MediaCombo Blog

Thank You Instapaper, and Miles Davis!

April 15th, 2010

Do you have a problem keeping up with all the links from Twitter posts? I do. But at last, I’ve found a way to read them all – when it’s convenient, with or without an internet connection. Thank you Instapaper!

A friend recommended signing up for this service. Brilliant! I must have 50 tabs open between my Safari and Firefox browsers and they stare back at me, almost reproachfully, every time I use a browser, reminding me that I still haven’t clicked on a link I opened days ago.

Now I can finally settle in and read them. Tonight, before I left the studio, I signed up for Instapaper on my laptop and downloaded one app that works on both my iPhone and iPad. I added the little ‘Read Later’ button to my Bookmarks Bar and added 30 articles to Instapaper. It automatically synched to my phone.

So I got on the subway, shuffled my playlist to Miles Davis and started reading the first one in the list. It happened to be about TAP, the new open source mobile tour platform developed by the wizards at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I was having such a good time I rode right past my stop – really. All I needed was an armchair and a glass of wine.

So, thank you Instapaper. You’ve given me the gift of time, to go along with the gift of knowledge I get from all my Tweeps. Thank you all too!

Posted in iphone, mobile, open source, Twitter, web 2.0 | 1 Comment »

Mobile Recommendations from the Think Mobile Conference, Part 2

April 14th, 2010

According to the report by Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker, published on April 12, 2010, the mobile internet will overtake the fixed internet in the next five years. Museums have always had unique rich content to offer. The challenge now is to design ways to present that content in formats and markets where their current and future audiences are. Recent statistics indicate that 60% of users carry their smart phones with them, including at home, at all times. By 2013 the US smart phone market will quadruple to 160 million users.

Last week’s Think Mobile Conference, while aimed at large media companies, offered advice and insights that can help museums who are trying to create a meaningful and successful mobile experience. In Part 1 of my report I described three topics that dominated the presentations:

- the importance of defining the user experience before you begin

- the need to decide what mobile platform/s you’re going with

- the recognition that compelling content or a unique feature are essential to success

Here in Part 2, you can quickly read about the other three key elements to focus on.

Don’t Make Your App a Graveyard! Keep Users Coming Back to It

Everyone worried aloud about the issue of how to keep users coming back to their applications once they’ve downloaded them. It’s important because one of the ways to support the building and maintenance of your application is with ads, or in non-profit parlance, sponsorship. Sponsors want to know that they’re reaching users frequently, not just once. Their recommendations:

Build a content management system for your app so it’s easy to update. Providing fresh content is one way to ensure sustainable engagement.
Be ready to iterate, as improvements are made to the software, be ready to take advantage of them to improve the user experience.
I’d recommend adding your Twitter feed, blog and or Facebook feed into the app to ensure that there’s a minimum of fresh content, and help users contribute to the conversation.

Ways to Support the Development and Maintenance of Your App

Since people download more free apps than paid ones, most companies want to make their apps free. But they also want to recoup their costs and/or make a profit. Conference attendees talked about three approaches to financing.

Sell advertising within the app. For museums, this would translate to sponsorships. Everyone had statistics from surveys showing that users don’t mind advertising in applications, as long as the ads aren’t bad. (I know, how do you define “bad”?)
Make your app free to download but sell upgrades within your application, either for premium content or new features.
Alternatively, since people do pay for content they really want, charge for your app. The Apple store takes 30% of each sale, but you still get 70%.
Museums could also sell memberships, have links to donate, or to shop.

Last But Not Least, Spread the Word That Your App is Available!

What good will it do to produce a beautiful mobile app or web app if no one knows about it?

Museums have a built in membership base and many communications tools to help them get the word out: your website, newsletters, social media accounts, blogs, and of course onsite events, so you can remind visitors and members repeatedly about your mobile applications and how to download them. Reaching out to your base is one way to stand above the crowd in the app stores. Apple’s store is very crowded, with over 185,000 apps available and the number growing daily.
Tie the release of your app to an event, when you’re generating and receiving publicity anyway.
Build social links into the app so people can share your content on Facebook and Twitter at least, and promote your app simultaneously

Museums have always had unique rich content to offer. The challenge now is to design ways to present that content in formats and markets where their current and future audiences are. Recent statistics indicate that 60% of users carry their smart phones with them, including at home, at all times. By 2013 the US smart phone market will quadruple to 160 million users.

Posted in iphone, mobile, museums, social media, web 2.0 | No Comments »

Mobile Recommendations from the Think Mobile Conference, Part One

April 12th, 2010

Some of today’s most active developers and strategists spoke at the recent Think Mobile Conference about the current and future shape of our mobile experience.

The conference focused primarily on newspaper and TV organizations, but I was keenly interested in how their advice could be applied to museums who, like media companies, are big institutions, slow to change, have great content, want to stay relevant, are looking for guidance about how to succeed in mobile, and who can’t afford to lose money doing it.

Among the media companies represented were NPR, Bravo, Pandora, Associated Press, CNN, Bloomberg Media, PC Magazine.

Here are the big ideas they shared about successful strategies. I’m posting this in two parts over two days.

Part One will cover:

- Start at the Beginning: Define the Experience

- Decide if Your Application is for the Mobile Web or specific Devices

- Find the Wow Feature for Your App

Part Two will cover:

- Don’t Make Your App a Graveyard, Keep Users Coming Back to It

- Ways to Support the Development and Maintenance of Your App

- Last But Not Least, Spread the Word That Your App is Available

Part One: Start at the Beginning: Define the Experience

First, you need to define the experience you want users to have. For museums this can mean defining where their audience will be accessing mobile content. For example, are you delivering content to people who are in your museum? If so, they’re already in an environment that provides a context for your content. If you’re focusing on people off site, then your app will need to give users an informative context and a reason for engaging with your content.

Take into consideration how people consume mobile content. In the words of Paul Reddick, CEO of Handmark, a leading developer of mobile software, people use their devices for time sensitive information, like news; for reference content, so they don’t need to go out to Wikipedia; and for convenience, to access information when and where they want it. If you can look at your project this way, you’ll be able to offer a satisfying experience by providing the right content at the right time, and meet the expectations of your users.

Also, define what you want to achieve with your mobile app and how you could measure success.

Decide if Your App is for the Mobile Web or specific Devices

The general consensus is that while it’s useful, and cheaper, to build a mobile web app, it’s better to deliver your content on applications designed for specific smart phones. Here’s why:

to take advantage of the rich user experience features of phones;
to make the content available even when there’s no connectivity to the internet;
to provide unique content that you can charge for, either from sponsors, or users;

The big drawback is that no one version of your app will work on every phone; platform specific development is required. Currently, not even most big media companies can afford to build apps for every device out there. This means making more choices. They recommend:

iPhone; iPad – not the biggest user base but this user base downloads the most apps, on average 37 per month (free and paid).
Android: – number of users and applications rising quickly.
RIM – blackberry: biggest user base but not much interest in downloading apps; this platform is also problematic because there are so many blackberry devices the software works differently on them, so it’s been hard to develop applications. This may soon be changing. If so blackberry apps will have access to the widest user base.

Either way it’s important to understand how people use their phones so you can design your content to fit their behavior.

Find the Wow Feature for Your App

Everyone wants to figure out how to design it so that people want to use it more than once. Here are some tips, given by Brian Meehan of Sourcebits

One great feature is better than feature overload, for example, the interactive ocarina on the MIA iAfrica application, the multi-tiled dinosaur portrait/interface in AMNH’s Dinosaur app, or the compelling story line in the Van Gogh Museum’s Yours Vincent app.
Use the core features of the phone, such as multi-touch, accelerometer, location services to provide rich experiences. These things don’t work on the web.
Make the app work with wi-fi and 3G (soon to be 4G)

10.User interface really matters. Think about what your users expect and make the navigation clear and simple use.

11.Build in connections to social media like Facebook and Twitter so people using your app can promote the app as they talk about your content;

I would add, as many others did, start with the content. Provide stories people want to read/watch/hear.

Part Two will cover

- Don’t Make Your App a Graveyard, Keep Users Coming Back to It

- Ways to Support the Development and Maintenance of Your App

- Last But Not Least, Spread the Word That Your App is Available

Posted in iphone, mobile, museums, social media | No Comments »

Use BklynMuse!

March 29th, 2010

I think this is a very exciting time for museums who are willing to be experimental. Yesterday I whiled away an hour in the Brooklyn Museum‘s galleries, trying out a new version of BklynMuse, to access their online collection, on their newly upgraded mobile website.

Here’s how it works: once you’ve joined their public wi-fi network, you stand in front of an object, type in its number on your phone and, presto! you can pull up the image, “like” it, a la Facebook, leave your own comment, see other visitors’ comments and learn more about it from experts.

You can also play Gallery Tag, where you collect points for every item you tag, and extra points for doing this on more than one floor.

I wanted to try out BklynMuse because I was curious to see how disruptive the social media activity would be to my experience. Normally when I go to a museum it’s to see a specific show, or just wander with a friend through the galleries. I couldn’t really imagine wanting to interact on my phone.

There’s a piece that I’ve always loved in the Arts of the Pacific Islands gallery, so I went there first. Here he is, a little figure from the Nicobar Islands.

To me he looks like kind of a crazy, happy guy, and maybe he’s surfing.

I typed in his number and, to my surprise, this is where it got to be fun. Thanks to BklynMuse I saw right away that five other people have also “liked” the Nicobar Island man so I know I’m not the only one. I happily left a comment, and am eager to see what future visitors think of him, and how that might give me fresh ways of looking at him.

I tried the tagging game too, and racked up 25 points, which put me in 3rd place! BklynMuse just launched this week so very few people are using it yet. Gallery Tag reminded me of a home made version of FourSquare.

What’s unique about BklynMuse is that it’s entirely visitor driven. It’s not a tour or guide to the collection designed by Brooklyn Museum. It’s a vehicle for visitors who are motivated to feed their curiosity about particular artworks; it encourages them to voice their reactions to the works, and validates what they have to say by publishing their comments.

Tagging too can have its serious purpose; even as a kid just playing a game, you have to look at the object you’ve chosen, look at the tags that are offered, think about which is most appropriate, and if there isn’t one, create a new one to use. It’s empowering in its way!

We’ve been members of the Brooklyn Museum since we moved here from Manhattan 20 years ago. I took my son to more Arty Facts sessions than I can recall. In 1997 I produced a big, beautiful 24 screen video wall program for the exhibition Monet and the Mediterranean, in their old, cavernous lobby. That was large cutting edge technology for its day, and the Museum used it to make the space more friendly for visitors waiting on line to see the show.

Today they’re carrying on that tradition of being out in front in using technology, with imaginative, experimental efforts in social media and mobile, to make the Museum friendly to new audiences. As a visitor I really feel that they’re trying to give me a wonderful experience and I’m willing to try it. In the process, I learn from them and they learn from me.

Posted in art, Brooklyn Museum, iphone, mobile, museums, sharing, social media, social tagging, web 2.0 | No Comments »

The Grateful Dead Shaking Up The New-York Historical Society

March 20th, 2010

We recently went to the opening of a Grateful Dead exhibition at the New-York Historical Society – a very unusual show for them. As you would expect, the normally staid N-YHS crowd was rockin’ to live music and the vibe was good!

In the gallery everyone was animated, swapping stories, looking closely at the concert posters, tee shirts, album covers, memorabilia and at the amazing, lovingly designed envelopes and letters sent by fans requesting tickets to concerts or just expressing their love. It’s a small exhibition but you could spend a very happy hour there.

The New-York Historical Society is on to something with this exhibition. The Grateful Dead were a part of New York City’s history, having played the Fillmore East at least 12 times between 1967 and 1970, not to mention Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park and other venues many times during the 28 years before Gerry Garcia passed on.

Three things occurred to me as I was walking around.

One: why couldn’t N-YHS do a series of exhibitions on the history and impact of the music scenes in our fair city? New York has always been a place where reputations were made, and where music has deeply influenced the culture. Think about the East Village in the 1970s and ’80s; or Harlem and the jazz clubs in mid-town in the ’40s and ’50s. It’s probably been that way since there were enough people living here to be an audience, all the way back to the 17^th century.

With a series of exhibitions about the history of music in NYC, new audiences of avid music fans would discover N-YHS. They’d be fascinated to see the music they loved and their own lives as part of a larger social history. This would probably change their perception of what History is, and make it feel personally relevant. They might even become members!

Two: this content really inspires visitors to share memories and comments. N-YHS could collect these stories to share with other visitors on their website, and on social media sites. It would be a wonderful way to help give N-YHS a fresh look.

Three: the Grateful Dead were really early adopters, probably pioneers, in the social media sphere in the way they embraced their fans’ entrepreneurial activity. Instead of outlawing fans who taped their concerts, they created special areas where tapers could stand and record the music. When fans began designing their own Dead t-shirts and other gear, instead of hauling them off the streets for illegally using the brand, they encouraged them to submit their designs and helped promote the best stuff. The Grateful Dead were way ahead of the curve in so many ways!

Posted in art, history, music, New-York Historical Society, social media | 2 Comments »

New From AMNH – the Dinosaurs iPhone App

March 5th, 2010

The recently released Dinosaurs app for iPhones from AMNH was well reviewed on Museum Mobile Wiki. I’ve been spending quality time with it on my morning commutes and having a wonderful time reading the Stories section. Six dinosaurs and their discoverers get the full treatment.

Did you know Barnum Brown was a prodigious fossil hunter, discoverer of three T-rex skeletons, an oil prospector and a spy for the US government? Neither did I till I had the app on my phone. I’ve read the label copy on the museum wall before but info didn’t stick until I was holding it in my hands.

One of the things that struck me is the absolutely incongruous reality of looking at a picture of the 80 foot tall Barosaurus on my iPhone, where the image on the screen is all of 1.5 inches tall. It’s mind-bending to comprehend the scale of dinosaurs in this medium unless you already know a lot about them, though the picture of the paleontologist Earl Douglass standing next to a section of the actual backbone can help.

Also, I wrote a comment on the Museum Mobile Wiki about how I wished that, on top of all the other good stuff the app provides, it would hold your place when you had to quit. It does, at least while you’re reading one of the Stories, so I apologize for mis-reporting.

Posted in iphone, mobile, museums | No Comments »

Going Mobile @Balboa Park

February 25th, 2010

The amount of content available for smart phones has skyrocketed during the last year. Consider these statistics:

- Apple’s App Store had over 140,000 apps and users had downloaded apps over 3 billion times by late 2009.

- AT&T’s had 85.1 million wireless subscribers at the end of 2009

- Verizon ended 2009 with 87.5 million wireless subscribers

- Forrester estimated that 3 million eReaders were sold in 2009 and predicts that 10 million e-readers will be sold in the coming year.*

The trend is only growing stronger, so it makes sense for museums and content providers of every stripe to consider going mobile.

On February 17, Nancy Proctor, Head of New Media at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and manager of museummobile.info, and Titus Bicknell, internet technologist, spoke at the two day workshop “Going Mobil @ Balboa Park,” where they offered a terrific overview of the things museums need to consider before developing mobile content.

There’s a fine report of the event and video interviews with Nancy and Titus at experienceology.blogspot.com. Nancy’s slide show is available here and Titus’ slides are here.

Nancy makes a lovely comparison when she says that the Museum used to be like the Acropolis, and is now becoming more like the Agora. I hope there will always be visitors who seek a more meditative experience at museums, but many will find the opportunity to share ideas and interests with each other and with curators in real time very appealing.

A mobile presentation supports both types. When you’re engaged with content on your own phone it’s easy to shut out the world and focus. Just look at all the subway riders on their morning commute. Yet built in social media links add the potential to share the application’s content with friends, and your thoughts with the museum.

By the way, I just searched the iPhone app store for “museum,” and 180 apps appeared. There are probably some that shouldn’t really be there but still, it’s an impressive number!

Posted in iphone, mobile, museums, sharing | 2 Comments »

Suggestions for iAfrica: Connecting with Sub – Saharan Art, an iPhone app

February 18th, 2010

iAfrica: Connecting with Sub-Saharan Art is an iPhone app developed as part of an eponymous exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), on view through April 4^th, 2010.

The application contains images and related information for 28 objects from 14 African countries, as well as an interactive lamellophone. This feature is the most fun, since it turns your iPhone into an instrument you can actually play to make lamellophone sounding music!

The app’s main menu has icons for nine options, and a “Leave Feedback” link that takes users out to a visitor survey on MIA’s website. The obvious nav options are :

- About

- View All (objects)

- Map

- Lamellophone

Then there are five other choices:

- Ethnographic

- Sensorial

- Aesthetic

- History

- Provenance

After reading the About section, I realized that these choices refer to the exhibition experience in the Museum, where visitors are encouraged to consider each object from five perspectives. The mobile content developers tried to carry the same experience over to the application.

Clicking on one of the five icons brings up an introductory statement that explains why it’s important to know about the objects from this perspective: “ethnographic” answers the question “How was it used? “Aesthetic” answers “What makes it beautiful? Etc.

Within each section there are two navigation options: View Objects and Main Menu. In View Objects mode, you see a full screen image of the object and can tap a little “i” for Info button that raises a transparent screen with label information. Unfortunately you can’t enlarge the images to see details.

The label lists location, object name, medium, size, acquisition details, and object number before getting to the description. The descriptions left me hungry for more information.

From the navigation I expected to learn about the objects in each section from a specific perspective. So I was a little disappointed to see the same label information presented about each object, whether I was in the Aesthetic section or the History section. It’s not clear why certain objects were chosen to appear in particular categories. Several of the objects appear in more than one category.

It seems like the label content came right off the gallery walls. While it’s always a good idea to repurpose content rather than create it for one platform, it’s also important to optimize the presentation of content to take advantage of a platform’s capabilities.

On the iPhone I would have appreciated larger images so I could zoom in to more easily appreciate the details of these unfamiliar objects – see the aesthetic qualities, imagine the tactile surfaces, locate the specific parts that define their use.

Also, the difference between the five perspectives would have been clearer if more detailed information related to the perspective in each section was provided, whether that was text, audio, video or just links to more info on the museum site or elsewhere on the web.

Finally, the survey linked to Leave Feedback is intended for visitors to the gallery, which is a little confusing when you’re coming from your phone. IPhone users could have been offered a link to email their comments directly to the museum.

There is definitely lots of interesting information here, but if MIA had taken advantage of the capabilities of the iPhone, and understood more about users expectations, I think they could have made this a much more engaging experience.

You can download the app here. Please let me know about your experience with it.

Posted in art, iphone, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, mobile, museums, web 2.0 | No Comments »

MediaCombo Blog

Thank You Instapaper, and Miles Davis!

New From AMNH – the Dinosaurs iPhone App

Suggestions for iAfrica: Connecting with Sub – Saharan Art, an iPhone app

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