leveraging technology to attract, engage & educate museum visitors

Leveraging Technology to Attract, Engage &

Educate Museum Visitors

Devon Akmon Deputy Director | Arab American National Museum

Utilizing Technology

“As technology and all its tools change, so do the challenges facing museums. Among them: how to install wireless Internet access in old buildings so visitors can use their own devices, how to keep up with the constant demands of social media and, most important, calibrating how much the public should influence what goes on the walls.”

Vogel, Karen. “The Spirit of Sharing.” The New York Times. 16 March 2011. 11 April 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/arts/design/museums-pursue-engagement-with-social-media.html>

Utilizing Technology

“It’s less about technology and more about what the visitor can bring to the equation… In the end, we want people to feel ownership of this museum. We ask them to tell us what they think. They can give us a bad review; when we make a mistake they can come to our rescue. We want to engage with our community.” Shelley Bernstein, Brooklyn Museum

Vogel, Karen. “The Spirit of Sharing.” The New York Times. 16 March 2011. 11 April 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/arts/design/museums-pursue-engagement-with-social-media.html>

Social Media

Social Media + Goals

Listen/collect feedbackCommunicate/share storiesEducateGenerate buzzBuild communityExtend our outreach

• #AskACurator on Twitter

• September 1, 2010

• Developed by Jim Richardson/Sumo Marketing

• 23 countries + 340 museums

• Based on the #followamuseum campaign

• Goal: get more people interested in museums

The Art of Conversation

The Art of Conversation

Curating Info | Twitter Lists

Curating Info | Spreadin’ The News

Open & Informative | Museum Blog

Crowdsourced Fundraising

• Engage supporters, donors & free agents

• Cultivate a new audience

• Test ideas & concepts

• Mobilize supporters

• Creative fundraising

• Utilize other social media outlets to drive traffic

Incorporating Social Media Into Exhibits

Temporary exhibit: Connecting CommunitiesTheme: Immigration

Social media in the exhibit:• Images of local immigrant

communities from Flickr• A video kiosk/reflection

station connected to YouTube

• Questions posed on Facebook, Twitter and other websites

Focus on relationships, not technologies

“...keep in mind that tools will come and go, but strategy sustains organizations. Choosing and using any specific tool is less important to organizational success than embracing the principles and strategies that make social media effective. Using social media is a way of being more than a way of doing.”

Kanter, Beth and Allison Fine. The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.

Examples of Educational Resources via New Media Technologies

• Quick Response (QR) Codes

• Cellphone-based audio tour of museum exhibits

• iTunes U

• Podcasts

• Web-based exhibits

• Community Resource Directory

• Web-archiving with lesson plans for schools

Quick Response (QR) Codes

Advantages/Disadvantages of QR Codes

Advantages• Allows visitors to view

and share more information about exhibit objects or media items

• Easy to generate & track• Becoming more popular• A way of linking

collections & resources

Disadvantages• Unfamiliar• Only work on smart

phones with cameras• Must have the right

scanner app installed• Not all websites are

mobile-friendly

Sample Exhibit Panel With QR Code

Exhibit panel from Motawi Tileworks | Arab American National Museum

Audio Tour

• Cellphone-based audio tour

• iPods available too!

• Audio stops narrated by community members

• English and Arabic languages available, 24/7 | 365 days

• Collect feedback via voice messaging

• Add-ons available (e.g. polling, text messaging, etc.)

iTunes U

1. Part of Apple’s iTunes Store

2. Free content provided by universities, museums, and public media organizations from around the world.

3. Accessible 24 hours per day, 356 days per year.

Podcasting• Series of digital media files (audio

and video)

• Released episodically

• Rely heavily on subscription (free)

• AANM series set to launch in May 2011

• Managed by Education Department

• Provide timely information on relevant subjects

Web-based Exhibitshttp://www.arabstereotypes.org

Web-archiving Born-Digital Collections

Web-archiving Born-Digital Collections

Community Resource Directory | Now

Closed + Not easy to access + Difficult to update

Community Resource Directory | Future

Open + Accessible + Collaborative

What Comes Next???

• Mobile-friendly website

• More web-based exhibits

• Enhanced online collections

• Educational games

• Phone and tablet apps

• …?

Devon AkmonDeputy Director | Arab American National Museum

☎ 313.624.0208dakmon@accesscommunity.orghttp://www.arabamericanmuseum.org

http://www.devonakmon.com

http://www.twitter.com/DevonAkmon

http://www.linkedin.com/in/devonakmon

http://www.slideshare.net/akmon

Stay in touch!