similar to how other apps will periodically ask users to rate the success of the app. While users could choose to not take the short survey, a large majority of users did, thus the museum gained insight into how successful or unsuccessful the app was and what changes to make.

Summative Evaluation – The final step was to determine if the app successfully increased visitor engagement with the rainforest exhibit and other visitors, and to do this the museum conducted a summative evaluation using cooperative inquiry. About a week after a visitor has initially used the Identify Me app, the museum sent out an email requesting that the visitor provides feedback on the app and how it affected their experience, particularly at NightLife (if that is when the app was being used). Rather than providing visitors a short survey about the app to complete as they did during the formative evaluation, the questions are more open-ended and allow them to be

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more detailed about how the app affected their engagement with other visitors and with the rainforest exhibit in general. This method also allowed the visitors to feel more involved in the evaluation process overall, and influenced more people to want to participate in giving feedback. The museum learned that for the most part, visitors felt that because the app itself was engaging and appealed to the needs and wants of modern-day users, particularly in the age range of 20-30, it helped them to engage with the exhibit space and with other people more effectively.

User Flow & Design

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Sample Mock-up Screens (selected few)

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Recorded App Script

At the completion of the quiz, the user’s “identity” is revealed with the options to meet other users with the same “identity” traits or to view a video about the animal the user’s personality most resembles.

Audio script for video:

Congratulations! You’re a butterfly! You are colorful, conspicuous, and a good communicator. You are social and often form long-term relationships. You are seen as a master of disguise because you can easily transform to fit into many different environments. You recognize others’ traits and are great at mimicking them. You love to travel and will often fly long distances. You have a strong sense of smell and taste and you especially love liquids and salt. How about joining another butterfly at the Academy right now for a dirty martini? Did you know that in the Chinese culture, two butterflies flying together symbolize love?

If you’d like to know more about butterflies, click the link below for more information.

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