Do you know new technologies that have the potential to improve customer satisfaction and welcome in museums ?

[Reciproque]

I am searching for case studies or real experience feedback in future technology for public access and welcome visitors in the building.
From e-ticket to robots and robotics...

[Richard Smith]

I have an interest in this topic, too, but focused on mobile technologies (mobile phones, PDAs, tablets...). Any pointers most welcome.

[Jo Ann Hammond-Meiers]

Hello Richard and Bezombes,
I was more caught by your inteset in mobile phones -- etc. Margaret Koole-Ady, at Athabasca University has conducted some interesting research into cell phones and mobile learning. I participated in a project study with some others students -- on mobiglam. She was just publishing an article recently -- when I last talked with her. Our group did a project including a couple of videos and a moodle course.
Jo Ann

[Richard Smith]

Hmm. This site is proving to be a "gold mine" on this research topic!

Can you provide some contact info for Koole-Ady and mobiglam? (I did a "google" on them, but the available info is a bit limited...)

Obviously learning is one element of mobiles in/and museums but we want to draw a wide net, including admissions/tickets, promotion, before/after information gathering by the public AND by the museum administration, social networking among attendees and between attendees and museum staff, and probably a dozen uses we haven't thought of yet.

We are also tasked with doing a bit of a future scan of emerging technologies and how these might be used in new and different ways. The small text screen and short 140 char messages are obviously not the end game here, with bigger, brighter, and more sensually engaging material being immanent. What do people see in this realm? The iPhone/iPod Touch platform is probably just a glimpse of a form factor that will become much more common. Will museums head in this direction?

I am also conscious that people's ability and willingness to USE a mobile in a museum can be a factor in uptake. With the proliferation of camera phones, it may be either against the rules or at least bad manners to use a mobile device, so we'll have to investigate that aspect as well. One of the earlier posters on Lynn's "Web Trends" posting mentioned some research in Taiwan (I think) that looked into this issue.

I am still looking for an easy way to share our findings - might create a wiki and post the link - but I certainly welcome any and all suggestions of technologies, people, projects, and trends that we should take into account. The final report will be available to the public at a Canadian government web site.

...r

[Richard Smith]

I realize I gave pretty sketchy information on the research from Taiwan. As it happens, this evening I was browsing through a journal on educational technology and society and an article title caught my eye. Lo and behold, there was the article I had been referring to - even though all I had previously known about it was a comment from someone else on this forum. Amazing. Anyway, here is the full citation: Sung, Y.-T., Chang, K.-E., Lee, Y.-H., & Yu, W.-C. (2008). Effects of a Mobile Electronic Guidebook on Visitors’ Attention and
Visiting Behaviors. Educational Technology & Society, 11 (2), 67-80.

I have the PDF, if anyone is interested and I am happy to share it with you.

[Lynda Kelly]

Richard - we had a discussion here about mobile technologies that may be of help??

[Richard Smith]

Yes, I have been following that discussion and will continue to keep an eye on it. I will also use that thread to post updates to our own research, since it seems to be an active thread.

[Alex Gibson]

Here is a list I wrote of social media services, open source software and open education models that could be purposed to create a more reciprocal museum experience.
http://cfi.vca.unimelb.edu.au/research/links?op0=word&filter0=&...

[Richard Smith]

What a great list! Thank you...

[Angelina Russo]

HI Richard
You might be interested in Seb's post http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/index.php/2008/10/23/some-q...
Cheers

[Richard Smith]

And, I guess we should all be cognizant - especially in this thread - that some mobile versions of these technologies, to the extent that they are used in the museum and disrupt others, might be antithetical to the hope to "improve customer satisfaction and welcome in museums."

[Alex Gibson]

The notion of 'customer satisfaction' is a term which implies a dichotomy between a producer and a consumer. Using social media will shift this dichotomy to a newer model where consumers and producers alike merge into stakeholders and the institutions, organisations and businesses they engage with both produce and consume alongside them.

Museums could be more welcoming and provide greater *stakeholder* satisfaction by developing deeper uses of new technologies that are free social media services and open access education programs. Here is a link to a great report that describes this shift paradigm in more detail: http://www.smartinternet.com.au/ArticleDocuments/121/User_Led_Innov...

Here is a quick list of technologies and support programs that will improve satisfaction and welcome stakeholders: wikis, blogs, forums, chat, social bookmarking, social networking, file sharing, photo sharing, video sharing, SMS, VOIP, microblogging, webcasting, podcasting, webinars, streaming video, dynamic communities, dynamic information databases, PDAs, open access internet, free and open wireless, social media literacy programs, media repositories, folksonomies, RSS.

[Richard Smith]

I recently posted a request to the MCN mailing list, asking for suggestions about mobile projects in museums, and I thought I would repost it here, for people who don't subscribe to both things (apologies for those of you who, inevitably, do).

Dear MCN,

My name is Richard Smith. I am a professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver. I have been working on a small project - sponsored by Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) - to update what we know about mobiles and wireless technologies (hardware, software, applications, projects...) in museums.

I have been doing some interviews, and a literature review, but would welcome a chance to get updates on as many mobile / wireless projects that involve museums and galleries. Since many of you will be at MCN (and, sadly I won't be - although Sheila Carey from CHIN will be there) and perhaps thinking about mobile projects, perhaps you could take a few minutes to fill in this survey:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=ppkLgpKY_guLZID1D7FNmSQ

Once I get a few responses, I will make the results available via this list.

I have also been collecting - via Delicious.com - a list of online resources. Any suggestions you have for that would be most welcome (via email or directly via delicious). The list is here: http://delicious.com/richard_k_smith/chin

Finally, if you would be willing to be interviewed about your project, there is a box at the end of the survey that asks for an email address, or you can just send it directly to me ([e-mail]).

Thanks in advance for contributing to this project.
--
Richard Smith, Professor, School of Communication
Simon Fraser University, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, CANADA V6B 5K3
Phone: [phone] Web: http://www.sfu.ca/~smith