Launching the MFA Multimedia Guide: Lessons Learned

For the opening of the Museum's new Art of the Americas wing, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston embarked upon a sweeping new program to transform the traditional audio guide into a new iPod Touch-based multimedia guide. This ambitious endeavor was fraught with challenges as diverse as managing content production at a new scale and determining how to reliably charge 750 devices at a time. 

In this session, MFA New Media team members will share lessons learned from our large-scale project, including points such as: 

• Strategy - determining the best direction for our visitors and institution
• Planning and evaluation - prototype testing of content and the device
• Offerings - features and tours (adult, kids, foreign language, special exhibition, and audio described guides)
• Content production - moving production in house while still leveraging experts
• CMS - selecting and enhancing the guide content management solution
• Updating content - crafting a solution for making content updates manageable
• Security - protecting the investment
• Equipment - cases, headphones, lanyards, chargers and more
• Operations - managing workflow, training, and rental and return
• Future growth - where we'll be heading next

The MFA uses TAP as the CMS, with a modified/customized TAP app as the user interface. We use the Nous case and a homegrown charging solution.