panel discussion, the future of the museum: technology
DESCRIPTION
Panel Discussion, The Future of the Museum: Technology Monday, February 10, 2014 - 6:00pm - 7:00pm This event is open to the public. SOLD OUT A century ago, the “new technology” in American museums was electric lights. Today,Enrico Meneghelli (1853-after 1912), Studio Interior, 1879. Oil on panel, 35.6 x 24.8 cm. Boston Athenxum purchase in honor of Rodney Armstrong, with funds provided by several anonymous donors, 2008. with the advent of computers, the Internet, flat panel touch screens, and myriad portable electronic devices, museums have a huge range of technologies to explore and use in carrying out their missions. This second of three panels on “The Future of the Museum” explores how the rapidly developing digital revolution is affecting these traditionally conservative institutions. Is new technology a threat or an opportunity? Which museums are in the forefront of using these powerful tools? Three innovating technology specialists, including Jane Alexander, chief information officer, The Cleveland Museum of Art; Teresa Lai, senior manager of online publications, senior producer in the Creative Production Division of the Digital Media Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Amit Sood, head of the Google Art Project, will discuss the challenges and delights of bringing technology to the museum world.TRANSCRIPT
BIG PICTURE STRATEGY
Jane Alexander, CIOCleveland Museum of Art
The Future of the Museum: Technology Boston Athenæum – Panel Discussion
DIGITAL STRATEGYlooking at the big picture
OBJECTIVES• activate the collection• connect art and audience through active experience• promote new scholarship• support research• facilitate internal and external collaboration• drive attendance• increase revenue• streamline work
GALLERY ONE + ARTLENSinteractives test-bed
Some Goals• Attract new visitors and surprise existing visitors
• Use technology to help visitors see and understand art in new ways
• Technology is not the art – technology showcases the art
• Invite visitors of all ages to learn and play in ways that they enjoy (rather than dictating a single method of interactivity)
Design Through Collaboration• Technology, Education & Interpretation, Design,
Curatorial, and Collections Management departments
• Through this new collaborative development methodology, the Cleveland Museum of Art is leading the way not only in the robust blend of art and technology throughout the gallery experience but also in museum practice itself.
Beacon GoalCreate a visual introduction to the space that draws people in
Achieved: The Chuck Close in juxtaposition to the Beacon brings visitors into a new gallery experience
Future: Look at adding more dynamic information–making it a dashboard for the museum
Studio Play GoalsA place for families to play together while becoming familiar with the museum and its collection
–Encourage familiarity with the breadth of the collection & create a connection between children’s art-making and the art in the museum’s collection
Lens (Interactive Kiosks)
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Lens Goals•Allow visitors to learn about the art through multiple access points, from specific information retrieval in the hotspots to interactive play in the games
–Challenges of “universal access”–Encouraging new behaviors–Challenges of easily posting to Social Media without “sign-ins”
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RFID tags are provided for visitors bringing their own Ipads
A unique tag (RFID sticker) is permanently assigned to the visitor, allowing them to save their
favorites and tours for future visits
RFID tag communicates wirelessly with docking station
Visitors then explore the entire museum with ArtLens
ISARTLENS APP
ARTLENS• All works interpreted from Gallery One• 250+ interpreted works in collection galleries• 900+ videos & narrated slideshows• 700+ text & image offerings• Many predefined tours• wayfinding via 175+ APs• 12,000 downloads to date• 2,000+ visitor tours created
GALLERY ONE• 1st ‘beneficiary’ of digital strategy• 78 works of important art• 6 thematic lenses• 3 dynamic interactives:
– Collection Wall(40’ long, 125 microtiles, 4000+ works)
– Matching & Sorting game (2 stations)– Beacon (favorites, stats, visitor experiences)
NO ONE-OFFS!
OTHER PROJECTSall intertwined
IMTS Applications TeamWill, Andrea, Linda, Niki, Jeanne
CCMSbuilding a core system
searchview
editupload
connectplancollaborate
CCMS
CCMS Description• built on open technologies
• built with Collaboration as a primary goal– sharing information with internal colleagues– institutional based premise for sharing information between museums– community based premise for publishing information to the world
• cloud-ready – support a community of museum catalogers/professionals from multiple institutions
regardless of size
• designed to be agile and adaptable to multiple platforms; iOS, Android, Surface
• designed to scale from a few users to tens of thousands of users
PICTION DAMevolving
PICTION DAM UPGRADE• Piction 7 application upgrade• flattened legacy record structure (1:1)• expanded staff-requested tools
– export PPT and Excel– contact sheets– batch downloads
• integrated with CCMS• turbocharged downstream use
A Basic DAM
An Awesome DAM
LIBRARY INTEGRATION
linking art citations + donors
ARCHIVAL REPOSITORYOAIS + cloud computing
ARCHIVAL STORAGEdigital assets
(original + normalized)
DATA MANAGEMENTmetadata
(descriptive, technical, preservation)
INGEST ACCESS
Preservation Planning
Administration
OAIS
WEBSITEmigration and innovation
WEBSITE• open source• extensible and extremely
customizable• rapid application development• sophisticated theming layer• iintuitive interface• in-house expertise• highly-engaged developer
community• active use and development in
museum, library, and non-profit community
better and faster search and faceting
ease of theming & design
streamlined mobile site
STAFF INTRANET(with Drupal)
COLLECTION ONLINEsearch layout and functionality
• Installed Apache SOLR search for speed
• Added facets to search navigation
• Added hover info for objects
COLLECTION ONLINEobject pages
• Layout and functionality updated for usability
• Meta data displayed in pocketed sections NEXT to main image
• Thumbnail carousel for slide-show functionality
RESPONSIVE DESIGN VS. MOBILE SITE
CENTRAL TABLE
Staff uses Gallery One as a learning laboratory
Central Table Test-Bed:Rental and return of ipads
Rental requires drivers license (or state ID) for duration of rental
RFID scan automatically updates a custom Asset Tracking database…
…which in turn updates member activity on the Central Table (custom PostGreSQL database storing all member and donor activity from multiple databases)
MAINTENANCESustainable design/process
Rules • Easily maintained parts on-site 45 minute repair
window
• Established technologies
• Alternate content during software failure condition
Collection Wall is modular Christie MicroTiles.
Each MicroTile can be trouble-shot, and repaired or replaced individually.
The modular system accommodates rapid repair cycles.
MicroTile can be removed entirely,
…without effecting the behavior of the Interactive on any other tiles.
PROCESSGallery One 2.0
Gallery One 2.0: January 2016•Implementing museum-wide digital strategy•Evaluate and sequence artwork rotations•Review evaluations and analytics (add more to refine)•Update in Augmented Reality (Scanning 3D-objects)•Refine and increase Wi-Fi and wayfinding technologies•Keep researching and implementing innovative visitor experience-focused technologies
"internet of things"• Looking at the whole "internet of things" approach
• ubiquity of sensors + mobile devices as more important for the time being
• (thus LBS – Location Based Services).
DIGITAL STRATEGYenjoying the big picture