Mobilising MOSI: Revolution Manchester iMu tours

European EMu Users Group MeetingBeamish22 April 2010

Outline

Background• External frame of reference• Building on internal experience

Revolution Manchester Gallery• Key objectives and interpretive approach• Solutions: web-based• Solutions: mobile

External frame of reference

‘Yet, at the same time, it seems that museums may be losing their natural constituency to computers and video, shopping and formula entertainment. … Museums today are like trees in winter: their collections, like closed buds, all holding tight their secrets. They need to become like trees in summer, their collections flowering in the minds of each visitor.’

Julian Spaulding, The Poetic Museum (2002)

Parry's model of in-gallery digital interactivity

From: Ross Parry and Andrew Sawyer, ''Space and the machine: adaptive museums, pervasive technology and the new gallery environment'', in Reshaping museum space: architecture, design, exhibitions, ed. by Suzanne MacLeod (Routledge: 2005)

See also: Ross Parry, Recoding the Museum: Digital Heritage and the Technologies of Change (Routledge: 2007)

1 Outside(1950s-60s)

2 Selectively inside (1970s)

4 Discrete(1990s)

5 Integrated(now

3 Contained(1980s-90s)

6 Innate(emerging)

ICT

museum

gallery

online on-site

Building on internal experience

EMu development

1998

2000 EMu installed

2002 Online access

2004

2007

2007-09 Oral histories online

2009-10 Images online

2010 iMu tours

Gallery developments

Digital Summer

Manchester Science Gallery

Connecting Manchester Gallery

mi-Guide and mi-Guide@school

Revolution Manchester Gallery

Digital Summer 1998The original Baby at the Universityof Manchester in 1948.

The replica Baby on display in 1998.

The replica Baby redisplayed in 2008.

Building on internal experience

EMu development

1998

2000 EMu installed

2002 Online access

2004

2007

2007-09 Oral histories online

2009-10 Images online

2010 iMu tours

Gallery developments

Digital Summer

Manchester Science Gallery

Connecting Manchester Gallery

mi-Guide and mi-Guide@school

Revolution Manchester Gallery

Manchester Science Gallery 2004

Four scientists represent 200 years of science in Manchester. Each has a multimedia-rich ‘holodeck’.

Building on internal experience

EMu development

1998

2000 EMu installed

2002 Online access

2004

2007

2007-09 Oral histories online

2009-10 Images online

2010 iMu tours

Gallery developments

Digital Summer

Manchester Science Gallery

Connecting Manchester Gallery

mi-Guide and mi-Guide@school

Revolution Manchester Gallery

Connecting Manchester Gallery 2007‘Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication.’

Marshall McLuhan (1911-80)

Revolution Manchester Gallery

Key objectives: • Orientation – overview of MOSI storyline and links to

other galleries• Signposting related industrial heritage sites in the NW

Logistical ICT considerations:• Ease of creating and editing – updating, adding,

extending• Software management• Potential as model for use in other galleries

RMG interpretive philosophy

• Objects are a vehicle for conveying storylines.

• Dramatic interpretation to enhance key objects that lack visual punch.

• Multi-layered approach to tell the full story in its wider social context and also engage distinct audiences.

• Multi-sensory experiential/immersive environments – including interactive activities and demonstrations.

Revolution Manchester Gallery layout

Revolution Manchester Gallery Interpretation Approach

When What How - fixed graphic

How - multimedia* How - interactive/live interpretation

How - portable For whom

Pre-visit Overview, themes, key exhibits

N/A MOSI website - RM micro-site?

N/A Downloadable from website

Incipient visitors - general and educational

Overview and orientation Y Y? N/A All visitors

Cluster macro-stories (including global dimension)**

Y Y Demonstrations/ costumed interpretation

Cluster micro-stories - object**

Y Y - including animations Demonstrations (e.g. Baby) or interactives

Cluster micro-stories - people**

Y Y - including oral history extracts

Costumed interpretation

Find out more (MOSI) Y Y - e.g. use EMu Object Locator mapping program (dynamic)

Guided tours Particularly first-time visitors and adult visitors with specific interests.

Find out more (places to visit in NW)

Y Y - Industrial Powerhouse website?

N/A N/A All visitors

Object labels (showcases)

Y N/A N/A N/A All visitors

User-generated content Y - e.g. 'tumbler labels' (with changeable inserts)

MOSI website - RM micro-site with forum/blog feature?

N/A N/A Particular focus on hard-to-reach audiences

Post-visit and non-visit

Overview, themes, key exhibits, macro-stories, micro-stories, forum/blog feature

N/A MOSI website - RM micro-site?

N/A Downloadable from website

Visitors (general and educational) and remote users

* Subtitling and BSL signing to be considered for all AV. Transcripts of all audio to be provided.** Text will be tiered and include a child-friendly strand

Visit Downloadable from website and on gallery - e.g. via NeoReader (mobile phone canning software), iMu (dynamic via EMu server), e-book format

All visitors, with specific provision for children and content chosen to appeal to hard-to-reach adults.

Solutions: web-based

Links to further info

Link to catalogueinfo

Home for eachkiosk will be start page for relevant section

Related buildings/galleries

Related content on MOSi website – e.g. gallery pages, iMu trails page, publicprogrammes

Downloads section –oral history clips andtranscripts

Industrial Powerhouselinks

Links to Collections Online

Links to Oral Histories Online

Solutions: mobile

Focus on solutions that involve delivering content to hardware that people typically carry – i.e. mobile phones and media players.

How?

• For camera phones, use QR codes to provide access to URLs with relevant content.

• For media players (and mobile phones), iMu tours.

• For e-readers, pdf versions of trails.

Solutions: iMu tours

• Manchester Science Gallery• Power Hall• Electricity Gallery• Collections Centre

• Power Hall• Textiles Gallery• Electricity Gallery• The Making of Manchester Gallery• Collections Centre

• Power Hall • Textiles Gallery• Liverpool & Manchester Railway Exhibition • Collections Centre

Any questions or comments?