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I recently started reading a book that was edited by handheld guide expert Loïc Tallon and fellow Londoner Kevin Walker.  The book is a collection of essays by prominent technologists in the museum space writing about mobile guides in museums.  The range of information is extensive ranging from best practices to research in the field.  The book is highly recommended to those with an interest in this area of digital museum interpretation.

Purchase the book here: Digital Technologies and the Museum Experience: Handheld Guides and Other Media

My good friend Koven wrote up this article about pilot projects within museums and how they mostly relate to technology. I’ve been privileged in the past at the San Jose Museum of Art because we’ve had a lot of freedom with technology and exploring ways of using it for interpretation. I can relate to his article though because of others I’ve come in contact with that share their stories. Worth the read for anyone that implements them or struggles with them.


On pilot projects and other things that don’t work

I recently had the pleasure of addressing two groups of students at two different universities. One, at San Francisco State University, was a class was being taught by my friend Karen Kienzle who recently became the director at the Palo Alto Art Center. The other was a class being taught by artist Kathy Aoki at Santa Clara University. The presentation (below) focused of a broad overview of technology in museums cover aspects of in-house content creation, mobile tours, and social media. There was an additional focus on the cell phone tour company Guide by Cell because both will be using the service for exhibitions later this spring. Both classes were engaged and had some good questions afterwards.

On February 27, 2009, I had the distinct honor of presenting with Dave Ashiem from Guide by Cell and Suzanne Isken from MoCA at the California Association of Museums. The title of our session was Reach Out and Touch Your Visitors…with Technology! It was a great crowd with a lot of great questions!

Normally I talk about actual things that I’ve produced, but here I talked more from a hypothetical approach and in the process tried to be a little more philosophical and sociological. A lot of the ideas of this presentation came from a book that I’ve been reading called Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott combined with discussions happening in blogs, on twitter and via email amongst museum people. In his book Don Tapscott discusses the large shift currently taking place between older baby boomers and the younger “Net Generation”. This younger generation has not known a world without computers and technology. These Net Geners are also going to be museum visitors and hopefully new donors. What are they expecting and what should you be offering them?

Today, technology is pushing us at a rapid pace. The new quickly replaces the “old” in an online world. A younger generation is entering the workforce and has very different ways of thinking and communicating – much different than their elders. They are making advancements to the internet that are slowly bringing an end to many of the things that are comfortable to older generations – museums included! In the past, visitors would passively view artwork and occasional take a docent led tour or an audio tour with an awkwardly designed device. Today , young adults demand more interaction and engagement. They are doing these activities both with their mobile device and through online social media tools.

Is your museum prepared?

Presentation to a group of Museum Studies students at Santa Clara University. Talked about current SJMA practices for creating and delivering audio and video interpretation with a strong emphasis on cell phones and Guide by Cell. Students are working on interpretive materials for an upcoming Anderson Art Collection exhibition. Interpretation includes writing labels, writing bios and creating cell phone tour.

Links from the presentation:

• Guide by Cell
• IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance)
• Podcast Maker
• SJMA’s Website
• SJMA’s Artist of the Week page
• SJMA’s YouTube Channel
• SJMA’s Odeo Channel