The call for presentations for the National Digital Forum Conference (18-20 November 2019, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, NZ) is open!

We want to hear from people working in, and with, digital on any topic affecting the culture and heritage sector. Think big picture – does your digital practice inform, influence or touch the GLAM sector? Then let us know! The timid ideas and the bold, the everyday and the unusual – the community that supports NDF is evolving and we’d like to reflect that evolution in the kinds of presentations we have at the conference.

We’d also like to make sure that the content at the conference is as fresh as possible, so don’t worry if you have an idea that’s half-formed, or a project that’s not yet completed – if it’s digital and it’s GLAM, we’d love to hear from you.

NDF is committed to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and we welcome all perspectives that explore what this means in relation to digital work in the GLAM sector and beyond.

If you need help getting your synapses sparking, take a look our 2018 programme (https://ndf2018.sched.com/) and the past talks on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/NDFNZ/playlists). Previous years have included topics such as online collection building, participatory archive development, inclusive practice, evaluation, preserving our digital lives and developing resources for learning in a digital age.

We will also be running pre-conference workshops on Monday 18 November. Please get in touch if you have an idea for those.

Information on NDF, and on submitting is here here http://www.ndf.org.nz/call-for-presentations

**Deadline for proposals is 24 May 2019**

Please feel free to email the conference committee at conference@ndf.org.nz if you would like to discuss your proposal prior to submitting.

Ngā mihi

Adrian Kingston
Chair, National Digital Forum Board
Digital Channels Manager, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

My name is Emily Crockett and I am a dual degree master’s student in the Information Science and Art History program at UNC-Chapel Hill. I am seeking participants that are at least 18 years old for a study on the functionality of Digital Asset Management Systems in Cultural Institutions (museums, zoos, libraries, archives, galleries, etc.). I am looking for participants that work with Digital Asset Management Systems (or other types of Content Management Systems) semi-regularly.

Participation in this study involves:

• 10-20 minute survey depending on your answers

• An optional phone interview about your system

If you are interested in participating in this study please follow this link: https://unc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cwJk81VMN5uPQgJ

If you can’t personally take the survey, but know someone who can, please send it to them! If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot me an email at eccrock@live.unc.edu

Sincerely,

Emily Crockett

Masters Candidate in Information Science and Art History 2020

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

The Museum Computer Network (MCN) is now accepting applications for scholarships to attend its 2019 annual conference in San Diego, California.

MCN was founded in 1967 to support professionals working to transform the way cultural organizations reach, engage, and educate audiences using digital technologies and new media. In 2019, MCN will explore the theme of Interface: Communities + Museums.

We’re pleased to offer scholarships to 15 innovative museum professionals to join the MCN community at the annual conference. Each scholarship includes:

• Complimentary conference registration
• Choice of one complimentary professional workshop the morning of Tuesday, November 5, 2019
• A $400 (USD) stipend for travel and food
• Complimentary room at the conference hotel for three (3) nights: November 5-6-7, 2019
• An opportunity to meet with MCN board members over lunch during the conference
• Complimentary MCN individual membership for one year

In return, each scholar will present a five minute lightning talk on a digital project they have worked on and enrich the conference experience for others by sharing conferences themes and ideas on social media.

Learn more about the program and apply online today https://conference.mcn.edu/2019/scholarship.cfm. Applications are due by April 30, 2019 at 11:59pm in your timezone.

The MCN scholarship program is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors.

Please feel free to forward this message to others not on the listserv who may be interested. For questions, contact scholarship@mcn.edu

Apologies for cross postings.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Jessica, Ben, and Andrea

MCN Scholarship Committee

DISRUPTOR DAILY

Top 101 Disruptive Companies Making a Positive Difference In the World
VR PEACE MUSEUM included @VRpeacemuseum

https://www.disruptordaily.com/top-101-disruptive-companies-making-positive-difference-world-2/?platform=hootsuite

#museums #vr #ar #peace #humanrights

That’s what makes our annual Benchmarks Study so great — it freezes the flow of data, and captures this moment so we can examine it, contemplate it, and learn from it. We’re collecting participants for our next Benchmarks now, so we can include as much reliable information as possible on everything from digital fundraising and advocacy, to email and advertising, to web traffic and social media.

We’d really like you to be a part of Benchmarks. Each year, we partner with a wide variety of nonprofits who provide the data behind every chart, table, and insight in our study. We even have a Culturals sector that includes museums from around the country. It would be even better with your participation!

If you’d like the join the fun, please review and fill out the consent form here. We’ll reach out with next steps. If you’d like me to keep convincing you/explain how this works, read on!

The data we pull is extensive, but pretty standard: list size and social media presence, online giving numbers, email metrics, etc. Then, we aggregate the numbers with other organizations so your specific dataset isn’t identifiable. (Your data security and anonymity are VERY IMPORTANT to us. All-caps bold important.) And finally, we spot the trends, dig into what the numbers mean, and put it all together in a lovely little package.

By adding your data , you’ll see how your museum stacks up against your peers. And, you’ll help make Benchmarks even more useful for folks just like you. Folks who want to know what kind of a digital ad budget might make sense for their nonprofit. Folks who wonder if their open rates are too low, or if their peers are pulling ahead when it comes to monthly donor growth. Folks with a deep and abiding and unashamed love for nerding out on nonprofit numbers.

There would be a time commitment on your part. We do our best to make this easy, outlining what data we need from you — mostly some data exports and coding of your message data, but it does sometimes take 8+ hours to complete. And in addition to helping make the study, after it’s released you’ll get an individualized analysis comparing the data you submitted for your organization to other organizations of your size and type. Again, we take measures to make sure that your organization’s data is confidential and non-identifiable in the final study. Only you will know how your organization stacks up in the end!

If you would like to participate, fill out this form to let us know. And of course, let me know if you have any questions at all.

Thanks so much,

Yoon Lee

Senior Vice President, M+R

Note that we are also pleased to announce a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Fellowship to promote the study of digital methods in art history and visual studies for women and underrepresented groups.

The Digital Art History track integrates historical disciplines and the study of cultural artifacts with digital visualization techniques for the analysis and presentation of research. The Computational Media track is designed for graduate students focused on the study, creation, and use of digital media and computation in the arts and humanities.

Please see our website (https://gradschool.duke.edu/academics/programs-degrees/digital-art-historycomputational-media) or contact us (dah_cm@duke.edu) for further questions.

Deadline to apply: March 15, 2019

Following an extensive search, MSI selected the Ticketure platform to meet the Museum’s ticketing needs, including purchasing exhibit tickets on-demand directly from Museum staff. Ticketure’s mobile-first architecture will enable MSI to easily manage its key ticketing needs while enhancing the consumer purchasing experience. The solution provides enhanced on-line and in person ticket sales of general admission, timed entry events, and membership, while improving and simplifying group sales and event management for museum staff. Ticketure’s open architecture has been used to create a solution that includes a deep integration with CRM and financial systems. The flexible design also ensures that the platform can grow with MSI’s evolving ticketing and business requirements.

“We’re thrilled to partner with MSI, one of the world’s leading museums. We are pleased that our Cloud hosted, API-based platform featuring a mobile-first design was the solution MSI felt best met their current and future needs” said Steven Sunshine, co-founder and CEO of TixTrack. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with MSI to continue to provide innovative solutions to their business needs.”

“The TiixTrack team did extensive work to really understand our guests and our institution to provide a fully-managed solution,” said Steven Beasley, director of digital media at MSI. “Ticketure gives us the flexibility to serve our members and guests in ways we’ve never been able to before.”

ABOUT TIXTRACK
TixTrack (TixTrack.com) is a Los Angeles-based ticket technology company which has developed two cutting edge Cloud-based ticketing platforms, each designed to meet the unique needs of the industry they were specifically developed to serve: Nliven – serving the live entertainment / reserved seating industry, and Ticketure, serving the arts and attractions /general admission and timed entry industry (Ticketure.com).

TixTrack solutions are deployed across hundreds of venues and properties located on 3 continents and are empowering the ticketing needs of brands such as Cirque du Soleil, Disney, Feld, MGM, Nederlander and Nimax Theatres.

For more information about Tixtrack, Nliven or Ticketure, please contact Michael Arya, co-founder & CRO at michael@tixtrack.com or (626) 825-9345.

ABOUT MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, CHICAGO

The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago (MSI), one of the largest science museums in the world, offers world-class and uniquely interactive experiences that inspire inventive genius and foster curiosity. From groundbreaking and award-winning exhibits that can’t be found anywhere else, to hands-on opportunities that make you the scientist—a visit to MSI is where fun and learning mix. Through its Welcome to Science Initiative, the Museum offers a variety of student, teacher and family programs that make a difference in communities and contribute to MSI’s larger vision: to inspire and motivate children to achieve their full potential in science, technology, medicine and engineering. Come visit and find your inspiration! MSI is open 9:30–4 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Extended hours, until 5:30 p.m., are offered during peak periods. The Museum is grateful for the support of its donors and guests, who make its work possible. MSI is also supported in part by the people of Chicago through the Chicago Park District. For more information, visit msichicago.org or call (773) 684-1414.

EVA 2019 Florence
Conference, Training & Workshops
8 – 9 May 2019

Hotel Pierre, Florence
Conference Languages: Italian & English

Offers of papers (8 pages draft or 1 page summary), Workshops & Demonstrations to be sent to the Chairmen

EVA 2019 Florence Chairmen: Vito Cappellini – Enrico Del Re
E-mail: vito.cappellini@unifi.it – enrico.delre@unifi.it

For information email: vito.cappellini@unifi.it

https://lesc.dinfo.unifi.it/sites/default/files/Documenti/EVA-2019.pdf

Main Topics
· European Commission Projects and Plans regarding Cultural Heritage
· Mediterranean Initiatives in Technology for Cultural Heritage: Synergy with European & International Programmes
· 2D – 3D Digital Image Acquisition
· Leading Edge Applications: Galleries, Libraries, Archaeological Sites, Museums & Historical Tours
· Integrated Digital Archives for Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Art
· Management of Museums by using ICT Technology: Documentation, Access, Guides & Other Services
· The Impact of New Mobile Communications on Cultural Heritage and Modern Arts Area
· Cloud Networks
· Semantic Webs
· Ontology Systems
· Human – Computer Interaction for Cultural Heritage Applications
· Copyright Protection
· Secure Electronic Commerce (Anticounterfeiting)
· Cybersecurity
· Culture and e-government
· Activities and Programmes for e-learning
· Digital TV and films
· 3D Developments and Applications in the Cultural Heritage Area
· Virtual Galleries and Exhibitions
· Digital Art
· Digital Music
· Digital Theater
· Cultural Tourism & Travel Applications
· Impact of Culture in the Smart City
· Art and Medicine

Who Should Attend
– The Cultural Sector – The Government Sector – Media & Related Sectors
– The ICT Industry, especially multimedia SME’s – Tourism & Travel Sector
– Technology & Visual Arts Research Organisations – Trade Culture Activities

President Advisory Board: James Hemsley
Email: jrhemsley6@gmail.com

Submission of proposals (in abstract form) is now open.
​Deadline: 14th January 2019

www.eva-london.org

Proposing for EVA London 2019
Proposals may be for a paper, a demonstration, a combined paper with demonstration, panel session, or a longer workshop. Your proposal should come under one of the conference themes.

Summary proposals only, please! Please submit only a summary proposal, up to one page (400 words) for selection, together with an optional PDF document for additional information. Your proposal must be submitted via the EasyChair website: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=evalondon2019

The main deadline for proposals is Monday 14th January 2019.
The deadline for research workshop proposals is Friday 15th March 2019.

PAPERS
Papers will be presented in 20-minute slots (either in plenary sessions or in parallel) and be associated with a publication of a “long” paper of 4-8 pages in the proceedings.

DEMONSTRATIONS
Demonstrations will be formally timetabled normally in parallel with other sessions, in 20-minute slots. Proposals are invited and should be submitted in outline as for papers, above. However, we will not expect detailed demo requirements until nearer the conference, to allow time for development. For publication, you will be able to offer either a “short” paper of 2-4 pages describing the demo or deliver it in association with a formal presentation (see below).

COMBINED PAPERS & DEMONSTRATIONS
A popular option is a combined paper and demonstration. These can be in two 20-minute sessions on request in the submission, especially if the demo requires significant set-up time, but a combined 30-minute presentation and demo is the default format and encouraged if the demo does not need any complicated set-up. A single “long” paper of 4-8 pages may be produced for the proceedings.

PANEL SESSIONS AND WORKSHOPS
Proposals for panel sessions are welcome. A panel session would consist of two or more panel members who each make brief presentations or statements, followed by a discussion with the audience. We will look for panel sessions to be of wide interest and to stimulate and engage the audience since most delegates are interested and often expert in using and exploring technologies. Note that all panel participants must register for at least the day of the panel. An associated “long” or “short” paper of 2-8 pages may be submitted.

WORKSHOPS
Proposals for longer workshops are welcome. A workshop should be a practical tutorial and would normally in one or sometimes two 90-minute sessions. An associated “long” or “short” paper of 2-8 pages may be submitted.

Electronic visualisation technologies in art, design, music, dance, theatre, the sciences and more …

Central London venue in Covent Garden
BCS, 1st Floor, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA.

We look forward to ​hearing from you!
Hashtag: #EVAlondonconf
Facebook: EVA London

EVA Organising Committee

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Send an email to: listserv@jiscmail.ac.uk
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EVA London is co-sponsored by the Computer Arts Society, a Special Interest Group of the British Computer Society, and by the BCS.

If you use or release open source code for your museum, we’d love to hear from you.

https://goo.gl/forms/1J1HEiMsM45XTvvX2

Thanks so much!
Greg Albers (@geealbers), J. Paul Getty Trust
Aron Ambrosiani (@AronAmbrosiani), Nordic Museum

NEXTGEN 2019
Online: March 4-9, 2019
Residency: March 25-March 30, 2019
APPLY BY WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2019

NextGen 2019 is a blended-learning experience for the museum field’s emerging top talent. The program is designed for mid-level managers with three to five years in a new position. The program blends one week of online learning and one week of residency in a collegial environment at CGU. The curriculum is intensive, while also offering time for self-reflection and practical application of materials and concepts. Modules explore individual leadership styles; team dynamics; diversity and inclusion; audience development; and the future of the museum field.

GLI 2019
Online: May 6-18, 2019
Residency in Claremont, California: June 7-22, 2019
APPLY BY MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019

The renowned Executive Education Program for Museum Leaders is entering its 40th year. The program is designed to help experienced top-level executives become better leaders to strengthen their institutions’ capabilities and advance the field. This intensive management program is for CEOs, Directors, COOs, and senior-level museum executives who influence policy, effect change, and are in the first two to seven years of their position. Program participants take four weeks of intensive courses that blends two weeks online and two weeks of residency at CGU and includes practicum sessions at Los Angeles area institutions. Academically rigorous, the program emphasizes leadership development, strategy, organizational culture, diversity and inclusion, and change management.
For more information, and to apply, visit: https://gli.cgu.edu/

Contact:
Toni Guglielmo, PhD
Associate Director
Getty Leadership Institute
toni.guglielmo@cgu.edu

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/jobs

Books you’ve already read, that you want to retain.

Make certain it flows. A fantastic powerful essay matter should function research papers for sale as field of the discussion. All first-class documents in my own private opinion are persuasive. Attempt these directions on the best method to write a persuasive essay. The past phrase of the primary section is the thesis statement, it provides the general opinion of the complete later essay. Usually, powerful powerful documents utilize an introductory transition phrase within the first supporting sentence ( usually, this really is the paragraph following your opening ). Simply as the introduction is the initial paragraph in your essay doesn’t mean that you have to publish this paragraph prior to any other.

We are working on rewriting our website copy and would love to hear if you have any recommendations for a copywriter we could potentially hire for a freelance job. U.S. Museum experience preferred.

Look forward to hearing from you all.

Madison

Download the Press Release (PDF)

More than 550 leaders from museums, libraries, archives and galleries around the world gathered at the MW18 Conference in Vancouver on Friday, April 20 to recognize the year’s best innovations in the sector at the annual GLAMi awards. Winners were selected by an international committee of judges, chaired by Steven Beasley, Director of Digital Media at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, and Jane Alexander, Chief Information/Digital Officer at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Since the dawn of the Internet age, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (referred to as GLAMi institutions) have been pushing the envelope on what technology can do to preserve, display, and showcase cultural treasures. MW’s annual conferences have been a platform for showcasing and disseminating this important work since 1997. Formerly the “Best of the Web” Awards, the GLAMies were relaunched at MW’s 20th conference in LA last year to showcase the best work the cultural sector has done to engage, inform and excite people both on the Web and across myriad emerging and ever-changing platforms. Whether it’s social media, virtual reality, augmented reality, audio and video tours, apps, or anything in between, the GLAMi Awards honor the projects and people that allow us to visit far-away places, explore ancient artifacts, or connect with the natural world, using amazing, often cutting-edge technologies and practices.

MW’s 22nd conference wrapped up in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday, April 21, with attendees from more than 25 countries and 300+ worldwide galleries, libraries, archives and museums. Judges were assigned to 1-2 categories and read all submissions in those categories. No judge was assigned to a category in which their museum entered a submission. The annual North American gathering of the best and the brightest in the cultural and tech sectors is an opportunity for museum professionals, product developers, researchers and students to talk innovation as it relates to the stewards of the world’s history and heritage. Next year’s conference and GLAMi awards will be hosted in Boston April 2-6, 2019.

This year’s GLAMi Award winners include the following. Complete descriptions of the winning projects are listed at https://mw18.mwconf.org/glami-finalists/

2018 GLAMi Co-chairs Jane Alexander and Steven Beasley congratulate John Stack of the Science Museum, London.

Education category: WikiWelcome, Stockholmskällan and Wikimedia Sverige

Exhibition and Collection Extension (Non-Traditional) category: Send Me SFMOMA, SFMOMA

Exhibition and Collection Extension (Traditional Website) category: Rethinking Guernica, Museo Reina Sofia

Exhibition Media or Experience (Linear Media) category: Making Art Concrete: Works from Argentina and Brazil in the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros videos, J. Paul Getty Museum

Exhibition Media or Experience (In-gallery Interactive) category: Gaze Tracker, The Cleveland Museum of Art

Groundbreaking category: TIE! ARTLENS Gallery, The Cleveland Museum of Art and Contactless Donations Experience, National Museums Scotland

Marketing and Promotion category: Science Museum Group Websites Relaunch, Science Museum, London; National Railway Museum, York, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford; Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester; Locomotion, Shildon

Museum-wide Guide or Program category: Headhunt! National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia

Chatbots have caught the headlines recently with businesses starting to adopt them to stimulate conversation with customers. But what are chatbots? How do they work? What can they do for museums and their audiences?

Authors

Stefania Boiano, InvisibleStudio LTD, UK
Ann Borda, University of Melbourne, Australia,
Pietro Cuomo, Art in the City, Italy
Giuliano Gaia, InvisibleStudio LTD, UK
Stefania Rossi, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Italy

Keywords

museums, chatbots, artificial intelligence, gamification, teenagers

Introduction

Chatbots, also known as talkbots or chatterbots or bots, are growing exponentially in their use by marketers and online businesses in enhancing customer experiences, often as messaging applications that can personalise the interaction (e.g. recommender systems) (1). Simply put, chatbots are computer programs that mimic conversation using auditory or textual methods. More specifically the functionality of chatbots use natural language processing that has a history rooted in artificial intelligence (AI).

ELIZA:

One of the earliest such natural language applications was a chatbot called ELIZA developed from 1964 to 1966 at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum. ELIZA originally was created to use simple pattern matching and a template-based response (prewritten scripts) to emulate the conversational style of a psychotherapist. ELIZA generated a wave of global community interest in building a conversational bot that could pass the Turing Test.

Turing Test:

Published in 1950, Alan Turing’s Computing Machinery and Intelligence addresses the overarching question: Can machines think? (2)

The Turing test in its most simple form is carried out as a sort of imitation game. The test has a human interrogator speaking to a number of computers and humans through an interface. If the interrogator cannot distinguish between the computers and the humans then the Turing Test has been passed. This quest found an audience through the Loebner Prize (begun in 1991), which has taken the form of an annual competition designed to implement the Turing Test.

A.L.I.C.E.:

Building on the pattern-matching techniques used in ELIZA and advancing natural conversational language capabilities, American scientist Richard Wallace developed A.L.I.C.E. (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity) in the late 1990s. A.L.I.C.E., also known as Alicebot, is acknowledged for its pioneering programming using Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML) which is an XML schema for creating natural language software agents. Wallace released the first version of AIML in July 2001. He has since established Pandorabots Inc. – an AI company that is distinguished as one of the world’s earliest chatbot hosting services and publishes the Pandora API on which A.L.I.C.E. was based and which enabled it to become a three-time Loebner winner in 2000, 2001, and 2004.

Jabberwacky:

Concurrent to A.L.I.C.E. developments, Jabberwacky was being conceived by British programmer, Rollo Carpenter. Jabberwacky was intended to simulate “natural human chat in an interesting, entertaining and humorous manner”. The emergence of the Internet provided Jabberwacky with a dynamic database of thousands of online human interactions from which to process responses. Jabberwacky under the guise of ‘George’ and ‘Joan’ won the Loebner Prize in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

Cleverbot:

In 2008, Jabberwacky launched a new iteration rebranded as Cleverbot. Like Jabberwacky, Cleverbot is designed to learn from its conversations with humans (more than 150 million to date according to Wikipedia).

It draws on past interactions to determine future questions and answers. To try out its capabilities, you can chat with Cleverbot on the official website: http://www.cleverbot.com/

IBM Watson:

In the endeavour to extend question answering (QA) capabilities posed in natural language, IBM Watson was conceived in 2006 as a QA computing system with the goal of outperforming human contestants on the U.S. TV game show Jeopardy! IBM Watson was developed as part of IBM’s DeepQA project by a research team led by David Ferrucci. Watson became the first computer to defeat contestants on the TV game show Jeopardy!, notably in a special match between Watson and Jeopardy! Champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. More recently, the Watson capabilities have evolved to take advantage of new deployment models (e.g. Watson on IBM Cloud) and new machine learning capabilities to “adapt and learn”.

Recent developments:

Chatbots in general are reaching milestones in artificial intelligence capability, as well as their pervasiveness in consumer facing products and services. For example in 2014, a chatterbot called Eugene Goostman won an AI contest marking the 60th anniversary of Turing’s death (Turing Test 2014 organised by the University of Reading) in which 33% of the event’s judges thought that Goostman was human. In development since 2001 and originating from St Petersburg, Goostman is portrayed as a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy. The Goostman bot has competed in several Loebner Prize contests since its creation, finishing second in 2005 and 2008.

Created from AIML technology by programmer, Steve Worswick, Mitsuku is a web-based chatbot available on Kik Messenger. It is among a growing number of sophisticated bots that can answer questions, play games, and capable of basic reasoning in QA. Mitsuku is a three-time winner of the Loebner prize in 2013, 2016, and recently in 2017.

Generally, the term ‘chatbot’ has referred to a software application that engages in a dialogue with a human using natural language. Most early advances have been associated with written language, but with advances in speech recognition, there is a narrowing of these associations. An early example is Naturally Speaking which was developed in 1975 by Dr James Baker (Carnegie Mellon University), as a simple speech understanding system that was called Dragon. Dr Baker worked on the system until 1982 when he and his wife, Dr Janet Baker, evolved the software into Dragon Systems, a Voice Recognition System. Other advances in the speech recognition sector have been made possible by VoiceXML which has been published in a series of standards since the release of version 1.0 in the year 2000. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has recently announced a new W3C Community Group on Voice Interaction, which aims to explore beyond the system-initiated directed dialogs of VoiceXML applications.

In just a couple of years, there has been an exponential rise of voice assistants such as Apple Siri launched in 2010, Google Now in 2012, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana in 2015, and Google Assistant in 2016. Using natural language processing and Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, these assistants connect to web services to answer questions and respond to user requests. Recently, Google Home and Amazon Echo have started becoming consumer features in the home.

Social media platforms are similarly incorporating chatbot functionality. The year 2017 witnessed a particular hype cycle as Facebook opened up its Messenger platform and API to developers, providing an opportunity for anyone to build a simple chatbot on Facebook with ease. Twitter followed suite in April 2017 by opening its direct messaging channel to chatbots. WeChat has had chatbot functionalities for a few years now, and Slack and other messenger services are coming on board with open APIs.

Museums and chatbots:

Within this informal history of chatbot developments, it may not be surprising that museums and galleries have a track record in experimenting with new ways of communicating and with the use of emergent technologies to reach their audiences (3), (4), (5). Emerging free chatbot-creating platforms (e.g. Chatfuel, Chatterbot Eliza, among others) and the availability of open APIs, for instance, can offer both large and smaller museums the opportunity of experimenting with chatbots with relatively low effort while keeping costs and staff resources at a low level (5), (6).

Museums already have precedence in piloting technologies encompassing artificial intelligence and natural language processing with few resources (4), (5). Combining in-house or simple production methods with design thinking practices, museums can be enabled to develop interesting products.

There are in fact a growing number of Museums currently going down this route, and using bots to engage their audiences.

Below is a selected list of cultural organisations, discoverable at the time of this publication, that are experimenting with bots as part of their audience engagement programming:

Selected List of Museums using Chatbot Applications for Audience Engagement:

Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum :

The Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum in Paderborn Germany has an early experience of using an avator bot introduced as MAX. Developed in 2004, MAX is a conversational agent that directly engages with visitors through a screen as a virtual museum guide.

The Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City:

The Cooper-Hewitt has been a pioneer in chatbot technologies with the creation of the Object Phone in 2013 – a service powered by Twillio that a visitor can text or call to ask for more information about a museum object in the collection. In 2016, Object Phone became a subscription service so that a visitor can receive a daily update. Anyone can participate in trialling the Object Phone: http://objectphone.cooperhewitt.org and signing up. In the words of Micah Walter, Director of Digital & Emerging Media:

“I think institutions like museums have a great opportunity in the chatbot space. If anything it represents a new way to broaden our reach and connect with people on the platforms they are already using. What’s more interesting to me is that chatbots themselves represent a way to interact with people that is by its very nature, bi-directional”.
Micah Walter, July 4, 2016.

Source: https://labs.cooperhewitt.org/2016/object-phone-the-continued-evolution-of-a-little-chatbot

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)

Send Me SFMOMA is an SMS service that provides an approachable, personal, and creative method of sharing the breadth of SFMOMA’s collection with the public. According to Jay Mollica, Creative Technologist, there are thousands of unseen artworks (only 5% are shown in Galleries at any one time) that can now be discovered through this application by texting 572-51 with the words “send me” followed by a keyword, a colour, or an emoji and the visitor will receive a related artwork image and caption via text message.

Source: https://www.sfmoma.org/send-me-sfmoma/

Carnegie Museum of Art – Carnegie Museums, Pittsburgh.

Similar to the SFMOMA application, Carnegie Museum of Art has developed an SMS-based interaction called Muse which aims to leverage the Carnegie Studio’s user-centered design process and to make use of leading-edge technologies like natural language processing and image recognition. Source: Jeffrey Inscho, Carnegie Museum of Art, May 19, 2017. Source: https://studio.carnegiemuseums.org/introducing-muse-20a6f11c7c35

Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

In March 2017, Anne Frank House in Amsterdam launched its own Facebook Messenger chatbot that allows users to discover the History of Anne Frank – both her personal history and practical visitor information. Not simply a collections discovery bot, this application offers various conversation paths, allowing users to follow different paths in the Anne Frank story with concise information and links to additioal content, for example, excerpts from her diary to the context of World War II at the time. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPH4vUWcN2U Anne Frank House – Published on Apr 3, 2017.

The National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

The National Art Museum in Belarus has also utilised the Facebook Messenger chatbot capability to create a conversational digital guide released in May 2017. A visitor can interact with the bot at:

https://chatfuel.com/bot/The-National-Art-Museum-of-the-Republic-of-Belarus-1904070043163955 . Source: The first Facebook chatbot guide for the National art museum of the Republic of Belarus available on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/213855387 – published by NODUCK, May 2017.

The Museum of Australian Democracy

The Museum marked its 50th anniversary of a landmark 1967 referendum in which Australians voted overwhelmingly to amend the Constitution to include Aboriginal people in the census and to allow the Commonwealth government to create laws for them. This landmark year lead to the launch of a referendum chatbot that allows visitors to learn about the historic and current impacts of this vote through chatting with it on Facebook Messenger. Directed towards children and accessible to adults, it uses simple gamification and responses, including emojis.

“Using a chatbot as a visitor engagement tool is innovative amongst Australia’s cultural institutions. It acts like history in your pocket and is helping MoAD spark a conversation about the significance of the 1967 referendum. We’re hoping it will be an effective way for people to get the facts, hear Indigenous perspectives on the referendum and reflect on its continuing relevance today.”

Source: Marni Pilgrim, Digital Engagement Manager. When a nation votes Yes, history is written and a chatbot is born. Canberra Times Media Release 25 May 2017

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/museum-of-australia-democracy-uses-facebook-messenger-chatbot-to-connect-with-australias-past-20170525-gwcvu5.html

Twitterbots

Not unlike the quick adoption of Facebook Messenger among some of the Museum examples, there is a certain trend in Twitter bots such as the Museumbot that pulls open access images from a number of archives such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other museum archive bots are steadily growing on Twitter, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art LACMA bot, New York Public Library NYPL postcards bot, and the Museum of Modern Art MoMaR bot. A more comprehensive list can be found on Twitter from John Emerson.

The House Museums of Milan Chatbot : Case Study

This snapshot of museum and gallery innovations in chatbot deployment provides the background for a more detailed Case Study about the chatbot work undertaken for The House Museums of Milan (7). Of interest to readers is the twofold consideration of the developers and curators in the creation of The House Museum chatbot – namely:

• to attract and engage teenage audiences to these sites – a notoriously difficult public to engage in museums who are identified with high levels of distraction and highly adapted to the use of social media (6),(7),(8) AND
• to consider interactivity, such as gamification, that can interest and sustain attention by teenage and visitor audiences. (7),(8)

Gamification of chatbot applications is not yet pervasive among museum developments. The Referendum Bot developed for the Museum of Australian Democracy is one example of a gamified bot. The challenges encountered in the House project are described further below as an insider view. The process of chatbot development in this case was also intended to be model for how to make best use of a technology that is still in its infancy, and how to consider promising applications supporting audience interaction, for example, in self-guided tours and education (6), (9), (10).

Goals of the chatbot project:

The House Museums of Milan is a group of 4 historical homes in Milan (Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, Necchi Campiglio Villa and Boschi Di Stefano House Museum). When the House Museums launched a strategic initiative in 2016 that aimed to motivate people to visit the four museums through a single digital guide, they approached InvisibleStudio LTD (a London-based cultural innovation studio) to introduce gamification into the engagement process, specifically to attract younger audiences.

The founders of InvisibleStudio, Stefania Boiano and Giuliano Gaia, had already experimented with earlier chatbot technology in 2002, while working at the Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan. You can find more details about this chatbot development in the MW 2003 paper: Make Your Museum Talk: Natural Language Interfaces For Cultural Institutions. (11)

This pioneering work provided important lessons in the development of this first chatbot. A key problem was that the chatbot was developed to mimic a Leonardo da Vinci character with whom the user would interact/”chat”. This set high expectations for the user experience, and led to frustrations when the bot was not able to understand the user beyond simple introductory chat. Consequently, user issues occurred quite soon in the conversation. (11)

With these lessons in hand, InvisibleStudio decided to change their approach when creating a chatbot for the House Museums project. The chatbot would only be used as a tool to help users solve a game set in the real physical environment of the museum. Thus, this approach could shift the user’s focus from the conversation with the chatbot to the actual exploration of the Museum galleries.

The chatbot game was developed using Facebook Messenger, and is directed mainly to young users and teenagers to engage them in exploring the four homes. Exploration is encouraged by users in looking for hidden clues that lead to a final discovery. The gaming activity is set in the context of fighting a mysterious Renaissance magician (based on a real historical figure) that provides a further incentive to engage with the application.

In this way users’ attention are drawn away from the limited conversational skills of the chatbot and invited to observe the collections with more attention while using the chatbot as a “virtual companion” in the game. Other key features had to be tweaked before publishing the application, such as making conversations more realistic by studying real chats on Facebook Messenger, referencing objects which the user can actually see “here and now” in the galleries, and finding the perfect length for the game (11), (12).

Another key challenge is the necessity of keeping open a continuous online connection between users and the chatbot. This can prove tricky in historical house museums, where the older infrastructure is comprised of complex layouts and thick walls which can prevent wifi or an even distribution of wifi connections.

The chatbot was tested with teenagers aged 16-18. The pilot was conducted by InvisibleStudio with 80 teenaged students from local high schools in Milan. This pilot provided the following results:

• 90% of students managed to complete the game
• 30% had connection problems
• 34% were worried for their data traffic
• 88% found the length of the game was right
• 72% evaluated the game as highly entertaining
• 66% found it a useful learning tool, especially if it was used with another student or in a small group.

These results offered some clear directions for the final development stages. Especially interesting for the developers was the fact that students liked using the chatbot in small groups, rather than on their own, because the game triggered collaboration within the team and created a friendly competitive environment with other teams. (12)

Challenges still need to be addressed. These are mainly related to the Facebook Messenger platform itself. For instance, teenagers seem to be abandoning it at an increasing rate. WhatsApp appears to be much more popular, but WhatsApp has not opened its API to third-party software yet. Thus creating a chatbot in WhatsApp is much more difficult at this stage although industry rumours suggest that WhatsApp will open its API soon (13). When this happens, museum chatbots could be developed for a potentially larger audience (e.g. teenagers), and potentially a larger uptake which does not depend on a subscription (e.g. Facebook) as the situation exists currently.

Concluding thoughts:

What emerged from this project is that the convergence of chatbots and gamification can be a powerful tool to involve younger, digital savvy generations visiting museums in novel and interesting ways (5), (6), (7), (9), (10). Our findings particularly suggest that users enjoy interacting with a chatbot in a game context, and this engagement can provide a smarter way of leading younger audiences to interact with objects and historic environments with greater attention. However with all the successes of this chatbot launch, there also remain challenges that need further consideration beyond the scope of this paper. As mentioned above, the availability of a wider range of chatbot platforms is one such challenge. A more involved issue is the pace and quality of the bot conversation which emerged as a critical aspect of this project. The present chatbot application required a bigger effort from the developing team to create engaging and realistic non-linear narrative lines, and this will be part of a continuing iteration in future developments.

Bibliography, References and Resources

(1) Dale, R. The return of the chatbots. Natural Language Engineering 22 (5) 2016 : 811–817. doi:10.1017/S1351324916000243

(2) Turing, A. M. (1950) Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Mind 49: 433-460.

(3) Borda, A. and Bowen, J. Smart Cities and Cultural Heritage: A Review of Developments and Future Opportunities. IN Proceedings. Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA London 2017), BCS, London, pp 9-18.

(4) Bordoni, L., Mele, F. and Sorgente, A. (eds). Artificial Intelligence for Cultural Heritage. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2016.

(5) Boiano, S., Gaia, G. and Caldarini, M. Make Your Museum Talk: Natural Language Interfaces for Cultural Institutions. Museums and the Web 2003. URL: https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2003/papers/gaia/gaia.html

(6) Boiano, S., Cuomo, P. and Gaia, G. Real-time Messaging Platforms for Storytelling and Gamification in Museums: A case history in Milan. IN Proceedings. Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2016), London, UK, 12 – 14 July 2016. doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2016.60. URL: http://ewic.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/56302

(7) Fors, V. Teenagers’ Multisensory Routes for Learning in the Museum. The Senses and Society, 8:3, 2016, 268-289, DOI: 10.2752/174589313X13712175020479

(8) Endo, Tasia. “Teens use tech to talk art: Amplifying teen voice and art interpretation.” MW2016: Museums and the Web 2016. Published March 10, 2016. Consulted September 29, 2017.
http://mw2016.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/teens-use-tech-to-talk-art-amplifying-teen-voice-and-art-interpretation/

(9) Kelly, L. and Russo, A. From Ladders of Participation to Networks of Participation: Social Media and the Museum Audiences. MW2008: Museum and the Web Conference, April 9–12, Montreal, Canada.

(10) Cawston, Rob, Daniel Efergan and Lindsey Green. “It’s in the game: can playful digital experiences help organisations connect with audiences in new ways?.” Museums and the Web: MW 2017. Published January 31, 2017. Consulted September 29, 2017.
https://mw17.mwconf.org/paper/its-in-the-game-can-playful-digital-experiences-help-organisations-connect-with-audiences-in-new-ways/

(11) Boiano S. and Gaia G., 3 Lessons learnt from Building our first Museum Chatbot… 15 years ago! Invisible Studio website. Consulted February 28th, 2018. URL: https://medium.com/@invisiblestudio/3-lessons-learnt-from-building-our-first-museum-chatbot-15-years-ago-7189c8a8fe6

(12) Boiano S. and Gaia G., 5 Tips for Involving Teenagers in Your Museum Using a Chatbot. Invisible Studio website. Consulted February 28th, 2018. URL: https://medium.com/@invisiblestudio/5-tips-for-involving-teenagers-in-your-museum-using-a-chatbot-bf88ff3ad568

(13) Mool, T. (2018) Chatbot Trends: The Year of the VoiceBot, WhatsApp Bots, MaaP. NativeMSG. Consulted February 28th, 2018 URL: https://nativemsg.com/blog/2018-chatbot-trends-the-year-of-the-voicebot-whatsapp-bots-maap

CENIC’s annual conference will be held March 5th–7th, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey, California. The conference brings together CENIC’s richly diverse community, with participants from all education segments, including public and private research universities, public libraries, scientific, cultural, and performing arts institutions, private sector technology businesses, public policy and government agencies, and R&E partners from across the country and around the world.

Conference keynote speakers include Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, Kireeti Kompella, Senior Vice President & CTO, Juniper Networks, and Ilkay Altintas, Ph.D., Chief Data Science Officer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center.

The full conference program is online now. Attendees can choose from more than forty sessions, including the following, which may be of particular interest to attendees from scientific and cultural organizations:

• Cultural preservation in sessions such as Visualizing Cultural Heritage: Research Engagement on the Pacific Research Platform and Creating a Network for Digital World Cultural Heritage Preservation and Analytics.
• Presentations from technology leaders in Scientific and Cultural Institutions on Regional, National, and International R&E Networks.
• Sessions on cybersecurity including panels on Workforce Development in R&E Environments and Revoking Attackers’ Phishing License in R&E Environments.
• Opportunities for collaboration with museums, public libraries, and universities in sessions such as Riding the WAVE: Student-led Docent Program for UC Merced’s Wide-Area Visualization Environment, and More than Internet Access, which describes how libraries across the state are using high-speed broadband to expand programs and services in collaboration with other research and education institutions.

Conference registration is now open! You can register here. >

Looking forward to connecting with other museum and cultural institutions in Monterey!

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