New Media Initiatives Blog

While preparing a presentation on multi-user digital tables, I was directed to the Great War tables at the National World War One Museum, Kansas City, MO. Produced by Second Story, these tables are just one part of the museum’s use of interactive technology to tell the story of WWI. The two tables, each 26-feet long, feature “individual interactives where visitors can: learn about military technologies through 3D reconstructions; compare the arsenals, artillery and airplanes used by the combatant armies; watch archival video footage and browse photographic collections; and create their own propaganda posters and war memorials that they can email to themselves and others. At any time, museum staff can launch the tables into a group based interactive experience where up to 24 visitors engage in a series of interactive challenges that parallel the military, political and civilian aspects of the war.” For more on the tables, see the Second Story page. And don’t miss the Quicktime demo.

Visitors to the Walker’s Frida Kahlo exhibition have the option of renting a multimedia guide ($6, $5 Walker members). The tour was produced by Antenna Audio whose staff are providing bi-weekly reports on usage. Here’s what we know so far:

• Take-up rate varies widely depending on attendance with the average being 9%. Thursdays are our big day with typically around 22% (Walker admission is free on Thursday nights). Saturdays are also a big day but the take up ratio (.05%) is diluted by Free First Saturday (FFS) attendance. FFS is the Walker family day; we had 4,800 visitors on November 3rd, a large percentage of which were 12 and under.
• The numbers show far more non-members purchase the tour versus members (approximately 20:1). However, once members purchase the tour, they’ve come back multiple times, often with friends and family.
• The 50+ crowd are the folks purchasing the tour. Teens and 20-somethings think they know it all and tend to dismiss it. I wonder how much this demographic might change if the tour was free and/or offered on personal technology.
• Antenna’s new hardware appears to be holding up to public use. By the end of a 6-hour day, the players can get a bit sluggish but they brought in additional units so they can rotate more frequently.
• The comments from visitors continue to be overwhelmingly positive. Some of the quotes we’ve gotten:”Fantastic…indispensable for understanding the heavy symbolism of her work.”"…loved additional visuals on touch screen…” \r\n\r\n”…would have been lost without it…”

  “…numbers next to paintings should be larger…” (Sigh. The labels, always the labels.)

  “Excellent to have optional perspectives on the artist and contextual background on her life and times.”

  “…the order of paintings didn’t jive with the audio and I had to skip all over the place to find where I was supposed to be.” (The tour is random access and some visitors still prefer a more linear tour.)

  “Every exhibit should have these!”

Brent 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 cell phones. I was waiting for the phone stats and survey results but you'll have to come back for that information.

As Brent said, the iPods were a huge success. In the course of the exhibition (June 16-September 9), over 3,500 visitors borrowed the iPods (25-23 devices available for free and loaded with the exhibition tour only). In busy periods, people queued for the tour. And in these same busy periods, visitor services found the loan process almost more than they could manage (witness the drawing on the envelop accompanying the last bunch of checkout sheets).* I sought a donation from Apple (they gave us 5 iPods, we bought 20) but fact is they should have paid us for this kind of promotion. In addition to providing a rewarding interpretative experience, we taught a new generation how to use the iPod--a common refrain heard at the front desk, "now I can tell my grandchildren I used an iPod!"

Despite their popularity, the iPods will only be used for special projects (3 remain available for the permanent collection tour but ultimately we prefer visitors bring their own hardware). That said, Walker is working with Antenna Audio and SFMOMA to produce a multimedia guide for our upcoming Frida Kahlo exhibition, available on Antenna's new XP-vision™ player for $6.

* This drawing is in no way a reflection of the demeanor of front-line staff who are often complemented for exceptional customer service. “Kill the iPod” courtesy the artist Joe Rizzo.

June is the end of our fiscal year, a time when everyone responsible for compiling statistics completes those all-important spreadsheets demonstrating program success (or so it is hoped). The report card on the Walker websites was a good one. This graph reflects the combined user sessions of the three domains managed by new media: walkerart.org, mnartists.org, and artsconnected.org (a collaboration with The Minneapolis Institute of Arts). In FY05-06, we had 6.3 million visitors, and in the year ending last month 8.7 million, an almost 40% increase.

The four main metrics we report are page views, unique visitors, user sessions, and user hours. We emphasize users sessions, believing they are the best comparison to the Center's attendance numbers, while recognizing that all web statistics are subject to inherent caveats. For more on importance of using multiple metrics, see Brent's recent post.

Here's the breakdown on the Walker numbers by domain:

On walkerart.org, we're especially interested in where visitors are spending their time. Traditionally, the Walker calendar, Gallery 9, and the home page have been the most popular sections. Last year, Walker blogs entered the top tier and continue to rise, outpacing the calendar in September of 2006, the home page in January 2007, and Gallery 9 in February 2007. The Walker blogs have remained on top ever since and are without question, the most visited section of the Walker site.

We're all back from Museums and the Web 2007, catching our collective breath while trying to maintain the enthusiasm the conference generated. I last attended M&W in 2003, and a quick glance back at that program immediately suggests how much has changed in four years. In 2003, I presented mnartists.org's 10 Tips for Building Online Communities. No where in my paper, or any other that I can find, does one find references to tagging, blogging, or social media. There are some overlapping themes (like Susan Hazan on virtual worlds and the Dead Sea Scrolls: 3D was huge in 03) but the specifics have changed as have many of the people.

For me, the big take away from this year's conference was rethinking the Walker's online identity as a web presence instead of a website. If our missions include public outreach (or audience engagement in Walker parlance), isn't presence more important than place? It's about being "there" with the "there" emphasizing the place where the public is. To some extent we're doing this already but not as consciously as I'm thinking about it now.

Robin's conference highlights
Opening Plenary, Brewster Kahle
Colleague Paul Schmelzer posted a great recap of this session. I was familiar with the Internet Archive for its Wayback Machine. Now I'm determined "to send Brewster our stuff," beginning with the Walker Channel archives.

Jim Spadaccini's workshop "Museum Mashups"
Mashups--web applications creating something new by drawing on content from multiple sources--have many benefits (e.g., "free" services, dynamic content, development time savings) and drawbacks (commercial nature of open APIs, potential performance issues). Jim did a great job characterizing the landscape, using some of Ideum's work to illustrate the possibilities. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology's The American Image: The Photographs of John Collier Jr. did it for me. The site uses Flickr for content management under an account created for the deceased photographer (advantage to this approach: the photos are identified as Collier's; disadvantage: one-way conversation since the Maxwell isn't posting fictitious Collier comments on Flickr). On the website, image requests use Flickr's open API to retrieve particular photographs or groups of photos. In one of the classroom activities, they use Flickr to compare Collier's work with contemporary photos categorized with similar tags like architecture, defense, family, and school. As noted on the site "the connections between the photos may be unusual," although I've been nothing but amazed and inspired by the comparisons in the limited time I've spent browsing. The goal of the project is to build visual literacy skills. Jim noted that they weren't necessarily satisfying that objective on Flickr but then again 10% of the site visitors are coming from Flickr. Not bad.

More on mashups: workshop slides and bookmarks are available on the Ideum blog.

LaBar, Liberty Science Center, Times Square of Science and Technology (T2ST)
We've been talking about bringing Walker-related/contemporary art news via RSS into the Walker (both online and onsite) so I was really interested in the Liberty Science Center project. T2ST pairs the Times Square model with interactive surfaces in the atrium of the new Science Center to display science and technology news retrieved through RSS feeds. Visitors interact with the installation via kiosks and research stations, cell phones and PDAs (the cell phone component is part of the Science Now Science Everywhere project). The SNSE system allows visitors to take away custom RSS feeds and news reports on their phones. "This extends visitors' engagement with the installation and sets the stage for the development of more elaborate participation in 'citizen science projects.'" Wayne noted a number of challenges including resolving the relationships between various pieces (e.g., visitor input with a scavenger operator that searches for news and stores data feeds in the database scheduling the actual displays); content policies (content is provided by automatic aggregators but staff must approve all sources); rights management (e.g., CNN's RSS policy requires direct links back to the source); and providing context for images/media removed from original content. The new Science Center opens in July: can't wait to see.

Schreiber, Semantic-Web Techniques
Advocating vocabulary alignment instead of unification, Schreiber's presentation demonstrated the power and potential of the semantic-web. "The main objective of this work, which is performed in the context of the MultimediaN E-Culture project, is to demonstrate how novel semantic-web and presentation technologies can be deployed to provide better indexing and search support within large virtual collections of cultural-heritage resources." This is good stuff, and I hope we can incorporate many of the search strategies in the redesign of ArtsConnectEd. The online version of the demonstrator can be found at http://e-culture.multimedian.nl/demo/search. I really like the grouping of results by type of semantic link. A plea to the Getty voiced during the discussion: please make your vocabularies available as open APIs.

Presentations I wish I'd heard
One of the great things about M&W is David and Jennifer's insistence on papers. I'll be reading these:
Caruth and Bernstein, Brooklyn Museum
I've heard several rave reviews of the Brooklyn presentation. They're making friends in MySpace and Flickr, building on existing audiences, and really taking the museum program to where the audience is.

OpenCollection Web-based Collection Cataloguing, Goodman, Museum of the Moving Image, and Kaufman, Whirl-i-Gig
The presenters were taking questions when I walked in but the idea of an open source collections management system seems almost too good to be true. We use a homegrown FileMaker application for managing collections information; it has served Registration well but is less than ideal as a foundation for other applications feeding off the data. I spoke to Carl Goodman at the Exploratorium reception and was convinced there's something here worth pursuing.

So much more but the job beckons. Thanks M&W for staging a great conference.

Ken Goldberg, Ouija 2000, 2000

Nice piece on NPR about preservation of digital art including interviews with artist Ken Goldberg and Digital Media Director & Curator Richard Rinehart of the Berkeley Art Museum (BAM). Rick discusses working with artists to create a script for variable media, a preservation strategy that emerged from the Guggenheim's Variable Media Initiative. On the BAM site, Archiving the Avant-Garde is a great resource and includes a link to Rick's paper A System of Formal Notation for Scoring Works of Digital and Variable Media Art.

Thursday, January 18, 7:00 pm, Walker Cinema

If you've visited the Walker recently, you've likely encountered the captivating animated dolphin, a creature that engages visitors in a dialogue about subjects ranging from the philosophic to the prosaic. The Walker-commissioned Dolphin Oracle II is the work of Minneapolis-based artist/designer Piotr Szyhalski, created in collaboration with Richard Shelton. A professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Szyhalski works in a variety of media -- illustration, photography, typography, drawing, painting, sound -- which are often combined in installations, interactive media, and live performance. What remains central to his production is the insistence on the viewer as a "co-creator" of the artwork. Szyhalski will converse with Steve Dietz, director of ZeroOne: The Art and Technology Network and organizer of the recent exhibition Global Festival of Art on the Edge in San Jose, California. Founding director of the Walker's New Media Initiatives, Dietz has curated digital media exhibitions worldwide and has contributed to numerous publications and the recently published book Else/Where: Mapping -- New Cartographies of Networks and Territories.

This lecture will be webcast and archived on the Walker Channel.

Like Paul Schmelzer's Centerpoints, WebWalker is a compilation of interesting stuff--things that catch our attention but don't necessarily generate a full post. We'll be publishing this column every couple of weeks so if you've got things to share, please send your ideas to any of the WebWalker authors. We'll be sure to thank you for the link.

What’s in a name? WebWalker was first launched in May 1999 by Steve Dietz, founding director of the Walker's New Media Initiatives department. WebWalker was a "newsletter about the Walker Art Center Web sites and digital culture on the net." The last issue (#28) was published April 23, 2000. An archive of the previous issues–minus #22-27 which appear to be lost in the ether–can be found in WebWalker archive.

• She's not quite the Dolphin Oracle but Ms. Dewey is a search helper that aspires to rule your world (would we expect anything less from Microsoft?). Not very useful and of questionable entertainment value, Ms. Dewey is a better example of viral marketing than an interesting search interface. In the end, Ask.com (formerly Jeeves) is more useful and Google’s under the radar Web 2.0 search, SearchMash, gives better results. (Robin)

• The Walters Art Museum recently launched Integrating the Arts: Mummies, Manuscripts and Madonnas, an educational unit built with Pachyderm 2.0. Pachyderm is an open source multimedia authoring tool designed to make it possible for content experts with limited technical knowledge to publish rich-media presentations. Integrating the Arts is a model project meant to demonstrate Pachyderm's potential. Stay tuned to see how Walter’s museum staff and teachers use the tool. The Walter's project was directed by Sandbox Studios. (Robin)

• In the rapid-fire Web (Bubble?) 2.0 world, it seems like a new site pops up every hour. How can you possibly keep up with them all? TechCrunch is good and has in-depth writeups, but MoMB is better for pure reach. It’s the Museum of Modern Betas! (ironically, still in alpha.) (Nate)

• Get into the Christmas spirit by decorating someone else’s Christmas tree via the web. Matthew Knight of de-construct has set up a little site where visitors can suggest decorations to be placed on the tree. A new decoration each day. (Justin)

Art on Call is constantly being improved to make it more functional and easier to use. Last month we released a new version with revised scripts and features. The script changes are meant to tighten the call flow and correct problems in the navigation (e.g., callers didn't understand that stop numbers could be entered from the root welcome). The new features--TalkBack and breadcrumbing--take advantage of caller id to capture the stops requested by visitors and allow them to leave their own audio commentary.

TalkBack
The option to record your own comments about a work of art is available after listening to an Art on Call stop. Callers can leave one comment per work and retrieve them by entering their phone number at the website (newmedia.walkerart.org/aoc). By leaving a comment, you’re also giving the Walker permission to share your recording with other visitors. Visitor comments selected by Walker staff will appear in the program and on the website.

Breadcrumbing
Art on Call automatically keeps track of the works of art you access so that after your visit, you can retrieve your stops and find additional information as well as any comments you may have saved. Each time you dial Art on Call from the same phone number, we extend the collection of stops. Like TalkBack comments, your collection of Art on Call stops (should we call this a playlist?) is retrieved by entering your phone number in the search box on the project website (newmedia.walkerart.org/aoc).

Watching last night's broadcast of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, my ears perked up on a segment about the impact of the iPod. Since its introduction in 2001, Apple's iPod has been transforming the landscape of technology and culture. From a must-have among snowboarders at the recent Olympics to new cars that come iPod-ready, the report suggested that people are as interested in what the iPod says about who they are as the opportunities the technology gives them to control their environment.

What some scholars refer to as the "podification" of society--now there's a word I hadn't added to my vocabulary--was reported as just the latest chapter in a continuing story of technology and culture. From the remote control, VCR, to Sony Walkman, the personalization of technology allows us to exercise almost complete control over our environment and contributes to what Christine Rosen calls "egocasting," the thoroughly personalized and extremely narrow pursuit of one's personal taste.

So, what does it mean if we're all walking around with iPod buds stuffed in our ears? Isolated, "alone together," propagating the "hear only what we want to hear" mentality would be the downside. The more positive outlook recognizes a democratizing impulse encouraged by the technology, and educational opportunities at all levels of the spectrum that provide students with potential audiences to whom they feel accountable.

I'm working on a new Art on Call feature for our upcoming exhibition Sharon Lockhart: Pine Flat. Lockhart's media are film and photography, and she uses them to create an intimate portrait of contemporary rural life as experienced by the youth of Pine Flat, a small town in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. With the help of the artist's studio, Art on Call features the children of Pine Flat telling us their stories, revealing the process behind the shoots, and giving an account of what it was like to work with Sharon. To my ear these recordings are magic, nothing profound but a clear reflection of the relationship and trust that developed between artist and subject.

In addition to the children of Pine Flat, Art on Call includes Walker director Kathy Halbreich commenting on the installation and personal reflections on the project. Kathy's comments in combination with those of the kids make a compelling audio addition to the installation. The stops--which will be posted before the opening on April 23rd--can be downloaded or played online by visiting http://newmedia.walkerart.org/aoc/. To listen on the phone, call 612.374.8200 and enter the code from the list below (look for the files tomorrow or Friday at the latest).

1107 Kathy Habreich on Pine Flat
1108 Dakota talks about the film segment Sleeper
1109 Alex on the film segment Hunter
1110 Alex on the film segment Reader
1111 Becky and Katie discuss the film segment Swing
1112 Kassie talks about Lockhart and her collaborator Becky Allen
1113 Katie and Becky talk about their portraits
1114 About Dakota and the photography process
1115 The kids talk about the Pine Flat Portrait Studio
1116 Katie on Matthew

My recent post on Acoustiguide's cell phone offering was not intended as a product plug but confirmation that I think we're on the right track with Art on Call. That said, I feel remiss in not mentioning another organization that is offering a similar service, namely Sandbox Studios' Museum411. Scott Sayre, one of the principals of Sandbox Studios, has been a lead player in the development of the Walker's Art on Call project. Following the launch of Art on Call, Sandbox Studios entered into a partnership with Plum Voice Portals, the IVR vendor behind the Walker's system, to form a new division, Museum411, "specializing in the production of phone-based Interactive Voice Response audio tour/information systems for museums, galleries and sculpture parks." As other vendors/organizations launch applications similar to Art on Call, they too will be mentioned here or on the project wiki. Art on Call is funded with a National Leadership Grant from IMLS, and one of our measures of success is adoption of the model.

Acoustiguide, one of the leading producers of museum audio tours, has announced that it's now offering clients a solution for distributing audio content to cell phone users. Christened the Mobile Touring Service (MTS), I think Art on Call is a much better name.

Friend and colleague Scott Sayre has been passing along some interesting reading of late, including this article on "Social Machines" by Wade Roush. Roush posits that technologies like blogging, text messaging, photo sharing, and web access from our phones are "ushering us into a world of what could be called continuous computing--continuous in the usual sense of "uninterrupted," but also in the sense that it's continuous with our lives." His discussion of the social-software boom and it's reliance on common devices such as mobile phones, computers, digital cameras, and portable music players echoes an approach or emphasis characteristic of several of Walker's new media initiatives.

Everybody's talking about podcasting, and as we prepare to push out Walker's Art on Call files as a subscription, several of our sister institutions have beaten us to the punch. Last week MoMA was #23 (today #45) in the iTunes most subscribed podcast directory, and I'm told that SFMOMA is close to releasing a tour of their Richard Tuttle exhibition. While these are official audio guides, the media has been attentive to the unauthorized tours produced by the writers of Slate Magazine for the Met's modern gallery, and Art Mobs, a podcasting project at Marymount Manhattan College where students did tours of MoMA for a class in communications arts.

This week's On the Media did a segment on podcast alternative audio guides. Here's some of what I heard:

• Conversations about art--as opposed to monologues--can be more interesting for some museums visitors.
• The Daily Show's piece on Christo's Gates was inspiration for at least one of the Art Mobs students.
• Alternative audio commentary is not intended to undermine or replace the art historian but laymen should be able to find a way to engage with art that's not intimidating.
• MoMA's deputy director of education reports that usage of their audio guides is up. About 33% of MoMA's visitors are using the audio guides since July 1st when they started offering them for free (well, that's after you pay the $20 admission fee). Prior to that it was about 5%.
• MoMA let's you download the same files through their website or iTunes.
• MoMA is “intrigued” by Art Mobs and sees the educational possibilities for a younger population.
• Fun is good when embedded with real pieces of information.
• MoMA doesn't think alternative audio commentaries eclipse the scholarly perspective of the work. Instead, it enhances the possibilities for people's engagement.

So, my question is "Are people really downloading this material and bringing it into the museum on their mp3 players?" Unlike most podcasts, these programs--whether produced by the museum or an involved public--have limited appeal divorced of the work. Walker will be riding this wave (bubble) and making our audio commentary available as a podcast ... but we're really hedging our bets on the cell phone.