MuseumNext 2014 Day One
/I consider myself very fortunate to have attended the first MuseumNext (un)conference in 2009 at Newcastle which included museum superstar Nina Simon as key guest. With MuseumNext 2014 happening in Newcastle it was impossible to resist even though it has grown in size and cost it remains one of the best conferences I go to in terms of friendly delegates and organisers, thought provoking debates, innovative projects and I always leave with new contacts and new ideas to try.
Tags from my five MuseumNexts
Day One
Keynote from Koven Smith - the last time Koven spoke at MuseumNext was Barcelona and I was only able to hear the first 10 minutes of his thoughts. He's always challenging, I found this keynote more futuristic than practical. A preamble through current field, here and over in USA shows museum websites are not being visited and Koven thinks this is due to museums view of digital as being an add-on opposed to a value proposition. He made some very good points as to why the content of sites are not likely to be of interest to the public linking the museum insistence to upload collection databases to the now outdated skeuomorphism (best example <iOS7 games app. WIth the help of Microsoft's design principles around Metro he laid out the argument and suggested how to fix it:
- create usable products
- focus on real needs
- structure for agility
- Eliminate skeuomorphism and anti-patterns
There is little to disagree with, however Koven's ambition to have museums fully thinking, acting and being digital is a lot taller order than he conveyed. We have all worked with technophobes not interested in learning digital skills and it is going to be impossible to force engagement under current contracts and staff motivations. His conclusions are at the heart of the issue, as he worries content is being produced by habit and history rather than an optimal method as a result of digital literacy. I wholeheartedly agree, however disbanding the 'habit and history' first is my approach and then address the digital literacy when appropriate.
From Augmented Reality to Minecraft in Museums
One of the best sessions I saw was Twnkls Augmented Reality presentation and Adam Clarke talking about his use of Minecraft and the possibilities it has for museums working with young people, and others.
I am a fan of AR and have used it in several unofficial capacities, mostly as a result of seeing strong presentations at MuseumNext conferences. Twnkls recreated a Dutch market square using old photographs and asked local population to clarify the areas missed by the archived images. Then using mobile app and a fixed device (telescope) the results are open for all to enjoy at the location. Something wonderfully engaging about the old school introduction of a telescope in the market square to view the AR, especially as appeared to be little sign of the sea anywhere nearby.
Adam (@TheCommonPeople) spoke on the work he does with Minecraft, initially with Tullie House Museum for Museums at Night 2013 and then other projects he was working on, see his website. He was one of the most engaging speakers I saw and pinpointed benefits of working with the program and the opportunity to engage young people with museums, collections or heritage using it. The presentation was so captivating I am now looking to put a project together at my place of work.
Keynote two was Colleen Dilenschneider entitled Touch, love and museum data: How touch makes the world a better place. A brilliant title that would send shivers through many of my ex colleagues of traditional museum persuasion: 'touch' and 'data' being the two most offending words! I loved her personal 'wow' moment of when she and her mom visited Art Institute of Chicago for a special trip, she saw Monet's paintings and was captivated. I learned two things from this;
- Colleen is truly passionate about the connection between museum and the visitor
- I should read the 'About me' section on blogs as I though Colleen worked in museums and thats why her insights at Know your own Bone were so spot on!
She works at IMPACTS Research and using big data from surveys of museums, zoos, aquariums etc. she carefully and clearly laid out an argument that museums need to touch people digitally and also physically (face-to-face) to raise the quality of visits and therefore the likelihood of more visits, digitally and in the real world. She argued the traditional museum visitor are High Propensity Visitors and well connected and likely to tell people on their experiences. For @mardixon to get interested in numbers, that's good communication skills:
Excerpt from www.MarDixon.com blog on MusemNext
Growth in social media being the place where people are making their decisions to visit (hence a digital presence required) and institutional reputation remains a high reason on decision making - hence word of mouth on personal experiences. Data (not surprisingly) shows that people with personal contact (1-to-1 or 1-to-few) during a visit give a higherrating to quality of visit. Colleen recommends, especially if the museum is busy to deploy extra staff to meet and greet people.
The most surprising thing for me in the the data was the split of reason for becoming members. Something happened at 34 years old as those above it are in membership for the priority access, functions and advance notice, while those under 35 are looking for a place to belong, supporting good cause and of course both groups enjoy free entry. It was a specific data set and therefore dangerous to generalise, however the change at Dallas Museum of Art in membership will definitely be worth data mining to see if such a fundamental shift is seen in ages of subscribers. Museum visitors continue to be fascinating, as is the data.
Colleen's final cry was for 'connectivity as king' which in the growing mobile and connected world is not revolutionary however museums do need to take the use of data and it's findings into their decisions and build strategy based on a consistent understanding of them.
#MuseumNext contained some 'app bashing' and some 'app love' but on balance I would say more negative talk around apps than previous conferences. My day one concluded by hearing of two apps, both could be said to be in beta phase so not fair to judge their suitability yet, however the presentations were very different in content and approach to respective apps.
Ana Luisa Basso presented on Unique Visitors which seeks to create a newsfeed for users to record their experiences in the gallery and also allow their friends or followers the chance to gain from their insights. If you know me or read this blog you will know this is something I have talked about for a long time. Crudely, I viewed the app as a tool for museum goers like Goodreads is for readers. The app has only been tested by small number of people and use location based features of smartphones. I won't change my mind and say this is a bad idea, I believe technology and our connectivity has advanced so far that there may already many tools out there which can be used for this, or to leap frog the old idea and reinvent it to integrate with established platforms. As Level 7 Andy Warhol badge holder on Foursquare it already prompts me friend recommendations and my own history from locations.
The approach taken by Kevin Bacon from Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museums was very much 'we have made this, but it was not meant to be a product so we don't know if it fits a need' stance. Story Drop is a storytelling location based app that allows co-production of content tied to locations in the city. What has been a surprise to Kevin was the interest from community to add content. It has not been able to have marketing launch due to weather, etc. so the uptake is not yet known. However the community is interested in using it for pushing their information and stories which seems to be half a win on the purpose.
Day two of MuseumNext will follow, in the meantime lots of great bloggers' summaries can be found at http://museumnext.tumblr.com/ (and 2013 links).