So the Picasso exhibition is over and we learned a lot about mass iPod audio tours. The first lesson, they’re very popular! We’ve had iPods for our permanent collection for a while now, but we never really had the push behind it like we had for Picasso. The difference I noticed here is that if you advertise it, people will use it.
We did a lot better job for the Picasso show in getting the word out that the iPods as well as Art on Call were available. People used them. There were very often waiting lists for people to check out an iPod. I had honestly thought at the beginning that 25 iPods was overkill, but after a short time it was obvious we could have probably had twice that and still had all of them in use at any given time. A lot of this was because of the show itself. A ton of people came to see Picasso. I’ve never seen that many people in our galleries before, outside of After Hours. And this was day in, day out. But like anything, word gets out, people in the galleries see others on their cell phones or with iPods and learn they can do the same (for free) and people really ate up the content. We will post more on our numbers when the final data comes in.
So that’s great, people dug the content, but what were the caveats? For us there were several things that came up that we had to work around. One is what I already mentioned, the iPods being checked out constantly. Because of this, none of the iPods during the day got a chance to recharge. Most made it through an 8 hour day fine, but what we didn’t expect was having to charge them over night. Because they needed to be locked up somewhere safe when the building was closed we had to find a secure place to take the charging station each night, and thankfully we were able to.
Also, at first we were going to use one of the computers at the front desk to dock the iPods on, but given the traffic, that didn’t go over well as that computer needed to be used off and on all day for ticketing, etc. But we still needed a dedicated computer there just for the iPods. We thankfully had a spare Sony laptop that sufficed for this and did a good job.
There was also something that came up that I never had even thought about. I originally put the iPods down in a floor cabinet which could be closed. This was partially to be neat and tidy and partially for security. Problem was, we were so busy and swapping out so many iPods that the Visitor Services staff started to really strain having to bend over again and again to swap out iPods all day. Thankfully our carpentry shop rectified this by making a pedestal that the iPods could go in to make it easier on everyone’s backs.
And what about dead and abused iPods? Several notes here. One, Notes mode works better now than it did when I first used it and dismissed it and then instead hacked the iPod firmware. But there are still major issues with Notes mode. While better, it’s still not ready for prime time and there are still ways for users to change settings even when locked into Notes mode (which I’m still trying to figure out, but given the number of iPods I got that I had to reset, it’s certainly an issue). That said, we will probably use Notes mode for exhibition-only tours in the future.
Secondly, when your audio tour is this popular bad things happen. We had a few iPods die on us. Three were hard drive failures, and one had a screen fail from abuse. The good news is Apple will replace iPods for free if there is a hard drive failure and the iPod is under warranty. The bad news is the same can’t be said for screen abuse (or any other kind of user created problem). Most of the iPods survived just fine, some had to be reset with a hard reset (getting into the hidden firmware setting to do so), but in the end most survived the ordeal.
The other big challenge was getting people to understand how to use the iPods. Believe it or not there are a lot of people who have never used one before. The Picasso show skewed a bit older as well which added to this. We had a stop on our tour (the first stop) that was all about how to use the iPod and the tour menu itself was as simple as possible (just one list, no submenus), but as with any technology there is still a learning curve involved, regardless of how simple it may seem. Someone will always struggle. It’s important everyone in your museum knows how they work, because anyone, even security guards, may be asked to help someone who’s stuck. This is the most important part to me, because if people can’t figure out how to use your device, there’s no point in having it!
Lastly, as Robin guessed before the show started, ditch the earbuds and get over-the-ear headphones for your iPods. This was a very good move. Nobody wants to stick earbuds in their ears after 20 people before you have!
In related iPod news, we’re getting a few of the new iPod Touch’s in at the end of the month, and I’m currently building an app for it. I think these could have a real impact on audio (and video) tours because of the built in WiFi and browser. I’m pretty excited at the possibilities. More on this soon.
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Pingback by Ipod Stuff » Picasso iPod Audio Tour Post Mortem — 9/17/2007 @ 2:19 pm
The iPods were an essential component of the experience for me — I saw the exhibit in three trips, and checked out one of the iPods each time. I appreciate tremendously the amount of thought and effort you put into the interface. (And yes, given the choice, I used the over-the-ear headphones.) Previously, I’d dialed into Art on Call, and I started off trying that on my first trip into the exhibit. Using the iPods was much more straightforward and much less intrusive. In an exhibit like this one, where the richness of the juxtaposed images can’t fully be appreciated without knowledge of the historical context, the audio tours are vital. Thanks.
Comment by Matt — 9/17/2007 @ 3:13 pm
[…] beat me to the punch with his Picasso iPod post. Much to learn from this project which gave us an opportunity to compare the same tour on iPods and […]
Pingback by New Media Initiatives Blog » Picasso iPods part 2 — 9/18/2007 @ 9:58 am
greetings, i stumbled upon your blog because i’m working on an upcoming project that will be using ipod’s for video & audio tours.
i’d love to hear about thr ipod touch app you are working on, and if i can help in any manner.
also, i’m trying to understand the best route for “uploading” content to a users ipod without wiping it. ultimately, we’d like to allow users to bring their own ipod, or “rent” if they don’t have one.
thanks + good luck. digging the site, i’ll be sure to stick around.
Comment by joe lackner — 9/21/2007 @ 4:19 pm
Brent,
Interesting write up. As you may already know here at the San Jose Museum of art we have been checking out iPods for about two years now. We have encountered a lot of similar issues.
I am also intrigued by your last paragraph for obvious reasons. We have already developed a prototype multimedia tour around a few permanent collection works. It is barebones right now with a few quirks that need to be worked out. It works best with a wifi connection and is only optimized for the iPhone and the Touch. Check it out here:
http://www.sjmusart.org/iphone
I’ll contact you at your email address.
Best regards,
Chris
Comment by Chris Alexander — 9/23/2007 @ 11:48 am
@Joe: You can’t really build a docking station and let people connect to it for various reasons (the worst of which is potentially reformatting their iPod). The best you can do currently is let people download the tour before they come, or rent out iPods you preload with your content. With the new iPod Touch it’s also possible to have them download a podcast when they are in the gallery, which, as time goes on and Apple adds this feature to all iPods, will probably be the preferred method.
@Chris: The App being worked on probably isn’t what you’re thinking. It’s not related to audio tours at all. Though I do have ideas for those as well in the future. I’ll post more when it’s appropriate.
Comment by Brent Gustafson — 10/2/2007 @ 9:41 am
@ brent: thanks for your input. we’re still in the planning phase of using the tour system. i think getting a set of ipod touches & using a safari optimized site with .mov files will be the best bet whenever they are within wifi range. the main issue with that is the tour will cover an entire historic downtown district…
hrm… preloading will still be optimal. thanks again!
Comment by joe lackner — 10/11/2007 @ 10:04 am
@ Brent/Chris:
Given the fact that creating an ipod video tour — essentially producing a short television documentary — would be significantly more expensive than creating an audio tour, are museums, which I'm guessing would be unable to finance most productions going forward, be amenable to the idea of imbedded sponsorship/advertising?
Thanks,
Lou
Comment by Lou Gallagher — 11/14/2007 @ 12:43 pm
The ipod were really great and should help to enhance the visitors’ experience to the exhibition. There’s actually so many things you can do with your ipod and the list is actually endless. Do share with us your experience on how the thing managed to work out. It’s sure interesting.
Comment by iPod Music Downloads — 2/9/2008 @ 1:20 pm