New Technology . . . . .New Experiences

Testing out museum apps seems as if it’s becoming a trend of our own. Today, we revisited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to take the Skin & Bones audio and visual tour app for a test run. What made this app unique and separate from others is that, visitors can simply download the app to their phone or tablet and upon entry into the galleries with markers or cues designed for the app, the visitor receives detailed content, visuals, and audio information. Skin and Bones will no doubt enhance the visitor’s experience by the augmented reality technology, which literally brings the skeletons on display to life. For each section of the exhibit, there is a portion of the program designated as a profile and dialogue for the specialists involved with content research.

Diana Marques, Scientific Illustrator and Animator at NMNH, mentioned that the app was initially engineered from 3D recognition designed by MATEO. The basis of this app and vital component of designing augmented reality features, capturing the images of skeletons utilizing a 3D point cloud. Objects are then scanned by 3D scanners and interpreted into 3D augmented reality. Perfecting this app is still in the works and I look forward to seeing visitors utilizing this app as an educational tool to build a better understanding of the animals depicted by skeletal remains in NMNH’s collection. What really makes bringing this app into exhibitions at NMNH exciting is, it will create opportunities for internships and further evaluation research for Museum Studies students!

New Innovations for Museums

Today was exciting and we explored some of the latest innovations being introduced to the museum field. Starting off the day battling gusting winds and frigid temperatures, our class met at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Dan Davis, Manager of the NMAI Media Group, introduced us to some of the latest technology currently being perfected to enhance their visitor engagement and interaction. The STQRY app is a smartphone app, which allows the visitor to engage in an audio learning experience during exploration of the exterior environment (they’re currently developing a way where this app can be implemented within the exhibition environment). The “story” is activated by blue tooth technology, which triggers a “beacon” to submit a signal to the smartphone and activates an audio tour story line related to nearby objects, the facility itself, and natural artifacts significant to the Native American culture.

Dan also introduced us to the most exiting activity by far . . . . .driving a robot within the museum! The Beam  is a robot engineered to explore the galleries and its content, which is controlled and viewed by a laptop. I had the pleasure of operating the Beam and I’m so proud that I did not crash into anything! As I navigated the robot through one exhibit, I could see my classmates follow along as I sat comfy in a private room downstairs. Curious as to what they were experiencing, I asked one classmate to share the panel information with me. Quite a few of us felt that such devices can be beneficial to those visitors with special needs or physical disabilities. Another technological device that Dan and his team are working on are haptic headphones, which can also be applied to technology catering to visitors with special needs. Within ten years from now, I can see Dan and his team perfecting A.I. engineered to enhance our learning experience within the museum.

After a delicious lunch at NMAI, we joined Vicki Portway, Head of Web & New Media at the National Air and Space Museum. NASM is also exploring the possibility of implementing new technological devices into the museum to improve visitor engagement and to enhance the visitor’s learning experience. From launching digital art competitions to redesigning their main halls and finding ways to incorporate interactives to compliment their aeronautics collection, Vicki and her team reached out to us today to participate in a brainstorming activity to conjure up ideas for new apps and digital interactives. I was really intrigued by this activity but I remained in disbelief after seeing up close and personal, the Wright Brother’s first-in-flight aircraft model. It really made me wonder if, NMNH owns any artifacts or models from Howard Hughe’s collection?

We ended the day presenting our own futuristic objects to the class. I designed the SPD 5-10. It is a device that compiles a museum’s annual reports and tax filings from the last decade and creates a five year or 10 ten year strategic plan. With so many museums in the process of creating a five year strategic plan, I decided to create a technological tool to address this trend. So far, everyone likes the fact that it is made from recycled materials.

The Search for Sustainability

The search for sustainability is and will be a common strategic goal for most organizations within the next decade. This does not only apply to ecological practices but also towards business centered organizations such as museums. Today, we kicked off the day meeting with our groups either at the JHU building or our location of choice. My group met at a nearby cafe, which was an easy walk to our first lecture at the National Gallery of Art.

Upon arrival at the National Gallery of Art, we met with Director, Earl A. Powell. Earl shared with us some of the sustainable business practices of the NGA, as well as the latest endeavors involved with the absorption of the Corcoran Collection. Like most of the museums that we have explored within the past eight days, NGA is also in the process of developing schematics of their strategic plan. This involves a large portion of accessioning practices surrounding the acquisition of the Corcoran Collection. Earl also shared that this acquisition not only involves the collection itself but also involves absorbing the staff and specialists that have dedicated their careers and life to caring for the collections. Highlighting that NGA is an institution categorized under both private and federal governance, the financial structure of the museum is quite complex, but unlike most museums in search of sustainability and building a strategic plan, the first move to make prior to making any major business decisions on behalf of the museum is, making sure that funding is set in place. (We could learn a lot from Earl and NGA.) Looking back to the International Spy Museum and the National Building Museum, I would like to quote Earl in reflection of strategic planning, “Do you have to have a Rolls Royce when a Chevy will do?”.

We later met with Michele Gates Morsi at the current offices of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Michele discussed with us the importance of acquisitions of objects and how this plays a vital role in their current strategic planning with anticipation of exhibits opening within the next year. Michele elaborated on how open the museum is with accessioning objects from private donors. With a development campaign currently active and already offering membership packages prior to opening doors, they have had much success with also acquiring objects from individuals and other educational institutions such as Historical Black Colleges and Universities, whom have shown support by donating objects to bring the story of African American History and Culture to life.

I gravitated towards Michele’s statement of how focusing on these objects and telling this vivid story centralized on the object, will further emphasize the African and African American practices of oral tradition. Since literacy rates amongst blacks during slavery and the middle passage were practically nonexistent, oral tradition carried on the history, culture, and heritage of blacks within the new world.Situated in the National Mall, this dream come reality within the museum field, seems as if they’re on the right track with the existing financial and collections support they have received already (being a museum under governance of the Smithsonian is not bad either).  Luckily, I was able to snap a few shots of the models of the proposed building.

We ended the day back at the JHU building to meet with Paul Tukey, Chief Sustainability Officer at Glenstone, located in Maryland. Far from concerns of economic sustainability, Paul has an ecological sustainability approach to theories and practices within the museum field. Paul taught us that “thinking green” not only benefits the grounds of the museum, but the community as a whole. Inspired by the teachings of his grandmother who lived and preached a “waste not, want not” culture. Paul implements her way of life into museum ecological sustainability and in turn, those institutions incorporate his theories and practices into their programming endeavors.

Interpretations and Telling the Story

On this cold and dreary day, we took a shuttle bus to Mount Vernon to the George Washington Estate. We met with Curt Viebranz, President & CEO; Allison Wickens, Vice President of Education and Zerah Jacob, Manager of Educational Resources. All of our featured lecturers shared with us insightful information related to Mt. Vernon’s five year strategic plan. There seems to be much focus on implementing technological devices within the museum as a form of digital informal education. However, many of us felt that this shift and much needed focus for communicating their mission and vision statement’s relevancy, deters much attention away from the story behind the house and many features of the grounds.

Excited upon our arrival, I found myself withdrawing from the tour activity for several reasons. The docent did not answer many of the questions that we posed today but was honest when he shared that, his historical background and knowledge concentrates on Jefferson. I found myself even more withdrawn from the tour experience when our guide explained to the group that his job solely concerns “Entertaining” the groups that visit Mt. Vernon. Though quite a few people look for entertainment while exploring some places involving informal education, it would be best to train docents and teach them the significance of a historical site or exhibition in a way that their “delivery” and form of “entertainment” will still engage the visitors instead of herding visitors like cattle, miseducating them, or not being able to answer visitor questions at all.

A few of my questions were left unanswered and some alterations to the house were clearly not historically accurate (not the 18th century Georgian Era interior design when President Washington and Martha would have resided in the house). I understand that Martha’s descendants resided in the home after their deaths, but I do not understand why the home will not be brought back to it’s former glory of it’s 1735+ design. . . . . . .the way that President Washington’s family and later himself, intended it to be. This small step would be the secret weapon to telling this home’s story.

I spoke to one of the conservators after wrapping up our extremely rushed and “entertaining” tour. I had specific questions related to the architecture and furnishings (specifically the dining room). It was sad to learn that only 40% of what remains in the house is original. I hope that the future excavations on the grounds will bring forth new objects to add to the original content of the house. Personally speaking, yes, Mt. Vernon needs to invest in digital interactives to continue to enlighten younger generations of George Washington’s life and legacy. However, the relevancy of the estate seems lost visually underneath layers of oil paint on some of the trim, moulding, and doorways. As Nicole Curtis (Detroit’s rehab addict) would say, “This is a hot mess!”.

On a brighter note, I look forward to revisiting Mt. Vernon in the late spring or summer to explore the gardens. I even purchased some of their heirloom seeds for my spring planting and grits from the mill to enjoy until then.

Mission Accomplished Part I

This morning, the anticipation of what to expect out of our visitor attendance sky rocketed as we began setting up our interactives. We all got into our groups to put our visuals and materials together, just to make sure that everything would be perfect (in a sense, although these activities were just prototypes) for the visitors and to leave a lasting impression on the Newseum members.

After setting up with the assistance of our Newseum mentor, Julia, we noticed the crowd forming outside for the remembrance march for the victims of the recent attacks on France. The crowd actually generated quite a few visitors for us and yes, even some participated in our hands-on interactives. Afterwards, it was interesting to read over the responses from the exit evaluation and the notes from our observation tools. The idea of offering a small prize or an incentive for the visitors’ time was a great idea. None the less, I feel that the result of visitors interested to participate would have been the same without knowing there was a prize or incentive involved. For quite a few visitors, it was their first time at the Newseum and seemed as if, their museum experience was heightened just by the facilitation, guidance, and suggested advice of participating in the activities for the day. We were so proud that 115 visitors participated in our Headlines: Then and Now activity (the activity that we came up with where the visitor has to guess or try to distinguish of whether or not a headline is a historical or current news headline). Also, the press pass idea really helped visitors and motivated them to visit each activity station. We also noticed that some visitors were using the prescribed path indicated in the visitor guide. (Yes!!!)

Though I was absolutely out of my comfort zone being on the frontline, I felt that I was doing ok with my interpersonal communication skills until I found myself making random conversation and asked a young couple, “Are you together?”. It made me feel even more that I should be kept behind the scenes playing the puppet master.  . . .Oops!

We ended the evening having dinner with our directors; Phyllis Hecht, Karen Wizevich, and Mirium Doutriaux. Paul Sparrow even joined us at Vapiano and it was great to unwind and spend time together. I enjoyed the camaraderie and discussing our next steps in analyzing our evaluation and observation data. Mission accomplished for part I . . . . .moving along to part II.

Preparation is Key . . . . .

Preparation is a key factor for success regardless of what we are doing and how many steps it takes to get there. When it comes to strategic planning or project planning, it is vital to prepare for the worst and always have a back-up plan. Our big day is tomorrow at the Newseum! I anticipate what the day will be like from start to finish.

I spent most of this morning editing our evaluation tools with my group mate and running errands. We received an alert in the middle of the day explaining, tomorrow a silent march is to take place starting at the Newseum, in memory of the victims of the attacks in France. I honestly wonder if the odds of this event taking place during the same time of our programming event will negatively result in low attendance. Though we were to start the evaluations tomorrow, the more I contemplate of the influential external factors that will affect our visitor attendance rate, I find myself getting a jump start on the evaluation process as there are so many variables to consider. Will the march affect our visitor attendance rate? Will the weather alter the moods of visitors or their interest in participating in the interactives. Come what may, my group and I are prepared to observe, document, observe, and document.

Crossing my fingers on a successful day tomorrow.

Museums and Things from the Future

Today was busy and full of interactive activities. We first started off the day by diving back into our group project assignments. From finalizing visuals for our interactives to working on our evaluation tools and questions, we covered a lot of ground for the first two hours. Elizabeth Merritt came back to visit with us and introduce us to her world of the Future of Museums, which entailed quirky sci-fi objects designed for, well . . . .the future.

Elizabeth enlightened us of how pop culture with futuristic themes (Star Trek for example) influenced our thoughts and scientific ideas for designing and creating “futuristic objects” that are actually beneficial for our society, as well as health and well being. Gadgets and devices once only seen in film and television are now being conceptualized and realized in our culture and science industries, not too mention, communications specifically.

Elizabeth showed us examples such as, the Carbon Sequester Device and an Instance Knowledge Drink Mix to help us gain a better idea for the futuristic objects that we will create and present next week. Afterwards, we played our own round of a game entitled, The Thing from the Future. Participants select cards involving what type of futuristic object will be created, the terrain it is intended for, the mood that it evokes, and the ARC (time frame for which it will exist). By far, it was the most interesting card game I’ve ever played and my group came up with excellent ideas based upon the cards that were selected. Though one would interpret this exercise as a game of leisure, it really involves an analytical process to conjure up an idea for a futuristic object that will make an impact on our lives and it further involves a process of evaluating our ideas and voting on the best innovation.

After a hustling and bustling lunch break, we met at the National Building Museum for a workshop with Mary Hendrickse, School and Youth Groups Manager. During our workshop, we built a geodesic dome. A lesson itself, we further explored the evaluation process by determining how a structure is assembled based upon our shared common knowledge of architecture, facilitation by an instructor, and a selection criteria of materials to be utilized. Though intuition and conceptualization were guided by a color coded system for creating the dome’s frame. We worked as a team and accomplished the mission.

Towards the end of our session at the National Building Museum, Mary further shared current goals involved with the museum’s five year strategic plan. Over years of evaluations and discovering limitations set forth by the actual facility and incurring financial challenges during economic downturn, NBM seems to be in the same situation as the International Spy Museum. Both organizations have implemented five year strategic plans to secure new locations in order to achieve design and educational goals for exhibits, which have been previously restricted by their current facilities due to being protected national historic buildings. Another area of focus within these museums’ five year strategic plan involves development goals to cover operational expenses and raise funds for programming and new facilities. Considering that NBM and the International Spy Museum are implementing strategic planning highly focusing on addressing development and facility issues, I cannot help but to question the current sustainability of museums in today’s economy.

Visitor Engagement, Museum Sustainability, and ESPIONAGE!

Today started off quite interesting. I felt like I was in Atlanta on MARTA and not in D.C. on the METRO, all from being stuck on the platform waiting on my train and being stuck on the train car in between stations because things seem to go wrong during frigid cold temperatures. On a better note, our class met at the JHU building at 1717 on Massachusetts Ave. to break into our groups and create drafts of our prototypes for the visitor engagement project at the Newseum for this upcoming Sunday. We created the press pass mock-ups, activity boards, completed some minor editing, and scoured the internet for appropriate historical and current headlines to use for our interactive game. Still working out some logistics and printing, but it will all work out by Sunday morning (praying Fed-Ex Office can work a miracle for us).

After working on our projects, we made our way over to the International Spy Museum  to meet with Anna Slafer, Director of Exhibitions and Programs. Anna brought us up to date with the current endeavors of ISM. Though the organization first started as a private museum, they are currently in the process of making a shift with their business practices in becoming a non-profit museum. This shift within ISM’s business model was made for sustainability purposes, to create opportunities for the organization to receive grants, tax-deductible donations, federal funding, and endowments. After all, the museum holds the worlds largest collection of espionage artifacts and closely involves members from the intelligence community.

When Anna mentioned that the museum has plans of relocating into a larger facility and is currently in the process of conducting evaluations related to their exhibitions and visitor engagement practices, I couldn’t help but to question the operational and business analysis procedures of the museum. Their current goals of attaining a sustainable business model by shifting to becoming a non-profit organization, will without a doubt, improve their financial development endeavors and will also open opportunities to secure or build their ideal facility.

Welcome to the Collection Zone!

Though today was a cold snow day, we started off our day at the Q?rius Learning Center at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to meet with Rebecca Bray, Chief of Experience Design and Evaluation.

Rebecca conducted a workshop with the class and gave us the opportunity to delve into a hands-on experience focusing on creating inquiry based experiences while implementing self-guided activities to evoke a sense of exploration and independent learning. Rebecca also shared with us that though inquiry based learning activities is a core of their pedagogical structure, we must keep in mind that all visitors want answers and this involves implementing further techniques in education to facilitate visitors to arriving at a definite answer, so that their experience does not leave them feeling unfulfilled or unsatisfied.

We participated in one of the Q?rius Learning Center’s inquiry based practices called the collection challenge. Q?rius’ collection boasts 30,000 objects with 6,000 on display ranging from paleobiology, vertebrates, entemology, minerals, botanicals, and anthropology artifacts. My group conducted our collections challenge in the mineral sciences collection. I was sooo thrilled that I finally got my hands on a collection this week! Just like the visitors of Q?rius, I honestly did not feel ready to leave.

One educational aspect that I love about Q?rius is that the educators and scientists involved with the program implements the scientific method within their activities and projects. Most recently, Q?rius collaborated with ArtLab+, reaching out to “at risk” teens within their program and provided the opportunity for their students to apply their skills developed from their experience at ArtLab+ to create digital science projects for       Q?rius.

Though our time was cut short due to Rebecca and her staff scheduled for meetings, she left us with valuable and much needed information for conducting evaluations. A valuable lesson we all took back with us to complete our work and assignments at the Newseum.

Project: Activate the Atrium

Today was an interesting day indeed. Snow in the early morning, slowing down all activity within DC, and an underground fire in Dupont Circle. That was just the start of the day. The day grew more intense as we trekked through the slushy streets of DC, only to find ourselves back to brainstorming at the Newseum and presenting our project ideas to the class, Paul Sparrow, and Karen Wizevich. It was almost like a scene from Shark Tank except we are future museum professionals pitching our visitor engagement projects for Sunday’s event. Ha!

I’m in group #1. Come Sunday, we plan on taking over the atrium of the Newseum and immersing their visitors in an interactive involving headline news titles and their corresponding geographic locations. Our project proposal not only features a visitor engagement activity but also incorporates visual components inspired by the headlines on the exterior of the museum. It also promotes the museum as well as the JHU Museum Studies program. The idea that I like most about Project Activate the Atrium is setting the tone for the rest of the activities being held in the museum. Group 1 will issue “Press Passes” (a badge that is both a take-away card and features a placement for stickers or hole punches that visitors will receive upon completion of an activity). After the “Press Pass” is complete with stickers or hole punches (we like the idea of gold stars, they just make everyone feel great!) the visitor will receive a “token” for engaging in all of the activities.

Prior to teaming up with our team members, we met in the Newseum main conference room with Karen Wizevich (one of our directors within the program, whom shared very insightful information with us pertaining to Museum Evaluation & Prototyping. Everything and more that we need to know in order to successfully carry out this project.