Tate Handheld Talk 2010

When last we met…

Four Tests in Three Summers: Assessing visitor preferences in handhelds at SFMOMA

Peter SamisAssociate Curator, InterpretationSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Tate Handheld Symposium • 5 Sept. 2008

NEXT STEPS

[Then:]

Purpose-built or Visitor-supplied ?• Controlled platform• Hi-fidelity audio,

video & interactivity• Free of associations

& hassles of home & office

• Only about the art• Focused, optimized

for tour experience

• Rewrites the economic model: No need for museum to lease fleets of players

• No need to staff and sell players to visitors

• Free to visitors• More casualbut• Quality of experience

cannot be assured

Questions we have now:

Does that mean we bypass the bells and whistles of Flash and the iPhone?

Or do we opt for that expressive power and continue to supply the hardware on the old lease contract model?

I, for one, no longer believe it will all sort itself out…

“in two years.”

Two years later…

When it comes to the World of Apps, the old lease contract model appears dead.

And a new model hasn’t been invented yet.

The Grail:

1. A single CMS that publishes to multiple custom interfaces:

–In-house multimedia tour–iPhone/iPad app–Android app–Platforms to come…

2. An affordable, practical device & distribution infrastructure that ensures equal access for all visitors, tech-savvy or not

What Museums have learned since 2008:

• We can create our own content—& enlist the help of script-writers & sound designers to do so

• We’re being empowered to publish it to multiple devices by a plethora of new mobile CMS vendors

But we haven’t figured out the hardware/distribution model.*

Especially for blockbusters.

* and this used to be the profit center forAntenna & Acoustiguide!

What was once a monolithic business model:

Content DevelopmentScripting for Ear

Content ProductionSound & Media

Publishing to Devices Hardware Provisioning Mktng, Sales & Dstributionto Visitors

Mobile Tour Company A or AA

Has exploded into its component parts:

Content DevelopmentScripting for Ear

Content ProductionSound & Media

Publishing to Devices Hardware Provisioning Mktng, Sales & Dstributionto Visitors

Mobile Tour Company A

Has exploded into its component parts:

Content: Script Development

Content: Media Production

Publishing to devices

Hardware Provisioning

Mktg, Sales & Distribution

Museum alone

Museum alone

Museum alone

Museum alone

Museum alone

Museum with Vendor

Museum with Vendor

Museum with Vendor

Museum with Vendor

Museum with Vendor

Completely outsourced

Completely outsourced

Completely outsourced

Completely outsourced

Completely outsourced

[Fill in the matrix with the museum of your choice!]

Your App Here?

SFMOMA’s current permutation:

Content: Script Development

Content: Media Production

Publishing to devices

Hardware Provisioning

Mktg, Sales & Distribution

Museum alone

Museum alone

Museum alone

Museum alone

Museum alone

Museum with Vendor

Museum with Vendor

Museum with Vendor

Museum with Vendor

Museum with Vendor

Completely outsourced

Completely outsourced

Completely outsourced

Completely outsourced

Completely outsourced

SFMOMA with Earprint

SFMOMA withNOUS-guide

SFMOMA SFMOMA SFMOMA

Case Study: What it looks like when one museum takes this on.

2010: A rare opportunity to focus on the permanent collection

Jan 2009: We set to work.

Artwork selection & content audit:•Making Sense of Modern Art•SFMOMA Artcasts•Artist interviews•Public programs•Outside sources (e.g., Skowhegan Archive, Art21 etc.), and of course•existing Antenna stops

Hans Haacke, News as installedat SFMOMA in The Art of Participation

The question, always, is one of content design.

Object : Viewer : Gallery Context

Ranjani Shettar being interviewed in front of her installation Sing Along

We had chosen two able partners:

NOUSguide in Vienna & Earprint in S.F.

• Nous-Conductor software - CMS

• Interface design collaboration

• Programming support• Custom iPod cases,

lanyards, & charging carts

• Extending content to new platforms: iPhone, iPad & Android apps

• Brainstorming acoustic treatments

• Recording curators on-site in galleries, talent in studio

• Mentoring on “writing for the ear”

• Sound design & engineering

• Producing some stops altogether

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

NOUS-Conductor offered us flexibility & ease in adding new content

Stephanie Pau reviewing ascreen with Alex Wolf during training

As we collaborated with Vienna on user-friendly screen designs.

Tim Svenonius wth a screenful

of template design mock-ups

Meanwhile, we were bringing together the curators in the galleries and recording them…

One person started for each piece; others were free to respond or augment.

• What’s going on in this piece?

• What do you see that makes you say that?

Sometimes they had a hard time answering in such concrete terms…

And at other times senior & junior curators sparked and riffed off each other.

• “It’s like being in art history class!”• “We rarely get to spend that much

time looking at things.”

Content & screens were assembled…

Focus Group Findings

1. People love a short stop followed by the Go deeper option.

2. Casual & conversational tone works… First person, too.

3. Visitors say they don’t want to hear from “any Joe Schmo.”

4. Keypad may be easier than cover flow

93%

79%

73%

53%

51%

2010 Mobile Tour evaluation…. (Top box %)

Made visit much more enjoyable…

Strongly recommend…

Very satisfied…

Very easy did to use…

Q. Guide RatingsNote: Percentages represent the highest rating

Made artwks much more meaningful…

Mobile Tours Impact A Visitors Experience

FUSION RESEARCH + ANALYTICS

I spent more time66%

I spent less time1%

No Impact33%

Q. . How did the Mobile Tour impact the amount of time you spent in the museum today?

Mobile Tour Impact on Time

Spent in Museum

Mobile Tours Also Impact Time Spent

FUSION RESEARCH + ANALYTICS

79%

53%

28%

13%

18% 18%

24%

5%15%

46%

64%

12%

2008 2010 2008 2010

Museum providedNo preference

Own device Don't know

Q. Would you prefer to take a mobile tour using a device provided by a museum or your own personal device?

2008 Vs 2010: Mobile Guide Device Preference

Mobile Device Preferences Are Shifting Among Guide Users and Non-users

Mobile Tour Users Non Mobile Tour Users

FUSION RESEARCH + ANALYTICS

6%

26%

31%13%

19%

12%

35%29%

2%2%

Mobile Tour User Non-Mobile Tour User

Don't know

Very unlikely

Somewhat unlikely

Neutral

Somewhat likely

Very likely

Q. How likely would you be to pay $1.99 to download a SFMOMA Mobile Tour app on your own personal device?

Likelihood to download a Mobile tour for $1.99

Non-Traditional Guide Users Offer the Largest Potential for Mobile Guide Downloads/Apps

FUSION RESEARCH + ANALYTICS

Logistics

A new definition of “Asset Management”

Systems start out orderly…

And turn random!

App as space to try experiments

Use case 1: social media

Use case 2: augmenting our fleet of in-house players when we run out!

Making it Sustainable

Bootstrapping in the Mobile space = taking on added responsibilities

• Research• Scripting• Design• Production• Deployment• Distribution• Upkeep• Evaluation• Fundraising

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

• Education/IET• Curatorial• IT• Design• Visitor Services• Marketing & Comm• CAO/Finance• Development

And intense inter-departmental collaboration:

This is not our experience!

In our effort to provide multimedia interpretation to our visitors free of charge, we have only begun to tackle the logistical infrastructure at which our vendors are past masters!

There’s an opportunity here for the right vendor.

Who’s going to take it on?

Probably someone who understands the hardware/distribution business model.

Thank you.