I have been asked to curate a museum exhibit and I want to create a cell phone as part of the interpretation. I definitely do not want to do anything fancy with smart phone apps, just create some audio files that museum visitors could listen to on their cell phones. Here is an example from the Seattle Art Museum: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WyVBKHIBKXPI_d3ZoFjr-xS8tEnhIv--dGJ6iQC4dzQ?feat=directlink
Does anyone know of a good step-by-step guide to creating these kinds of tours?
I don't know offhand of a guide, but I wouldn't think this would be difficult to whomp up (though it WILL be time-consuming). All you're creating is an mp3 and (I would hope!) supporting signage, maybe with some QR codes that the camera-and-wifi-enabled can play with.
For audio editing, it really doesn't get much better than Audacity; I prefer Audacity to Apple's Garage Band, even. If you want some tunes to mix in, Google for "podsafe music" or check out Jamendo. My absolute favorite royalty-free music provider is Kevin MacLeod, who makes utterly professional music in a broad range of moods.
The rest is user testing, I would think. When you think you're done, give the tour to a few people who haven't worked on it and make sure they don't get lost.
dcasheim@gmail.com
Member
Hi - my company provided the technology for the Seattle Art Museum tour (and for 800 others.) In fact tomorrow at the Western Museum Conference annual meeting we are both on a panel talking about this very topic. I would be glad to email anyone the powerpoints from the panel presentation. We discuss the pros and cons, and how to get started and try new mobile technologies. there are several starter guides available that we can send, too. Dave Asheim -- dave@guidebycell.com
Sheila Brennan
MemberBest Answer
Larry,
I think that is a great idea. A number of museums have been doing this and are thinking through and dealing a variety of issues related to audio in museums including: users, environmental factors of the space, platforms, content appropriateness for listening on a mobile, et al.
You may want to look through some of the sources in our public Mobile Museums Zotero group. https://www.zotero.org/groups/mobile_museums. There are some case studies from museums (many from the Museums and the Web conference,) who created cell audio tours and who have tried other methods and platforms. We at CHNM wrote up some recommendations for museums wanting to develop mobile content in this digital white paper, Mobile for Museums: http://chnm.gmu.edu/labs/mobile-for-museums/. Cleveland State is testing a new iPhone app,Cleveland Historical, developed with Omeka in case you are interested in that at another time.
Having said all of that, you'll see that you have many options. But, first you should think about the following, because the answers to these questions will direct you in making the best choices: Is there wifi available in the building? Is there good cell phone coverage in this exhibit space? Do you know your audience, what kind of phones are they using? Do you want to update the content--add other media, edit content? Is there room, and budget for designing of signs that tell people it is ok to use their mobiles in the exhibit, or explaining how to access the mobile content--especially if QR codes are used and an QR Code reader is necessary?
Recordings saved as podcasts are cheap and easy, but would require folks to download the files before going to the exhibit (unless there is wireless and the audience uses smart phones). Most cell phone tours in museums are run through an outside vendor who manages the platform and the telephony for the project, which brings added costs.
It is good to be thinking about this now during exhibit development. And maybe after browsing through some of the articles in that bibliography, you may have some ideas about how best to use audio, or video, imagery, that can be accessible through mobiles for the exhibit and live on after the exhibit closes.
You must log in to post.
A project of the Association for Computers and the Humanities and the Chronicle of Higher Education's ProfHacker
Icons by famfamfam
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
