Play, Discovery and Co-production Kevin Bacon, Digital Development Digital engagement in Brighton’s Royal Pavilion &
Brighton & Hove 270,000 population Largest and most influential seaside resort in UK Thriving digital sector
Royal Pavilion
Museums Brighton Museum & Art Gallery Hove Museum & Art Gallery Preston Manor Booth Museum of Natural History
Royal Pavilion & Museums Royal Pavilion Over 500,000 visitors per year across five sites Three collections Designated of national importance One of 21 Major Partner Museums funded by Arts Council England
Collections Decorative Art Local History Fine Art Natural History Film & Media Costume Archaeology World Art
Digital Engagement Assets Objects Buildings Stories Knowledge Staff / volunteers Digital Content Blog Website Data Image App Game Audiences Gallery visitors Online viewers Teachers Researchers Young people
Golden Rule Assets Objects Buildings Stories Knowledge Staff / volunteers Digital Content Blog Website Data Image App Game Audiences Gallery visitors Online viewers Teachers Researchers Young people Developing a digital idea should never start with the technology…
Innovation is not exclusive digital Co-production Engagement Elsewhere
World Stories: Young Voices Co-production
Dr Brighton’s War Engagement Elsewhere
Co-production
What is Co-production? Working with individuals and community groups outside of the museum to produce new products. It can: Produce richer content through a diversity of voices Enable people to learn new skills Sometimes can save costs Gives the public a greater sense of ownership of the museum
Blogger in Residence brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/stories/ ‘I’m tapping away at the laptop when this dude comes up in a dark blue three-cornered hat, like a comedy Napoleon.... what we talk about is why the Royal Pavilion wasn’t built facing out to sea and what that means about George IV’s disinterest in nature, versus people’ Chris T-T
Access Advisory Group ‘Critical friend’ advising RPM on access issues Supported redevelopment of brightonmuseums.org.uk with user testing
Open Collections and Assets brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/collections/ Collection data and ‘hi-res’ assets available under CC BY-SA licence Open API to support external re-use
Play
What is Play? Variety of definitions, but can be: Rule based games (ludus) Creative experiences that bend the rules (paidia) Tone of voice Occasionally counter-curatorial Playful practice may not establish new relationships like co- production or engaging elsewhere, but it opens up new possibilities and new audiences.
Stone Age Quest stoneagequest.org.uk
murderinthemanor.org.uk Murder in the Manor
remixthemuseum.com Remix the Museum
remixthemuseum.com Remix the Museum
Discovery
What is Discovery? Museums are all about discovery. Discovery can be through: Research Serendipity A journey Are online museum experiences too focused on researchers?
mapthemuseum.org.uk Map the Museum
Story Drop Location based ‘treasure hunt’ app Free download for iOS and Android devices Developed by Surface Impression Driven by CMS for both curatorial and community content
{Pick a tour}
{Unlock}
Beta launched at 2013 Brighton Digital Festival Full release Jan 2014 Some people really like it! But two major problems Does it work?
1. England is a wet country Dominic Alves, Flickr CC BY
Where’s my GPS? I have to walk there? Yes, I’ll have to look at it one day... My battery is running low! How do I unlock it? No thanks, it’s raining.
So what have we learned? Audiences are the most challenging aspect of any digital project Co-production can be come quickly embedded into the way we work Technology works best when it’s almost invisible
Future work
Website as centre of digital activity brightonmuseums.org.uk
Understanding audience behaviour
3D models brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/play/3d-models/
Mobile gallery trails
But... Play, discovery and co-production are still essential ingredients to what we do.
@fauxtoegrafik brightonmuseums.org.uk Thank you!