In March 2015 the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, a small museum in Dorset telling the story of farmworkers who were banished to Australia in the 1830s for forming a trade union, launched a new app that took visitors on a route across the nearby countryside.
The app consists of a series of short films describing the story of the labourers, narrated by actress Maxine Peake, and includes filmed re-enactments.
It was created using a £38,700 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which was matched with funding from local councils and the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which runs the museum.
Tom de Wit, the museum’s manager, says that the app’s aim is to make the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs accessible to a new audience in a more contemporary way.
He says that the format makes the museum better able to compete with multimedia leisure attractions and “democratises” the history by making it more accessible, whether that be for people not accustomed to formal historical study, or those with limited eyesight or literacy.
It also has the added advantage of increasing access by allowing people to do the trail remotely or when the museum is closed. This in turn makes tourists more aware of the area as a heritage destination – a plus point for the local authority.
De Wit estimates that at least half of visitors to the museum download the app, adding that overall the response has been positive. The museum has 10 tablets pre-loaded with the app that visitors can hire if they don’t have their own devices. These have proved popular, even during the winter.
To create the app, the museum worked with ATS Heritage, which has also created multimedia guides and apps for other museums and heritage sites including Bletchley Park, the National Portrait Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Spencer Clark, the sales director at ATS, says a key advantage of an app trail over a paper one is that it can better convey voice and personality.
Not only is the voice of the museum expressed through its curators and experts, he says, but an app can also feature characters that a younger audience can relate to. The St Paul’s Cathedral guide uses an animated Phoenix, for example.
In addition to unlocking archive material, digital technology allows a museum to layer content to reach different audiences. This could include providing information for disabled visitors using British Sign Language or audio description.
But there are still many barriers to using tour-style apps with lots of audio and video content at museums and heritage sites says, Clark.
“Your battery might not be full, your memory might be full, you might not have brought your headphones,” he explains.
“And if there is an app, does the site have network coverage or adequate public Wi-Fi to download it? In addition, native apps need to be compatible with the hundreds of different devices and operating systems, so [those setting] budgets need to consider the impact of this on development time and the need for ongoing support.”
To help with such issues, providers such as ATS Heritage can provide multimedia tours to some institutions on preloaded and customised devices, as an alternative to an app.
Clark says that reflecting the use of these devices in the ticket price can promote the idea that the digital guide is an essential part of the interpretation and the visitor experience.
In April 2015, the new National Civil War Centre in Newark launched an app that leads visitors on a trail around the town. When people place a device’s viewfinder over a particular location or information board it triggers a short film recreating a historical scene from that location. There are eight locations on the trail and the films are rotated periodically.
Michael Constantine, the centre’s manager, says that the venue decided to create an app because it was looking for something that “brings history to life and gives people an opportunity to explore it in a different way".
The app is downloaded by around 20% of visitors to the museum, mainly on smartphones, but Constantine says that the actual usage may be higher because some groups share devices. Although 90% of people doing the app trail visit the centre as well, it isn’t necessary.
Constantine estimates the cost of creating the app, including filming, at £250,000, which was covered by Nottinghamshire County Council.
He says that the authority saw the contribution as an investment in tourism, judging that it would encourage people to make a day of a visit to Newark rather than just go to the museum.
“It’s a very historic town, but you can’t take the town and put it in the museum,” says Constantine.
He adds that the app also aims to increase people’s engagement when they aren’t in Newark through features such as a game and interactive timeline.
The centre will wait at least a year before any in-depth assessment of the app’s performance, but it is not seen as a replacement for more traditional interpretive formats. The centre also offers a paper trail around Newark, and Constantine doesn’t see people stopping using this any time soon.
“The app isn’t a silver bullet – it’s part of a range of interpretive media that we use to get our message across,” he says.
“People visit museums because they want to engage with real historical objects. Any attempt to use digital technology to bring things to life has got to recognise that.”
IBeacons are another new technology that is being used to enhance museum trails. For example, the Leicester Castle app updates the traditional audioguide format.
The app consists of several trails around the castle’s Great Hall, which was used as a law court until 1992.
The bulk of the content works in tandem with iBeacons, which are small low energy transmitters that trigger content on Bluetooth-enabled smartphones or tablets when the person carrying the mobile device comes within a certain distance.
Visitors need not do anything apart from move to the right spot – so they can keep their phones in their pocket or bag throughout the visit.
One trail, called the Green Bicycle Murder audio tour, tells the story of a murder case at the courtroom in 1919 from different perspectives in the style of a radio play. IBeacons placed around the room allow visitors to listen to the content in locations including the witness box, the magistrate’s seat and the dock.
While this tour provides users with directions to the next stage, another lets visitors wander freely around. As they move to different locations, they hear the recorded memories of local people that used to work in the courtroom.
Sally Coleman, the heritage manager at Leicester City Council, says that the building, which opens once a month, presented a challenge because it has no permanent interpretive staff and includes listed courtroom furniture, making it difficult to put up panels. “There were a huge number of really fascinating stories connected with the building that people weren’t getting at all,” says Coleman.
She believes the app is an effective way of addressing such challenges and making use of the space. “It works beautifully in a court, because you actually stand in the witness box and you’re hearing the witness, who would have stood in exactly the same spot, describing what they saw,” she says.
The project received funding from Nesta’s Digital R&D Fund for the Arts and was done in conjunction with the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies. An assessment showed that visitors using the app reported greater enjoyment and learning, and spent longer in the venue than those who didn’t use it.
A locally-based creative firm, Metro-Boulot-Dodo, partnered with the council to create the app’s content. Paul Long, a co-artistic director, says that his team worked closely with the technology partners (iBeacon specialists Locly), to refine the interface in response to user feedback.
He adds that as well as mastering the technology, it is equally important to have the right team in place to tell stories properly, and warns against creating a digital product for its own sake. “Don’t assume that if you make something digital, it will be good,” says Long. “Content is king, whatever the format.”
The app consists of a series of short films describing the story of the labourers, narrated by actress Maxine Peake, and includes filmed re-enactments.
It was created using a £38,700 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which was matched with funding from local councils and the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which runs the museum.
Tom de Wit, the museum’s manager, says that the app’s aim is to make the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs accessible to a new audience in a more contemporary way.
He says that the format makes the museum better able to compete with multimedia leisure attractions and “democratises” the history by making it more accessible, whether that be for people not accustomed to formal historical study, or those with limited eyesight or literacy.
It also has the added advantage of increasing access by allowing people to do the trail remotely or when the museum is closed. This in turn makes tourists more aware of the area as a heritage destination – a plus point for the local authority.
De Wit estimates that at least half of visitors to the museum download the app, adding that overall the response has been positive. The museum has 10 tablets pre-loaded with the app that visitors can hire if they don’t have their own devices. These have proved popular, even during the winter.
To create the app, the museum worked with ATS Heritage, which has also created multimedia guides and apps for other museums and heritage sites including Bletchley Park, the National Portrait Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Spencer Clark, the sales director at ATS, says a key advantage of an app trail over a paper one is that it can better convey voice and personality.
Not only is the voice of the museum expressed through its curators and experts, he says, but an app can also feature characters that a younger audience can relate to. The St Paul’s Cathedral guide uses an animated Phoenix, for example.
In addition to unlocking archive material, digital technology allows a museum to layer content to reach different audiences. This could include providing information for disabled visitors using British Sign Language or audio description.
But there are still many barriers to using tour-style apps with lots of audio and video content at museums and heritage sites says, Clark.
“Your battery might not be full, your memory might be full, you might not have brought your headphones,” he explains.
“And if there is an app, does the site have network coverage or adequate public Wi-Fi to download it? In addition, native apps need to be compatible with the hundreds of different devices and operating systems, so [those setting] budgets need to consider the impact of this on development time and the need for ongoing support.”
To help with such issues, providers such as ATS Heritage can provide multimedia tours to some institutions on preloaded and customised devices, as an alternative to an app.
Clark says that reflecting the use of these devices in the ticket price can promote the idea that the digital guide is an essential part of the interpretation and the visitor experience.
In April 2015, the new National Civil War Centre in Newark launched an app that leads visitors on a trail around the town. When people place a device’s viewfinder over a particular location or information board it triggers a short film recreating a historical scene from that location. There are eight locations on the trail and the films are rotated periodically.
Michael Constantine, the centre’s manager, says that the venue decided to create an app because it was looking for something that “brings history to life and gives people an opportunity to explore it in a different way".
The app is downloaded by around 20% of visitors to the museum, mainly on smartphones, but Constantine says that the actual usage may be higher because some groups share devices. Although 90% of people doing the app trail visit the centre as well, it isn’t necessary.
Constantine estimates the cost of creating the app, including filming, at £250,000, which was covered by Nottinghamshire County Council.
He says that the authority saw the contribution as an investment in tourism, judging that it would encourage people to make a day of a visit to Newark rather than just go to the museum.
“It’s a very historic town, but you can’t take the town and put it in the museum,” says Constantine.
He adds that the app also aims to increase people’s engagement when they aren’t in Newark through features such as a game and interactive timeline.
The centre will wait at least a year before any in-depth assessment of the app’s performance, but it is not seen as a replacement for more traditional interpretive formats. The centre also offers a paper trail around Newark, and Constantine doesn’t see people stopping using this any time soon.
“The app isn’t a silver bullet – it’s part of a range of interpretive media that we use to get our message across,” he says.
“People visit museums because they want to engage with real historical objects. Any attempt to use digital technology to bring things to life has got to recognise that.”
IBeacons are another new technology that is being used to enhance museum trails. For example, the Leicester Castle app updates the traditional audioguide format.
The app consists of several trails around the castle’s Great Hall, which was used as a law court until 1992.
The bulk of the content works in tandem with iBeacons, which are small low energy transmitters that trigger content on Bluetooth-enabled smartphones or tablets when the person carrying the mobile device comes within a certain distance.
Visitors need not do anything apart from move to the right spot – so they can keep their phones in their pocket or bag throughout the visit.
One trail, called the Green Bicycle Murder audio tour, tells the story of a murder case at the courtroom in 1919 from different perspectives in the style of a radio play. IBeacons placed around the room allow visitors to listen to the content in locations including the witness box, the magistrate’s seat and the dock.
While this tour provides users with directions to the next stage, another lets visitors wander freely around. As they move to different locations, they hear the recorded memories of local people that used to work in the courtroom.
Sally Coleman, the heritage manager at Leicester City Council, says that the building, which opens once a month, presented a challenge because it has no permanent interpretive staff and includes listed courtroom furniture, making it difficult to put up panels. “There were a huge number of really fascinating stories connected with the building that people weren’t getting at all,” says Coleman.
She believes the app is an effective way of addressing such challenges and making use of the space. “It works beautifully in a court, because you actually stand in the witness box and you’re hearing the witness, who would have stood in exactly the same spot, describing what they saw,” she says.
The project received funding from Nesta’s Digital R&D Fund for the Arts and was done in conjunction with the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies. An assessment showed that visitors using the app reported greater enjoyment and learning, and spent longer in the venue than those who didn’t use it.
A locally-based creative firm, Metro-Boulot-Dodo, partnered with the council to create the app’s content. Paul Long, a co-artistic director, says that his team worked closely with the technology partners (iBeacon specialists Locly), to refine the interface in response to user feedback.
He adds that as well as mastering the technology, it is equally important to have the right team in place to tell stories properly, and warns against creating a digital product for its own sake. “Don’t assume that if you make something digital, it will be good,” says Long. “Content is king, whatever the format.”