What does a growing tablet and smartphone landscape mean for museums? In the “non-visit” context, it means mobile-responsive websites and app development– experiences that extend cultural reach beyond the walls of the institution to small screens as well as desktop ones.
But what about in-gallery? How are we capitalising on the fact that most people will have a smartphone when they visit?
The most obvious response is to provide content that is delivered via a users’ mobile device – and many museums are doing this already. This enables people to find out more about an object or to follow a trail.
The danger with this approach is that visitors could easily spend more time experiencing the museum through a two-inch screen than they do looking at the real thing. Arguably, it’s also pretty pedestrian and not making the most of the huge potential available to us.
Instead, what if your mobile triggered personalised experiences when you walked into a gallery space because you had expressed an interest in a particular period of history?
Or you get home after visiting and the museum has automatically emailed rich information about all the objects you stood in front of for longer than 30 seconds?
Technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy are starting to make this “more pervasive, less invasive” experience a real possibility.
As internal way-pointing becomes viable, perhaps it is time for museums to think laterally about what mobile means, and how to deliver the best possible visitor experience.
Mike Ellis is a director of digital agency Thirty8 Digital
But what about in-gallery? How are we capitalising on the fact that most people will have a smartphone when they visit?
The most obvious response is to provide content that is delivered via a users’ mobile device – and many museums are doing this already. This enables people to find out more about an object or to follow a trail.
The danger with this approach is that visitors could easily spend more time experiencing the museum through a two-inch screen than they do looking at the real thing. Arguably, it’s also pretty pedestrian and not making the most of the huge potential available to us.
Instead, what if your mobile triggered personalised experiences when you walked into a gallery space because you had expressed an interest in a particular period of history?
Or you get home after visiting and the museum has automatically emailed rich information about all the objects you stood in front of for longer than 30 seconds?
Technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy are starting to make this “more pervasive, less invasive” experience a real possibility.
As internal way-pointing becomes viable, perhaps it is time for museums to think laterally about what mobile means, and how to deliver the best possible visitor experience.
Mike Ellis is a director of digital agency Thirty8 Digital
