Ask HN: I'm looking for new ways to serve museum visitors with content

[eli_oat]

I work at a small museum, and we're currently looking for new ways to serve our visitors with extra content. In the past we've used QR codes that link to webpages. These webpages receive more traffic from google searches than they do from QR redirects, however. I'm curious if anyone has experience with serving up auxiliary content using iBeacons, local network homepage overrides, or something different. Suggestions greatly appreciated.

[loumf]

One of the best experiences I have had in a small museum was at the the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg, FL. They have an amazing collection, but the best part was that there were frequent docent-led guided tours. I got more out of that visit than nearly any other museum I've ever been to (which is a ton).

When I go to museums without this, I bring printed guided tours to follow (Rick Steves has a bunch, but there are others). The good ones have a them, take you to specific pieces and tell a story that puts them in a cohesive context.

The best audio guided tour I have had was at Graceland -- there, it's mandatory (too crowded) and you follow along a linear route through the house. The reason it was great was that Pricilla Presley is the tour guide and they can incorporate Elvis's voice and music.

[brudgers]

These webpages receive more traffic from google searches than they do from QR redirects

The web is many orders of magnitude more accessible than most small museums, and in a potentially important sense people viewing your webpage are your visitors. It is likely that a significant fraction of the physical visitors have already been webpage visitors.

Now a little personal bias. If I'm in the museum, I didnt come to surf the intertubes. I don't really want to be in an environment where using cellphones is acceptable, let alone one which encourages it. Headphones and written guides don't intrude on other people. Cellphones do.

But that's just me of course. The reason I mention it is to suggest investigating what would improve the experience of the sort of people who actually visit your museum. Will it be enhanced by the web? Would money be better spent on physical objects or building infrastructure or display fixtures and lighting or staff or literature or scholarship or educational programs?

How many guided tours does creating an In museum digital experience cost and which creates more value for a physical visitor? Digital resources are a fallback for over demand. For under capacity systems they are a lower quality solution than full service.

Good luck.

[seanccox]

A few years ago, I designed some paper-based puzzle quests for friends visiting historical sites in Istanbul, and around that time I heard about a US company doing something similar on a mobile device: SCVNGR.

I don't code, and mobile tech is unreliable for short-term visitors to Istanbul, so I never bothered trying to port the content to a device. Basically though, the solutions to puzzles are used to decipher new material and explore the spaces more thoroughly. For example, everyone who goes to the Hagia Sophia visits the mosaic portrait of the Empress Zoe, but not everyone knows about the Viking runes carved into a stone banister, so the idea was to link things and challenge people to explore, and then to use what they had found to unlock other puzzles.

It was clunky as shit on paper, and sometimes friends would give up or call to ask for clues, but they said they enjoyed it (or they were really, really polite). On a device, I'm sure that sort of interaction would be simple, and it's something I still toy with learning to build, but Istanbul keeps happening to me and getting in the way.

[User9812]

More interactive content, and well designed infographics. I've been to a lot of museums around the world, and usually they have a sign next to each object of interest with a short essay. I went to another museum where they had headsets, and you could listen to the content. This never appealed to me. I don't have 8 hours to stand with a headset on, listening to each piece. I also don't have the time or interest to read something that looks like a copy/paste from wikipedia. If I wanted to do this, I'd just stay home and read online. If I want more information on a particular piece, once again, I can read at home on my own time.

Other people seem to feel the same way. The majority of the time I see people glance at a sign, read one or two lines, then keep walking.

Imagine people only have an hour to go through the museum. How can you organize and display the most interesting data for them? Pick out the best facts, and design some eye catching infographics that make them stop in their tracks.

And why not make things more interactive? I'll learn more that way. Quiz me, give me a few multiple choices on a touch screen, and let me guess what period this artifact is from, or how much this particular ship anchor weighs. What about the number of people on the Titanic, or how many were crew, how many were passengers? How many survived? Things like this make people stop. They're walking and they see a question with a few answers. It makes them think, talk about it with the people they're with. You could show the average votes for each answer based on past visitors, etc.

[jsilence]

On a trip to Hsipaw in Myanmar we visited the "Shan Palace" where the cousin of the deceased Shan Prince narrated his absolutely fascinating story of how he met his austrian wife in Colorado in the nineteen thirtees, took her back to Burma where she only upon arrival in Yangon realized that she fell in love with a real prince.

This seventy-ish years old lady is telling the story in the original house, in front of the original pictures, to every visitor who knocks at the door. She is kindly asking for donations and is patiently answering any questions.

It was an amazing offline real life human encounter experience.

What I am trying to say is that maybe it might be worth to not spend the money on some new technology, but to employ one or two enthusiasts for the exibitions to give guided tours and actually talk to the visitors and tell stories about the things that are at display.

Just an idea.

[mattwritescode]

In the past I have worked on a similar type of project but for a large trade show. After research we found these problems:

The problem with a straight QR code are that non technical people just have no idea what they are or how to use them (just ask your parents or friends).

NFC etc again have the same kind of issue. Non-technical people just dont know how it works (also the fact that only the higher end devices support it).

Personally I would go for one of the two following options after working on something similar.

You could look into an app for the museum. The app will have a QR code reader built in, but you can also offer geolocation. The important thing in this case is to advertise the app everywhere. Also give the museum free wifi so people can download the app.

Or look at an internal WiFi network which only servers your website. If you wanted to get a little more technical you could get the website to allow location (really only works on single floor buildings) to server items close to where you are.

[slvv]

This is a great question - and I'd love to hear people suggestions for how to serve these needs at smaller museums & historical sites with small budgets, too.

[kinj28]

how about clicking a picture of the exhibit via an app & app providing more information/content regarding the exhibit?

[carreraellla]

i would go with NFC or iBeacons and custom video's