Play, Discovery and Co-production

Kevin Bacon, Digital Development Officer@fauxtoegrafik

Digital engagement in Brighton’sRoyal Pavilion & Museums

@BrightonMuseums

Brighton & Hove• 270,000 population

• Largest and most influential seaside resort in UK

• Thriving digital sector

Royal Pavilion

Museums

Brighton Museum & Art GalleryHove Museum & Art Gallery

Preston ManorBooth Museum of Natural History

Royal Pavilion & Museums

Royal Pavilion

• Over 500,000 visitors per year across five sites

• Three collections Designated of national importance

• One of 21 Major Partner Museums funded by Arts Council England

Collections

Decorative Art

Local History

Fine Art

Natural History

Film & Media

Costume

Archaeology

World Art

Digital Engagement

Assets• Objects• Buildings• Stories• Knowledge• Staff / volunteers

Digital Content• Blog• Website• Data• Image• App• Game

Audiences• Gallery visitors• Online viewers• Teachers• Researchers• Young people

Golden Rule

Assets• Objects• Buildings• Stories• Knowledge• Staff / volunteers

Digital Content• Blog• Website• Data• Image• App• Game

Audiences• Gallery visitors• Online viewers• Teachers• Researchers• Young people

Developing a digital idea should never start with the technology…

Innovation is not exclusively digital

Co-production

Engagement Elsewhere

World Stories: Young Voices

Co-production

Dr Brighton’s War

Engagement Elsewhere

Co-production

What is Co-production?

Working with individuals and community groups outside of the museum to produce new products.

It can:

• Produce richer content through a diversity of voices• Enable people to learn new skills• Sometimes can save costs• Gives the public a greater sense of ownership of the museum

Blogger in Residence

brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/stories/

‘I’m tapping away at the laptop when this dude comes up in a dark blue three-cornered hat, like a comedy Napoleon.... what we talk about is why the Royal Pavilion wasn’t built facing out to sea and what that means about George IV’s disinterest in nature, versus people’

Chris T-T

Access Advisory Group

•‘Critical friend’ advising RPM on access issues

• Supported redevelopment of brightonmuseums.org.uk with user testing

Open Collections and Assets

brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/collections/

• Collection data and ‘hi-res’ assets available under CC BY-SA licence

• Open API to support external re-use

Play

What is Play?

Variety of definitions, but can be:

• Rule based games (ludus)• Creative experiences that bend the rules (paidia)• Tone of voice• Occasionally counter-curatorial

Playful practice may not establish new relationships like co-production or engaging elsewhere, but it opens up new possibilities and new audiences.

www.murderinthemanor.org.uk

Stone Age Quest

stoneagequest.org.uk

murderinthemanor.org.uk

Murder in the Manor

remixthemuseum.com

Remix the Museum

remixthemuseum.com

Remix the Museum

Discovery

What is Discovery?

Museums are all about discovery.

Discovery can be through:

• Research• Serendipity• A journey

Are online museum experiences too focused on researchers?

mapthemuseum.org.uk

Map the Museum

Story Drop• Location based ‘treasure hunt’ app

• Free download for iOS and Android devices

• Developed by Surface Impression

• Driven by CMS for both curatorial and community content

{Pick a tour}

{Unlock}

• Beta launched at 2013 Brighton Digital Festival

• Full release Jan 2014

• Some people really like it!

• But two major problems

Does it work?

1. England is a wet country

Dominic Alves, Flickr CC BY

Where’s my GPS?

I have to walk there?

Yes, I’ll have to look at it one day...

My battery is running low!

How do I unlock it?

No thanks, it’s raining.

So what have we learned?

• Audiences are the most challenging aspect of any digital project

• Co-production can be come quickly embedded into the way we work

• Technology works best when it’s almost invisible

Future work

Website as centre of digital activity

brightonmuseums.org.uk

Understanding audience behaviour

3D models

brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/play/3d-models/

Mobile gallery trails

http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/brighton/what-to-see/lgbtq-museum-trail/

But...

Play, discovery and co-production are still essential ingredients to what we do.

kevin.bacon@brighton-hove.gov.uk

@fauxtoegrafik

brightonmuseums.org.uk

Thank you!