nancy proctor handheld basics
DESCRIPTION
Keynote presentation at Tate Modern's Conference, 'From Audio Tours to iPhones', 5 September 2008, London, by Nancy Proctor, Head of New Media Initiatives, Smithsonian American Art MuseumTRANSCRIPT
Handheld Basics:
From Audiotours to iPhones
Tate Modern, 5 September 2008
Nancy Proctor, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Top 10 Tips for a successful mobile solution
(…and a few more)
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
0. Invitation to the Digital Feast
Beth Lipman, Bancketje (Banquet) 2003
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
1. It’s not about the technology
• Focus on user experience and content
• Design for your audience’s needs
• Design for your museum’s needs
• Use the simplest technology solution available that will meet those needs
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
2. It is about the story
Speak to your visitors’:
• Heads: Answer questions, give insights
• Hearts: Create an emotion, atmosphere, time or place
• Hands: Inspire a response - create, contribute, sign up, come back
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
3. Think about voice
Who is the most interesting person to your audience to guide them?
Some common crowd-pleasers:
• Artists
• Experts
• Other visitors
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
4. Think about context
• Private device / public context
• Multi-tasking and the museum shuffle
• Ergonomics of your space
• What other resources can support the tour? Signage, marketing, web, staff…
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
4a. About that context…
• Can we build content that works both in front of the exhibits and off-site?
Soundtracks & soundbites…
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
5. Think globally…
• WWW = Whatever, Wherever, Whenever
• So the museum needs cross-platform content rights
• Design for the distributed museum
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Distributed Museum
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
6. But act locally
• Mobile is different
• Different mobile platforms support different kinds of experiences– Choose the platform that meets the need– Develop content for the kind of experience
that platform supports– Work within the technology’s abilities today
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
7. Know content vs. technology
Some common confusions:
• Do they love the device or the content?
• Screen as eyetrap
• Do tactile devices make visitors touch the exhibits?
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
8. Move to web standards
• Combine best practice from mobile
(audiotours provide the largest database)
• With web-standard interfaces to content: familiar, tried & tested, simple to use, direct
• Avoid content & features that are platform- or device-specific
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
9. Turn visitors into teachers
Why should our visitors’ Web 2.0 lives stop at the museum’s threshold?
• Voting to learn
• Aide-mémoires
• Souvenirs
• UGC
• Sharing
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
10. Build for humans
• Research the needs of both the audiences you have…
• And the audiences you want
• Take tours, try mobile solutions everywhere
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
Bonus slide for vendors
What we really, really want:• To own our content • Best practice• Training• The cross-platform CMS• Applications• HW if it supports web-standard content & comes with
a guaranteed upgrade path• A better business model• A partner
Nancy Proctor, 5 September [email protected]
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
Usque ad Astra!
Photo by Mike Lee, 2007; from SAAM Flickr Group