Museums and the Web
An annual conference exploring the social, cultural, design, technological, economic, and organizational issues of culture, science and heritage on-line.
Delivering mobile from the ground-up: exploring the approach
Published Paper
Abstract
The challenges of delivering a meaningful ‘mobile’ experience for an institution are not always technology-related. Securing cross-departmental stakeholder investment and ensuring alignment with the institution’s core mission have been key for National Museums Scotland and National Museum Wales in developing a framework for their mobile programme. This paper will explain how these organisations sought to overcome organisational challenges from the outset; pushing forward ideas and taking a common approach to planning mobile projects that can be adopted by other institutions.
National Museums Scotland and National Museum Wales have many similarities in their structure and set-up. Both operate a main base out of their respective capital cities (Edinburgh and Cardiff) and have a mix of specialist rural and urban-based museums. Since 2009 the proportion of online visitors from mobile devices has increased significantly for both organisations; taking this on board alongside in-gallery research and predicted market trends, both have begun developing a programme of mobile interpretation using the same user-focused approach.
For the National Museum Wales this is about making information accessible, as well as creating a link between historic buildings and collections in a rural setting at the National History Museum at St Fagans. For National Museums Scotland it’s about bringing new interpretation and innovation to the recently-reopened National Museum of Scotland. Importantly, neither approach has focused on technology in the first instance - workshop sessions have concentrated on getting the right people to take a balanced view of audience needs and create design briefs that tie closely to each organisation’s strategic objectives.
Both projects have their specific challenges and the session will explore what led them to take certain decisions, what the outcomes have been to date, the broader implications for developing mobile products in terms of cost and impact on the museum technical infrastructure, and the lessons they feel will benefit other museums looking to develop their own plans.
Type:
Paper - in formal session
Authors
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Hugh Wallace is Head of Digital Media at National Museums Scotland, where he has overall responsibility for digital strategy and the online presence. Having gained an MA in Electronic Media he then worked in education and for a specialist web development agency. Prior to joining the museum sector... |
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Dafydd James leads the New Media department at Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Wales, which is responsible for developing digital content for all seven national museums in Wales. After gaining a Physics degree and an MSc in Multimedia Engineering, Dafydd began work as e-Learning Officer based at... |
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Loic works at Pocket-Proof immersed in the finer details of the design, development and sustaining of effective mobile experiences for museums. When not doing his own research in this field, he works with museums seeking to resolve the needs of visitor for exceptional mobile experience with that... |