Tracy Stuber, George Eastman Museum, USA, Kate Meyers Emery, George Eastman Museum, USA Of over a half million objects in the George Eastman Museum’s collection, only a small fraction, totalling under .001%, are on view for the average museum visitor to see. In a recent visitor survey, we found that many people leave the museum wanting to see more from our permanent collection. In particular, docents and educators want the ability to dive deeper into conversations that connect what is on view with the other objects we have that are not. Since over 60% of these objects are available online, we determined that the best way to tackle this challenge was by creating a digital tool that could leverage our digital collections to expand the experience of visitors while they are on site. This presentation argues that in the current rich landscape of digital museum initiatives, no one needs to start from scratch when developing their own tool or platform. In our experience, the process of exploring and experimenting with existing models is just as worthwhile as a final product, since these exemplars introduced unexpected ways to think about and interact with our collections. This presentation shares our survey of inspiring initiatives at other museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art’s ArtLens app, the Corning Museum’s Glass App, the Hammer Museum’s Expanded Digital Archives, and the Art Institute of Chicago’s JourneyMaker. Further, we will detail our process as a case study, moving from rapid paper prototyping to creating a functional in-gallery digital tool. By being open and transparent about the failures, successes, and issues encountered, we aim to provide a starting point from which others can create their own institution-specific projects.

1. FRANKENSTEIN’S
MUSEUM APP
Learning from the Landscape
of Digital Initiatives
Tracy Stuber, Ph.D. Candidate (@shapeshaped), University of Rochester
Kate Meyers Emery, Ph.D. (@kmeyersemery)
George Eastman Museum (@eastmanmuseum)
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2. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
George Eastman Museum
• Home of George Eastman, pioneer of popular photography and founder of
Kodak
• Collections span from pre-photographic to contemporary objects and works,
several million objects
• Includes photography, film, related technology and George Eastman’s legacy
2
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3. THE GENIE PROBLEM 3
Our Collections
Over 500,000 objects
Our Exhibition Space
Only showing 0.001%
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4. AND THE GUESTS DON’T LIKE THIS… 4
“I thought there would be more photos on exhibit”
“They have a great collection of photographs (allegedly!)”
“Imagine a museum where you can’t see the art. What a
let down”
“I find it fascinating to look at old photographs…
Unfortunately, the Eastman Museum is not a place where
I can do that.”
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5. THE CHALLENGE (SINGULAR) 5
How can we show visitors more from the collections?
• Limited exhibition space, already rotating
permanent collections
• Objects can only be on view for short periods to
protect them from light and humidity damage
• Some objects cannot leave vault due to copyright
Discussion raises other challenges… but luckily we
have a Kress fellow to help!
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6. THE OPPORTUNITY 6
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Louis Jules Duboscq (French, 1817–1886). Still life, ca. 1855.
Daguerreotype, 3 ¼ × 7 × 3 1/6 in. George Eastman Museum, gift
of Eastman Kodak Company, ex collection Gabriel Cromer
Kress Fellowship: one year
position in interpretation and
digital education
History of Photography:
gallery rotates every six
months with objects from
permanent collection
Upcoming rotation focuses
on the moon, perfect for an
app that allows diving into
our permanent collections

7. THE CHALLENGES (PLURAL) 7
Challenge #1: How can
we increase visitor access
to objects in the vault?
Challenge #2: How can
we ensure what we
create will be used by
visitors?
Challenge #3: Budget…
i.e. what budget?
Goal #1: Build a tool that gives
visitors digital access to
collections
Goal #2: Mobile website or based
on site as kiosk (no download)
Goal #3: Easy to use interface
with elements of popular
platforms
Goal #4: Content that is useful
Goal #5: Use existing resources or
build ourselves (no outsourcing)
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8. FINDING INSPIRATION 7
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Institution Type On/off-
site
Keywords Pros (for us) Cons (for us)
UCLA
Hammer
Digital
Thematic
archive
Off Expansive Integrated into main
website, educational
content
Individually coded
pages, time intensive
Royal
Academy Art
& Artists
Collection
explorer
Off Immersive Easy and fun ways to
explore collection for
non-scholars
Mad coding skillz
required
AIC Journey
Maker
Tour
generator
On* Playful Gameified tour
creator, fun to explore
gallery and collections
Requires permanent
collection
CMA
ArtLens
Exhibition
interactive
On Participatory Great deep dive of
collections, different
types of media
Requires lots of
funding
Brooklyn
Museum Ask
Question
platform
On Personalized Totally personalized to
person’s preference
Requires full time staff
member
CMOG
GlassApp
Exhibition
enhance-
ment
On* User-friendly Easy mobile interface
and great additional
material
Not a friendly back
end for staff to
update

9. • RA’s immersive and
exploratory interface
• Hammer’s expanded
exhibitions
• CMA’s in-depth look at
details
• Brooklyn’s personalization
• CMOG’s interface
• AIC’s playful feel
A VISION OF A MONSTER 14
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10. Low-level rapid testing of ideas to see what best fits
our audience
Test 1: What does the audience want when diving
deeper into works?
Test 2: Does audio satisfy this desire to learn more?
Test 3: Do they want to dive into a single famous
artist?
Test 4: Analog or digital for learning more?
PROTOTYPING AND TESTING 15
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11. Inspiration:
• Brooklyn vs. CMA & AIC’s
audience participation
• RA vs. AIC tagging
Tools: Instagram & Twitter
Iterations:
1. Twitter poll feature
2. Instagram Posts
commenting
3. Instagram Stories
questions
What we learned: Audience prefers
place and time over simple
categories, want to dive deeper;
social media not best platform;
questions raised that needed to be
addressed by curators
TEST 1: AUDIENCE PREFERENCE 16
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12. Inspiration:
• CMA & CMOG’s
expanded content
Tools: OnCell Mobile Site
Status: Created audio tour
using lecture about gallery
to create expanded
experience, never used
What we learned: need to
to clarify what assets we
can use in a systematic
way
TEST 2: AUDIO TOUR WITH EXPANDED STORIES 17
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13. Inspiration:
• CMA & CMOG’s
expanded content
Tools: OnCell Mobile Site
Status: Created audio tour
using lecture about gallery
to create expanded
experience, never used
What we learned: need to
be more clear with curators
about what we’re doing
TEST 2: AUDIO TOUR WITH EXPANDED STORIES 17
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14. Inspiration:
• AIC and CMA’s tours
• Visitor feedback to
show more Ansel
Adams
Tools: OnCell
Status: Never made it past
draft format due to
complexities of getting
copyright cleared
What we learned: discuss
the nuances of copyright
TEST 3: EXPANDED TOUR ON ANSEL ADAMS 18
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15. Inspiration:
• CMA and RA’s pre-
made tours
• Visitor feedback to
show more Ansel
Adams
Tools: OnCell
Status: Never made it past
draft format due to
complexities of getting
copyright cleared
What we learned: discuss
copyright before creating
prototypes
TEST 3: EXPANDED TOUR ON ANSEL ADAMS 18
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16. Inspiration:
• CMA and RA’s pre-made
tours
• JourneyMaker’s narrative
appeal
Tools: OnCell & Paper
A/B Testing:
A. Analog version available as
a rack card, end with survey
B. Digital version available as a
mobile tour, end with
survey
What we learned: took way too
long for ‘rapid prototyping’; about
four weeks behind schedule
TEST 4: ANALOG VS DIGITAL STORIES 19
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17. Inspiration:
• CMA and RA’s pre-made
tours
• JourneyMaker’s game
life qualities
Tools: OnCell
A/B Testing:
A. Digital version available
as a mobile tour, end
with survey
B. Digital version with
choose your own
adventure elements
NEXT STEPS: DEVELOP & GAMEIFY 20
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18. Expected Challenges
• DIY has major limitations
• Limited time for testing due to launch of
exhibition and Kate’s maternity leave
Unexpected Challenges
• Current environment does not allow for rapid
prototyping
ROADBLOCKS 21
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19. • What assets are we allowed to use and what are
the limitations?
• Who needs to approve and sign off on the beta
tests before we begin?
• Do these need to be reviewed by the copy editor?
• How do we alert staff and visitors that this is
experimental?
THE INTERESTING CHALLENGE 22
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20. 1. Looking to others for inspiration provides a
stronger starting point than a blank page
2. Important to talk with other museum people about
their successes, failures and challenges (let’s do
this more!)
3. Need to discuss in advance how rapid prototyping
and beta testing will be done and develop best
practices to follow at our institution
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED 23
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21. We want to learn about
your museum and how
you experiment (or
don’t experiment!)
Help us by filling out
this survey at
http://bit.ly/GEMbeta
Or come say hi and we
can chat over wine!
HELP US! 24
Me: I promise I won’t talk
about museums at the bar
Me two drinks later:
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