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THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

  MOBILE + VR
ACCESSIBILITY
   + LITERACY

     THE
     DIGITAL
     FRONTIER
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
S C OT L A N D ’ S F I N E S T
             T H E M AC A L L A N D I S T I L L E RY & V I S I TO R E X P E R I E N C E
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                www.beckinteriors.com       beckinteriors       BECK        +44 (0) 20 8974 0500
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
JANUARY
       FEBRUARY
            2019
           ISSUE               CONTENTS
                                                                                    DEPARTMENTS
                                                                                    5   From the
                                                                                        President
                                                                                        and CEO
                                                                                    6   By the Numbers
                                                                                    8   First Look
                                                                                    12 Point of View
                                                                                        Are We Giving
                                                                                        Up Too Much?
                                                                                    40 Alliance in Action
                                        FEATURES
                                                                                    44 Tributes and
                                        16   Handheld and Expansive                    Transitions
                                             Mobile platforms help museums
                                             foster better visitor experiences.     48 Reflection
                                             By Deborah Howes

                                        22 Exploring a Neurospeculative
          Cover: Data consists of
                                           Future
          valuable information that          Ashley Baccus-Clark discusses the
          enhances people’s lives
          and it has so many stories         storytelling promise of VR.
          to tell. Media Artist Refik
          Anadol utilized energy             Interview by Elizabeth Merritt
          usage datasets from various
          buildings and explored new
          data universes in the shape
          of data sculptures.           28 A Winning Approach to Digital
          ©Refik Anadol                    Media Accessibility
                                             Improving accessibility enhances the
                                             visitor experience for everyone.
                                             By Susan Chun

                                        34   Building a Framework
                                             The museum sector needs to rethink
                                             digital skills—from the ground up.
                                             By Carolyn Royston and Ross Parry

2   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
2019 Goal:
Increased Visitor
Engagement
or Bust!

Look to Guru to
make it happen.
Guru’s award-winning museum apps
offer engaging, interactive, and customized
visitor experiences that span media while
leading the way in educational augmented reality.
All of this wrapped up in the most robust and
holistic app platform available. From custom
content to GPS and location-aware wayfinding,
Guru has you covered in the new year. Not to
mention delivering in-depth, actionable data to
help your institution bust all kinds of records...and
share all kinds of busts. Imagine, GURU + You.

                                  theguru.co
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
twitter.com/aamers

                                                                                                                             facebook.com/americanmuseums

          A BENEFIT OF MEMBERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN ALLIANCE OF MUSEUMS
                                                                                                                             linkedin.com/groups/American-
                                                                                                                             Alliance-Museums-2965314
          MANAGING EDITOR                                          DESIGN AND PRODUCTION
          Gayle Bennett                                            Team of Creatives, LLC

          SENIOR EDITOR
          Dean Phelus
                                                                   ADVERTISING
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          CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
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          Eileen Goldspiel, Julie Hart, Megan
          Lantz, Cecelia Walls, Joseph Klem,                       ALLIANCE PRESIDENT AND CEO
          Alexandra Roe                                            Laura L. Lott

          ALLIANCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

          OFFICERS                                                 TERM OF OFFICE 2017-2020
          Chair (2018-2020)                                        Devon Akmon, DeVos Institute of Arts
          Kippen de Alba Chu, Iolani Palace                        Management
          Vice Chair (2018-2019)                                   Eduardo Díaz, Smithsonian Latino
          Robert M. Davis, DRMD Strategies, LLC                    Center

          Treasurer (2018-2019)                                    Christine A. Donovan, Northern Trust
          Mark Edward, Hertzbach & Co, PA                          Company
                                                                   Berit N. Durler, San Diego Zoo Global
          Immediate Past Chair (2018-2020)
          Douglas S. Jones, Florida Museum of                      Lisa Yun Lee, National Public Housing
          Natural History, University of Florida                   Museum
                                                                   Andrés Roldán, Parque Explora
          TERM OF OFFICE 2016-2019
          Chevy Humphrey, Arizona Science                          TERM OF OFFICE 2018-2021
          Center                                                   Susana Smith Bautista, Pasadena
                                                                   Museum of California Art
          Judith Margles, Oregon Jewish
          Museum and Center for Holocaust                          Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, Abbe
          Education                                                Museum
          Tonya Matthews, STEM Equity and                          Nathan Richie, Golden History Museum
          Informal Learning Consultant                             and Park
          Kelly McKinley, Oakland Museum of                        Ruth Shelly, Portland Children’s
          California                                               Museum
          James Pepper Henry, The American                         Stephanie Stebich, Smithsonian
          Indian Cultural Center and Museum                        American Art Museum
          Carlos Tortolero, National Museum of                     Karol Wight, The Corning Museum of
          Mexican Art                                              Glass

          MUSEUM (ISSN 0027-4089)
          JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019, VOLUME 98, NO. 1
          PUBLISHED BIMONTHLY (J/F, M/A, M/J, J/A, S/O, N/D)
          BY THE AMERICAN ALLIANCE OF MUSEUMS
          2451 CRYSTAL DRIVE, SUITE 1005, ARLINGTON, VA 22202; 202-289-1818; FAX 202-289-6578; WWW.
          AAM-US.ORG.

          Annual subscription rate is $38. Copies are mailed to all members. Single copy is $7. Overseas airmail
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          to a subscription to MUSEUM, except for students and retirees. (This notice is required by the US Postal
          Service.) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MUSEUM, 2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 1005, Arlington, VA
          22202. Copyright 2018, American Alliance of Museums. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine or
          its cover may be reproduced without written consent of the copyright proprietor. MUSEUM is indexed in
          The Art Index, which is published quarterly and available in public libraries. The magazine is available from
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          are not necessarily those of the Alliance. Preferred Periodical postage paid at Arlington, VA, and additional
          mailing offices. Printed in the US by Lane Press, Burlington, VT.

4   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
FROM THE
                                                                                         PRESIDENT AND CEO

With Great
Technology Comes
Great Responsibility
2001: A Space Odyssey hit theaters in the                    more sophisticated with time.
summer of 1968, and it almost immediately became             How do we balance privacy
cultural shorthand for how we imagine the future.            with productivity? How do we
    From the unforgettably dramatic opening, with            safely handle all of the data our
its timpani drum sequence signaling the arrival of           devices are constantly collect-
the future, to the wagon wheel-shaped Space Station          ing? How can museums help
V waltzing on screen to the strains of Strauss’ “Blue        people embrace these changes
Danube,” we understand the grandeur of what a                holistically?
technology-enabled society can achieve. But when                 To navigate these challeng-
the computer HAL 9000 goes rogue and threatens               es—and amazing opportuni-
the crew’s lives, it fuels our worst fears (unrealistic as   ties—our members must be
they sometimes are) about technology—in this case            prepared. Th Alliance is here to
artific al intelligence, or AI—and the risks it poses if     help. We explore some of these
we’re not careful.                                           issues in the following pages and at AAM events
    One key to the film’s enduring relevance is how          around the country.
it immerses the audience in its fi tional futurescape.           In September, we convened 75 thought leaders
Thanks to 2001-esque technologies like virtual and           at the Detroit Institute of Arts for “Immersion in
augmented reality, museums are starting to explore           Museums: AR, VR, or Just Plain R?” Are museums
the potential of truly immersive storytelling.               still relevant physical forums when digital-native
    • Th Denver Museum of Nature and Science                 visitors experience digital-born art?
          recently opened a virtual reality (VR) arcade          At the Pérez Art Museum Miami in November,
          that can transport visitors around the world or    we studied how new data analytics and predictive
          to another planet.                                 modeling can improve our organizations’ bottom
    • Th Anne Frank House museum in                          lines—because even augmented museums need to
          Amsterdam created a VR tour of the Secret          keep the doors open and the lights on.
          Annex, the cramped space where Anne wrote              2001: A Space Odyssey still feels ahead of its time,
          her famous diary while hiding from the Nazis.      even 18 years after the story takes place. But contrary
    • teamLab Borderless at Tokyo’s Mori Building            to filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s vision, the future
          Digital Art Museum unveiled a digital              didn’t arrive all at once. As another sci-fi soothsayer—
          museum of unprecedented scope and scale,           author William Gibson—observed, the future is here,
          showcasing a new generation of immersive,          but it isn’t evenly distributed.
          interactive digital art.                               In the new year, let’s resolve to embrace change
    We know that new tech is not without risk or             wisely, explore new technologies fully, and find
challenge. Fifty years after HAL refused to open the         creative ways to better serve our missions and our
pod bay doors, many people still find futuristic AI          bottom lines at the same time. Together we can help
a little creepy—but virtual assistants like Siri and         our industry—and our visitors—step into the future,
Alexa are now commonplace and will only become               and ensure that we arrive there with our eyes open.

Laura L. Lott is the Alliance’s president and CEO. Follow Laura on Twitter at @LottLaura.

                                                                                          MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org   5
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
BY THE
    NUMBERS

                                                                                                                                      >90%
                                                                                                                                   Accuracy

    Technology and                                                                                                               rate of plant
                                                                                                                               identification by

    the Museum
                                                                                                                                 digital neural
                                                                                                                                 networks at
                                                                                                                                 the National
                                                                                                                                 Herbarium of
                                                                                                                                 the National
                                                                                                                                  Museum of
                                                                                                                                Natural History.

                                                                                                                                                                    >240
                                                                                                                                                               Number of
                                                                                                                                                              iBeacons at
                                                                                                                                                             the Cleveland
                                                                                                                                                             Museum of Art,
                                                                Among museum-                                                                                 which assist
                                                                   goers under                                                                                visitors with
                                                                 age 40, viewing                                                                               wayfinding
                                                                 original objects                                                                             when using
                                                                is 6.3 times more                                                                            the museum’s
                                                                   popular than                                                                               ArtLens app.
                                                                 using phones to
                                                                 access content.
                                                                                                                                                                               istock.com/Floriana

                   By the Numbers was compiled by Susie Wilkening, principal of Wilkening Consulting, wilkeningconsulting.com. Reach Susie at Susie@wilkeningconsulting.com.
                                                     Sources: Smithsonian Institution; Wilkening Consulting’s 2017 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers; Cleveland Museum of Art

6   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
THE DIGITAL FRONTIER - MOBILE + VR ACCESSIBILITY + LITERACY - American ...
FIRST
    LOOK

                    Gadsden Arts Center                         The Mint Museum                            World War II Home
                    & Museum                                    “African-Print Fashion Now! A Story        Front Museum
                    “Norman Rockwell in the 1960s,”             of Taste, Globalization, and Style”        The World War II Home Front

                                                                                                                                                The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell, story illustration for Look, Norman Rockwell Museum Collection;
                    an exhibition organized by the              introduces visitors to a dynamic           Museum, which opened in
                    Norman Rockwell Museum in                   and diverse dress tradition and            December 2018, brings to life
                    Stockbridge, Massachusetts,                 the increasingly interconnected            coastal Georgia’s contributions
                    focuses on illustrations he                 fashion worlds that it inhabits:           during World War II and recounts
                    created for magazines during                “popular” garments created by              how this quiet region was
                    that turbulent decade. In 1963,             local seamstresses and tailors             transformed when the United
                    the artist ended his almost                 across the continent; international        States went to war. The Home
                    five-decade-long association                runway fashions designed by                Front Museum tells the story of
                    with The Saturday Evening Post              Africa’s newest generation of              an important chapter in Georgia’s
                    and began to search for new                 couturiers; and boundary-breaking,         history when residents of small
                    artistic challenges. Rockwell               transnational, and youth styles            communities worked together and
                    threw himself into the visual               favored in Africa’s urban centers.         sacrificed for the greater good.
                    documentation of social issues              All feature the colorful, boldly
                                                                designed, manufactured cotton              Location: St. Simons Island, GA
                    and current events like school
                    integration, the moon landing, and          textiles that have come to be              Partner: Gallagher & Associates
                    the murder of civil rights workers.         known as “African-print cloth.”            Learn more: coastalgeorgiahistory.
                                                                Dates: through Apr. 28                     org/visit/world-war-ii-museum
                    Dates: Jan. 11–May 18
                    Location: Quincy, FL                        Location: Charlotte, NC
                                                                                                                                                Mint Museum; Coastal Georgia Historical Society

                    Learn more: gadsdenarts.org/                Learn more: mintmuseum.org/
                    exhibitions/Rockwell-in-the-1960s           exhibitions

              What’s New
              at Your Museum?
              Do you have a new temporary or permanent exhibition, education program, partnership/initiative, or building/wing? Tell us
              at bit.ly/MuseumNewsAAM, and it might be featured in an upcoming issue.

8   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
Harvard Museum of                      Henry Street Settlement
Castiale elegantula, courtesy Museum of Comparative Zoology, © President

                                                                           Natural History                        Marking the Henry Street
                                                                           “The Rockefeller Beetles” exhibi-      Settlement’s 125th anniversary,
                                                                           tion features hundreds of beetle       “The House on Henry Street”
                                                                           specimens from the collection of       explores themes of social
                                                                           banker and philanthropist David        activism, urban poverty, and
                                                                           Rockefeller. Over the span of 90       public health. This permanent
                                                                           years, Rockefeller collected beetles   interactive exhibition examines
                                                                           from around the world, eventually      waves of immigration and the
                                                                           building a personal collection of      challenges newcomers faced
                                                                                                                  amid rapid industrialization and
and Fellows of Harvard College; Unknown

                                                                           more than 150,000 specimens. The
                                                                           exhibition recounts the story of a     urban overcrowding. It also
                                                                           man whose childhood pursuit grew       illustrates the settlement house
                                                                           into a lifelong passion.               movement and the trailblazing
                                                                                                                  role of Henry Street founder
                                                                           Location: Cambridge, MA                Lillian Wald, who also created the
                                                                           Learn more: hmnh.harvard.edu/          Visiting Nurse Service of New
                                                                           rockefeller-beetles                    York.
                                                                                                                  Location: New York, NY
                                                                                                                  Learn more:
                                                                                                                  thehouseonhenrystreet.org

                               A W A R D - W I N N I N G S E AT I N G
                               FOR GALLERIES, EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND PUBLIC SPACES
                               design: Tom Shiner, FAIA

                                                                                                                                  MandLF.com

                                                                                                                  MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org   9
FIRST
     LOOK

                    National Museum of                     Halsey Institute of                   The Niagara Falls Under-

                                                                                                                                       Jaclyn Nash; Stacy Kranitz, Island Road, from the As It Was Give(n) to Me series, Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana;
                    American History                       Contemporary Art                      ground Railroad Heritage
                    “Within These Walls” centers on        “Southbound: Photographs of and       Center
                    a two-and-a-half-story Georgian-       about the New South” comprises        The permanent exhibition “One
                    style house from Ipswich,              56 photographers’ visions of the      More River to Cross” features the
                    Massachusetts, immersing visitors      South over the first decades of the   rich stories of the Underground
                    in five different time periods. The    21st century. The photographs         Railroad in Niagara Falls, the
                    museum has brought new life to         echo stories told about the           crucial role played by its location
                    this established exhibition through    South as a bastion of tradition,

                                                                                                                                       Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, Cataract House © Kim Smith
                                                                                                 and geography, and the actions
                    theatrical projections featuring       as a region remade through            of its residents—particularly its
                    animated shadows, video, text,         Americanization and globalization,    African American residents. The
                    and soundscapes to showcase            and as a land full of surprising      exhibition engages visitors through
                    the lives of five families who lived   realities. The photographs are        digital media, graphics, scenic
                    in the house over the course of        complemented by a commissioned        built environments, and facilitated
                    200 years. The projections depict      video, an interactive digital         dialogic programming.
                    some of the daily activities that      mapping environment, an
                    would have occupied residents,         extensive stand-alone website,        Location: Niagara Falls, NY
                    such as taking tea or sewing to        and a comprehensive exhibition        Partners: Studio Tectonic, Richard
                    raise funds for anti-slavery causes.   catalogue.                            Lewis Media Group, Universal
                                                                                                 Services Associates, Inc.
                    Location: Washington, DC               Dates: through March 2
                                                                                                 Learn more:
                    Learn more: americanhistory.           Location: Charleston, SC              niagarafallsundergroundrailroad.
                    si.edu/exhibitions/                                                          org/exhibitions/exhibit-design
                                                           Learn more: halsey.cofc.edu/
                    within-these-walls                     exhibitions

10   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
Henry Art Gallery                   Greenwich Historical
Imaginary Explosions by Caitlin Berrigan, courtesy of the artist; created by J.A.
Grozier and published by McLoughlin Bros., Inc., Greenwich Historical Society

                                                                                    “Between Bodies” delves into        Society
                                                                                    intimate exchanges and entwined     “History Is...,” the inaugural
                                                                                    relations between human and         exhibition at the Greenwich
                                                                                    natural bodies within contexts      Historical Society’s newly
                                                                                    of ongoing ecological change.       reimagined campus, encourages
                                                                                    Sculpture, augmented reality,       visitors to reflect on the role history
                                                                                    video, and sound-based works        plays at different stages in their lives
                                                                                    blur the false divide between       and explores the ways individuals
                                                                                    nature and culture and question     look at, define, and interpret
                                                                                    what it means to be human in a      history. The exhibition embodies
                                                                                    time of global climate change and   the Historical Society’s mission
                                                                                    environmental transformation.       to strengthen the community’s
                                                                                    Dates: through Apr. 28              connection to the past, to each
                                                                                    Location: Seattle, WA               other, and to the future.

                                                                                    Learn more: henryart.org/           Dates: through Sept. 7
                                                                                    exhibitions/between-bodies          Location: Greenwich, CT
                                                                                                                        Learn more: greenwichhistory.org/
                                                                                                                        current

                                                                                                                                                                   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org   11
POINT
     OF VIEW

                    Are We Giving
                    Up Too Much?
                    It’s time to think about the ethics of
                    museum technology tools.
                    By Koven J. Smith

                    The nature of the                    manage commercial technology.       now in a highly leveraged position:
                    technology that runs                 This technology supports a range    much of their own programming
                    museums is changing. This isn’t a    of museum functions: WordPress      and daily operations is at the mercy
                    surprise—the only thing constant     to run the website, Medium to run   of these software companies.
                    about technology in any context is   the blog, Amazon to host images,        In recent years, the problem at
                    its constant evolution.              and so on.                          the core of this arrangement has
                        At museums, technologists            Museums can do more, and        been thrown into higher relief as
                    once built solutions largely from    faster, with this technology, but   commercial software companies
                    scratch; now they implement and      there’s a trade-off. Museums are    have come under increased public

                                                                                             “At museums,
                                                                                             technologists
                                                                                             once built
                                                                                             solutions
                                                                                             largely from
                                                                                             scratch;
                                                                                             now they
                                                                                             implement
                                                                                             and manage
                                                                                                                                    istock.com/metamorworks

                                                                                             commercial
                                                                                             technology.”

12   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
scrutiny. It has become clear that                   Museum Tech Evolution                                  way to commercial technology,
the stated values of these compa-                    Much early museum technology,                          and with that change came an ethi-
nies (connecting people, sharing                     from collections management                            cal murkiness. We were not always
ideas) often have little to do with                  systems to early museum websites,                      conscious of this murkiness, or
the actual values embodied in their                  was created directly from specifi                      we chose to ignore it, believing
products (monetizing user data,                      museum needs. That technology                          in the promise of the internet as
invading privacy, enabling harass-                   therefore embodied the values                          articulated by its early (mostly
ment, and so on).                                    of the museums that created it:                        libertarian) founders. Th promise
    This means that the values and                   accessibility and persistence of                       went something like this: because
principles inherent in the technolo-                 content, transparency of methods,                      the internet is the venue for a new
gy itself are more sharply diverging                 cooperation among institutions,                        type of consciousness, everyone
from the values of the museums                       respect for and support of visitor                     participating in it (which at that
using it. It is therefore time for a                 needs, and a deliberate (if not                        time was still a relatively small
reckoning: we must now address                       always liberal) approach to rights                     sliver of the population) would
not just the practical considerations                management. Th se values were,                         embody that consciousness. It was
of the technology we use, but also                   for the most part, in line with                        a short leap from “information
its moral and ethical implications. If               museums’ missions.                                     wants to be free” to our own work.
we don’t, we risk compromising the                       In the mid-2000s, bespoke                              Fast forward to the present day.
values of the museums we serve.                      museum technology began to give                        If the idea of a “new consciousness”

            The 5th Annual Global Fine Art Awards
                      Ceremony & Gala
                                      Celebrate the best exhibitions and fine artists from around the world
                                      Tuesday March 12, 2019 ~ Harold Pratt Mansion, New York

                                                        For tickets and information:
                                 globalfineartawards.org | globalfineartawards@gmail.com | 917.589.0247

     GFAA is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purpose of GFAA are tax-deductible to the extent
      permitted by law. Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) public charity, provides a fiscal sponsorship program to help arts organizations raise money from charitable sources.

                                                                                                                         MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org             13
POINT
     OF VIEW

                          NEW TOOL CHECKLIST                                                       almost overnight. It was suddenly
                                                                                                   difficult to justify spending time
                          1. Find out who owns any content you’re putting on a platform            on collections aggregation once
                          and have a thorough understanding of the platform provider’s             Google “solved” that problem. So,
                          licensing model.                                                         outside of a handful of promising
                          2. Know what the company providing the platform does with                linked open data projects, museum
                          its user data.                                                           technologists are not working on
                          3. Know what the platform does to regulate/mitigate                      collections aggregation anymore.
                          harassment.                                                                  Pragmatically, this is not a big
                          4. Make sure you have the ability to retain/download your                deal. While many of the museum-
                          content should the platform cease to exist.                              based aggregate collections projects
                          5. Settle on your standards for accessibility and apply them             remained in either notional or beta
                          across all the technology you use.                                       stages for years, the Google Art
                                                                                                   Project actually exists. It works as
                                                                                                   advertised, it is backed by Google’s
                    didn’t seem laughable before, the      much of that compromise have we         marketing power, and it’s relatively
                    behavior of major tech companies       avoided addressing because the          painless to use. It has allowed us to
                    over the past several years—lax        tools work so well?                     move on to other things.
                    data privacy, tolerance of harass-         There’s no better illustration          But from a values standpoint,
                    ment, and more—has defin tely put      of the complex bargain museums          the Google Art Project is a
                    the idea to rest.                      make with commercial technology         stunning giveaway of authority,
                        Th problem is that most of         than the Google Art Project. One        expertise, and raw content to an
                    the tech in use at museums is          of the holy grails of early museum      organization whose end game for
                    now built by someone else. We no       technology was the idea that the        museum content remains an open
                    longer articulate our principles       internet would digitally unite the      question. Does anyone think that
                    through technology; instead, we        museum collections of the world;        Google would think twice about
                    inherit them via terms of service.     from a single interface, you’d be       killing off the Art Project if it
                    As a result, museum technology         able to search for and retrieve         threatened the company’s bottom
                    now offers a fragile patchwork of      information about any object from       line or public perception? If it did,
                    often confli ting principles. We       any collection. Th Open Archives        the limited infrastructure for ag-
                    accept some user tracking on our       Initiative; the Art Museum Image        gregated museum collections that
                    website, but not on our mobile app.    Consortium; Linked Open                 does exist would literally disappear
                    Our blog is accessible, but not our    Data for Libraries, Archives and        overnight. We also don’t know
                    online collections. We perform         Museums—all of these projects           what user tracking or targeting is
                    intrusive tracking of some museum      tried to make this notion a reality.    being done, and the ownership of
                    visitors, but not others.                  And then the Google Art             material submitted to the project
                                                           Project came along, making the          remains murky at best. Will Google
                    At What Cost?                          same promise: the world’s collec-       assert its right to run ads alongside
                    For many years I argued that the       tions in one convenient search          the works of art?
                    increased performance outweighed       box! It fulfil ed that promise in a         How much control over our
                    the downsides of these outside         way that made it easy for museums       collective content infrastructure
                    principles. I’m no longer confide t    to participate (those that were         did we voluntarily give up in return
                    that’s the case. Th work we do is      lucky enough to be invited, that is).   for little more than the promise of
                    in the public trust, but how much      And it looked gorgeous.                 increased website traffi
                    of that trust is compromised by            It also killed off most of the          To its credit, the Google Art
                    the tools we’re using? And how         aggregate collections efforts           Project team has worked with the

14   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
partner museums in a sincere and              to apologize to a museum visitor                                  and utility of the tech we use
generous manner. But its values are           for being targeted by annoying                                    and address head-on the ethical
not museum values—and neither                 ads simply because I like the way                                 dimensions of these tools.
are Facebook’s or Twitter’s. Recall           our email list software formats
that Google quietly removed “don’t            captions.
be evil” from its code of conduct                As a museum technologist, I’ve
in 2018.                                      always incorporated the principles                                Koven J. Smith is a digital strategy
                                              and values of my museum employ-                                   consultant (kovenjsmith.com) for
What’s Next?                                  ers into my work. I have thought of                               museums and nonprofits who has
I don’t mean to imply that we                 myself as a builder and creative first                            held leadership positions at the
should go back to building ev-                and an ethicist second. Th se days                                Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
erything ourselves. I don’t think             are coming to a close.                                            Denver Art Museum, the Blanton
that is desirable or even remotely               Today, I’m building less, and                                  Museum of Art, and elsewhere.
realistic. I do, however, think we            that makes understanding the                                      He offers special thanks to Greg
should return to those first princi-          implications of the tech I’m using                                Albers, Douglas Hegley, Andrea
ples from the early days of muse-             that much more critical. All of                                   Montiel de Shuman, Jennifer Foley,
um tech and apply them to all the             us in museum technology need                                      and nikhil trivedi for their help in
tech we use, not just the tech we             to widen our scope beyond just                                    focusing some of the ideas in this
make ourselves. I don’t ever want             caring about the practicality                                     column.

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                                                                                                                                 MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org                            15
Handheld and
 Expansive
                Mobile platforms help
                museums foster better
                visitor experiences.
                By Deborah Howes
                                                                                                                  In the augmented
                                                                                                                  reality view of Diego
                                                                                                                  Rivera’s Detroit
                                                                                                                  Industry at Detroit
                                                                                                                  Institute of the Arts,
Deborah Howes

                The opportunities to expand museum experiences through mobile                                     a handheld screen
                devices have never been so plentiful and, at the same time, so confusing. Th an-                  shows preliminary
                swers to “How much does a mobile solution cost?” or “Which system works best?”                    outlines of the mural
                                                                                                                  before fresco color
                vary wildly depending on museum size and, especially, the desired experience.                     was applied.

                                                                                                   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org   17
Fight the usual temptation to design your mobile          Great news: people still want content! More good
strategy by counting your objects, dollars, or square      news: for more than 50 years, museums have been
feet. Instead, start by asking your visitors which muse-   transmitting “just in time” recorded messages—a.k.a.
um experiences need improvement.                           mobile content—to convey information that would
    Don’t answer this question on behalf of your           not fi on a wall panel or object label.
visitors, unless you are quoting your institution’s bona      Listening as your eyes wander gallery installations
fid visitor research. But while you collect this data,     remains a compelling storytelling experience, but the
consider the 2017 Culture Track report by LaPlaca          Culture Track report shows that today’s visitors seek
Cohen. More than 4,000 demographically diverse             personal meaning as well as expert knowledge. Let’s
people from across the US were asked why they seek         take a look at some museums that are using mobile
cultural experiences. Here’s what they said:               technology to allow visitors to get all that they want
    81% Having fun                                         from a cultural experience.
    78% Interest in content
    76% Experiencing new things                            Deepening Connections to Content
    75% Feeling less stressed                              Visiting the new contemporary wing at Th Corning
    71% Learning something new                             Museum of Glass in New York with your mobile
    69% Feeling inspired                                   device is a seamless experience. At the outset, the
    68% Interacting with others                            museum’s GlassApp automatically loads on your
    67% Feeling transported                                smartphone when it connects to the museum’s free
                                                           WiFi network.
                                                               In designing GlassApp, Chief Digital Offic Scott
                                                           Sayre sought a unifi d solution that would work on
                                                           all mobile devices regardless of country, display size,
                                                           or manufacturer. “GlassApp does not require our
                                                           visitors to install or update anything, and the museum
                                                           can easily expand the experience by linking to other
                                                           responsive resources on our website,” he says.
                                                               Equally important, the clean user interface harmo-
                                                           nizes with the gallery experience and provides many
                                                           perspectives—from those of exhibition designers,
                                                           educators, and glass artists to those of curators—via
                                                           images, text, and videos. Best of all, GlassApp can also
                                                           be used before or after a visit, allowing visitors to con-
                                                           struct personal meaning beyond the first glance.
                                                               Innovation in mobile can also be lower tech, as the
                                                           Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
                                                           has demonstrated through its exhibition of pho-
                                                           tographs by Charles “Teenie” Harris, who photo-
                                                           graphed Pittsburgh’s African American community
                                                           from about 1935 to 1975. His archive of nearly 80,000
                                                           images is one of the most detailed visual records of

                                                           In the exhibition “René Magritte: The Fifth Season” at the
                                                                                                                        Deborah Howes

                                                           San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, visitors’ images
                                                           appeared inside an interactive display of a composition
                                                           inspired by the painter.
the black urban experience, yet it lacks important
                                      descriptive information.
                                          To tackle this cataloging challenge, the Carnegie
                                      Museum requests help from the community.
                                      Exhibition visitors can dial a prominently posted
                                      phone number and leave a message describing what
                                      they know about the people, places, and things in the         RES   LaPlaca Cohen, Culture Track, culturetrack.com
                                      images—genius! Th se crowdsourced stories become              OUR
                                      important archival records as well as interpretive mate-      CES   The Corning Museum of Glass, GlassApp,
                                      rials for future exhibitions.                                       glassapp.cmog.org
                                                                                                          Carnegie Museum of Art, Teenie Harris Archive,
                                      Making Navigation Easier                                            teenie.cmoa.org
                                      Seventy-five percent of the respondents to the Culture              American Museum of Natural History, Explorer app,
                                      Track 2017 study said they came to our institutions                 amnh.org/apps/explorer
                                      to de-stress. That’s wonderful, but could stress be a
                                                                                                          Detroit Institute of Arts, Lumin AR program,
                                      reason why others avoid museums? Do fi st-time                      dia.org/lumin
                                      visitors want to avoid looking ignorant in front of
                                                                                                          National Gallery of Art, Uncovering America,
                                      companions? Do people with physical needs fear we
                                                                                                          nga.gov/education/teachers/lessons-activities/
                                      can’t accommodate them?
                                                                                                          uncovering-america.html
                                          Th path to reconciliation with these reluctant
                                      visitors starts with wayfi ding. Getting lost is stressful,         Museum-made massive open online courses
                                      especially when looking for a bathroom, a lost child,               (MOOCs): American Museum of Natural History,
                                                                                                          coursera.org/amnh; Exploratorium, coursera.org/
                                      that favorite object, or a place to rest and get some
                                                                                                          exploratorium; Museum of Modern Art, coursera.
                                      food. As our public increasingly relies on smartphones
                                                                                                          org/moma; SmithsonianX, edx.org/school/
                                      to answer navigational queries outside the museum,                  smithsonianx
                                      it makes sense to adapt these wayfi ding functions
                                      inside the museum.
                                          Th Explorer app, created by the American Museum
                                      of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City, achieves
                                      “blue dot” accuracy on its interior map thanks to
                                      sensors distributed throughout the 25 interconnected
                                      buildings and support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
                                      Th app also helps the museum improve its services.
                                      “Th Explorer app increases our internal understand-
                                      ing of how location, along with other aspects of visitor
                                      context, contributes to useful, meaningful, and even
                                      elegant museum experiences,” explains Matthew Tarr,
                                      AMNH’s director of digital architecture.
© 2018 Minneapolis Institute of Art

                                          Welcoming visitors with low vision is one of the
                                      most difficult challenges to museum wayfi ding.
                                      Th Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh partnered
                                      with nearby Carnegie Mellon University’s Cognitive
                                      Assistance Lab to pilot NavCog, an app that operates
                                      via Bluetooth beacons in the galleries. Visitors using
                                                                                                               Visitors to the Minneapolis Institute of Art use
                                      NavCog hear navigation instructions as well as inter-                    the “Riddle Mia This” app to solve puzzles
                                      pretive content, including descriptions of the artwork.                  using clues hidden in the artworks.

                                                                                                                           MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org   19
At the “René Magritte: The Fifth Season”

          WHERE THE
                                                                              exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of
                                                                              Modern Art, visitors looking at one display
                                                                              could not see themselves appearing in the

          COMPASS
                                                                              other, unless someone else recorded it.

          POINTS
          Indoor location-based apps can support navigation inside               Desi Gonzalez, former manager of digital en-
          the museum, enrich the visitor experience, and allow                gagement at the Warhol, worked with visitors who
          visitors to research where to spend their time. While many          are visually impaired to test NavCog. Testers said the
          museums have launched beta test projects, they rarely               mobile tool helped them comfortably navigate the
          report their findings. Similarly, the development processes
                                                                              museum, which made their experience more indepen-
          for successful mobile apps are not widely shared.
                                                                              dent and enjoyable.
               “After countless conversations over more than five
          years with colleagues about what does or doesn’t work
          for indoor location mobile apps, it became clear that we            Boosting the Fun Factor
          should get together to learn from each other, consolidate           Wasn’t it gratifying to read that 81 percent of the
          information, and identify future potential uses,” says              Culture Track respondents go to museums to have
          Claire Pillsbury, program director at San Francisco’s               fun? Th San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
          Exploratorium.                                                      (SFMOMA) knows that having fun is a great way
               In September 2018, the Exploratorium hosted the                to learn something new. Its 2018 René Magritte
          Conference on Mobile Position Awareness Systems and                 retrospective ended with a Surrealist playground in
          Solutions (COMPASS) to help museum professionals learn              which visitors saw their images sliced, transported,
          from and support each other’s work and candidly exchange            and rearranged in Magritte-like settings in real time.
          results and methods. The cross-disciplinary, two-day event
                                                                              Visitors gleefully captured these visual puzzles on
          drew representatives from museums, universities, visitor
                                                                              their phones and decoded them with friends and
          research consultancies, and app agencies to share practices,
                                                                              others in the galleries.
          articulate goals, and critically examine the role of mobile apps.
               Conference topics and perspectives will be further                 “Trying to design experiences to induce selfie
                                                                              is really hard and usually feels unfulfilling to the
                                                                                                                                        Deborah Howes

          disseminated via an Association for Science and
          Technology Centers webinar in March 2019 and a free                 visitor,” says Chad Coerver, SFMOMA’s chief content
          e-publication in late spring 2019. For more information, visit      offic . “But designing experiences that are so fun and
          exploratorium.edu/visit/calendar/compass.                           captivating that visitors want to take selfie is a much

20   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
better place to be.” Surely Magritte, the trickster,         Immersive experiences improve as more senses
would have agreed.                                        are engaged. Th David Bowie retrospective, which
    Th Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) recently        was organized by the UK’s Victoria and Albert
released “Riddle Mia Th s,” a free mobile app that        Museum in 2013 and concluded at the Brooklyn
turns the museum into a mystery. With smartphone          Museum in 2018, prioritized sound (surprise!) as
in hand, visitors move through the galleries looking      the major driver of this immersive experience. Upon
for clues—such as matching patterns or missing story      entering, visitors donned oversized, retro-styled
elements—hidden in the artworks, often solving these      headphones and small digital audio players that
puzzles with the help of augmented reality (AR).          coordinated the music and commentary with their
“Visitors love discovering new objects and learning       location. Looking at Bowie’s costumes for the Ziggy
while they play,” says Mia Chief Digital Offic            Stardust tour triggered corresponding songs from
Douglas Hegley.                                           the album and relevant words of wisdom. Magically,
                                                          simply moving and looking induced synesthesia:
Transporting Visitors                                     talk about feeling transported!
Sixty-seven percent of Culture Track respondents
say they want to “feel transported.” Th Detroit           Thinking Big
Institute of Arts is helping visitors do that with        Many museums make good use of clever tweets and
museum-provided tablets. Visitors to the institu-         viral video posts. That’s great, but these posts flare
tion’s Detroit Industry fresco cycle by Mexican artist    and die. Consider using social media to drive visitor
Diego Rivera can borrow two types of free mobile          attention to online content, including educational
interpretive solutions: an iPad-based, bilingual mul-     offerings with longer shelf lives.
timedia tour describing how this famous mural was             Th National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC,
commissioned and created, or the Lumin AR tour            recently launched a set of Pinterest boards that link
that analyzes visitor location and delivers custom-       users to an extensive online American history teacher
ized AR content on screens controlled by Google’s         resource, Uncovering America. Th Exploratorium,
Tango system.                                             Museum of Modern Art, and Smithsonian Institution
   Visitors lift the AR device like a hand glass to       use social media platforms to drive enrollment and
inspect the under-drawing Rivera applied to the wall      engagement in their free online courses hosted by
before he added the colored fresco medium. Then,          the Coursera and edX massive open online courses
moving the device in any direction, they can see the      (MOOC) platforms.
entirety of the mural’s mid-process composition, just         Harnessing the power of popular mobile plat-
as Rivera would have seen it in 1933.                     forms—where people already congregate—as well as
   Similarly, the Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in             collaborating with like-minded institutions to create
Miami, Florida, wanted visitors to experience what        content of mutual interest can further help museums
the historic estate looked like before 2017’s Hurricane   achieve their educational goals. Museums that see
Irma and other recent severe storms took their toll.      themselves as omnipresent, lifelong sources of educa-
With support from the John S. and James L. Knight         tional experiences—regardless of where “visitors” are
Foundation, the Virtual Vizcaya tour offers high-         located—are well on their way to success.
resolution images, documentary videos, and 3-D
renderings of the campus in a mobile-friendly website
to build public awareness about climate change.           Deborah Howes, president of Howes Studio Inc.,
Whether at the museum or not, you can explore a           consults on digital learning initiatives, serves on the
highly responsive and exploratory visual environ-         board of Museum Computer Network (MCN), and
ment—including spaces that are no longer accessible       teaches in the museum studies master’s program at
due to conservation concerns—and easily imagine an        Johns Hopkins University. Follow her on Twitter
immediate future in crisis.                               @debhowes.

                                                                                      MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org   21
EXPLORING A
     NEUROSPECULATIVE
     FUTURE
     Ashley Baccus-Clark
     discusses the story-
     telling promise of VR,
     her work, and what
     museums can do
     better.
     Interview by Elizabeth Merritt

             In September 2018, I had the pleasure of moderating
             “Immersion in Museums: AR, VR, or Just Plain R?,” a small convening
             hosted by the Detroit Institute of Arts with support from the Knight
             Foundation. Ashley Baccus-Clark was there to help us explore museum
             applications of augmented and virtual reality. Ashley is director of
             research at Hyphen-Labs, an international team of women of color
             who create meaningful and engaging ways to explore emotional, hu-
             man-centered, and speculative design.
                I fell in love with Ashley’s work last year at South by Southwest
             (SXSW) when I toured NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism, an award-win-
             ning, three-part digital narrative that she created with her colleagues. In
             this interview, Ashley shares a bit about her work and its potential impli-
             cations for museums.
                                                                                           Hyphen-Labs

22      MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
Hyphen-Labs’ Techno Africanum-
Culturist comes from the future
and keeps all in balance.
“More than anything, I’m interested in the
                            ways different fields could be greatly
                            improved by understanding all facets of the
                            mind, brain, and contemplative practices.”

                           Ashley, can you start by introducing your-                 collaboration and the cross-pollination of not only
                           self to our readers? How do you characterize               ideas, but the execution of these ideas.
                           yourself and your work?                                        When I joined the team two years ago, we were
                           I’m a Brooklyn-based scientist, writer, and multidis-      right on the verge of a tipping point in both global
                           ciplinary artist. As a black queer woman navigating        and US politics. We felt like we were living in the nu-
                           spaces that typically overlook people who share this       cleus of change that was ready to explode all around
 In NeuroSpeculative       identity, my goal is to bring visibility and representa-   us, so we created something to empower ourselves
    AfroFeminism, VR
   transports viewers      tion to the forefront of important conversations that      and anyone who needed to be reminded of their pow-
    into a reimagined      are taking place at the institutional level.               er. Yet, we see now that the old vestiges of power—
      black hair salon,
  providing a glimpse         Currently, I’m a member of Hyphen-Labs. We              racism, sexism, and xenophobia—continue to persist.
    into a speculative     are a multicultural team of women working at               This is why so much work remains to be done.
        future of black
   women pioneering        the intersection of technology, art, science, and
   brain research and      the future. We hold ourselves to a high degree of          You earned your master’s degree in cell and
     neuromodulation
through the culturally
                           integrity and rigor in all the work we produce,            developmental biology and spent several

                                                                                                                                                Hyphen-Labs
      specific ritual of   whether it is a commercial or self-directed project.       years doing brand marketing for eyeglass
              haircare.    My two partners, Carmen Aguilar y Wedge and Ece            retailer Warby Parker before transforming
                           Tankal, co-founded Hyphen-Labs in the spirit of            yourself into a technologist/storyteller. How

24       MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
does your background, and other aspects of
your identity and experience, influence your
work?
I’ve always been a storyteller; it’s deeply embedded
in my family and cultural history. When I was a kid,
I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, so my fascination
                                                        WHAT IS
with the brain has persisted from a very young          NEUROSPECULATIVE
age. More than anything, I’m interested in the          AFROFEMINISM?
ways different fi lds could be greatly improved by
                                                        Hyphen-Labs’ NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism is
understanding all facets of the mind, brain, and        a transmedia exploration told through speculative
contemplative practices. Storytelling through art,      product design, emerging technologies, cognitive
technology, and science has been a way for us to        research, and transhumanism. It presents a
explore the themes that resonate with us.               multilayered possible future that transcends the
    My fascination with the story of how things are     constraints of the present, a realm that The New
created led me to Warby Parker. When I first learned    Yorker called “another plane of consciousness.”
of the company in 2010, I was intrigued by its brand
story. I wanted to understand the mechanics of          The virtual-reality experience is the first chapter
entrepreneurship and learn how to build a company       of a science-fiction story, placing you in a
                                                        “neurocosmetology lab” where black women are
that was boldly disrupting an entire industry and
                                                        the pioneers of brain optimization. Here, instead of
doing it with flair. Aft r I finished grad school, I
                                                        ordinary braids, customers are fitted with transcranial
applied to be a retail advisor at Warby Parker and
                                                        electrodes that allow access to a surreal digital
then worked my way up to being a store leader and       temple that blends the physical with the digital.
then to an associate manager on the retail brand
marketing team. I saw this as another facet of my       Get a taste at hyphen-labs.com/nsaf.html.
education because my goal is, and has always been,
to disrupt science and bridge the gap between art,
science, technology, and futurism.

                                                       Hyphen-Lab’s NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism
                                                       installation at 29Rooms by Refinery29 in 2017 in
                                                       Williamsburg, New York.

                                                                             MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org   25
That is why I left Warby Parker to join Hyphen-      scene, we returned them to their own body. We
                                Labs. Carmen and Ece challenge my thinking in           told a somewhat linear story in NSAF, but the pos-
                                many ways, and we are trying to set an example          sibilities to break with that form are endless. For
                                for how high-performing, diverse teams operate.         this particular project, VR was appealing because
                                We don’t always get it right, but we’re using our       we wanted to play with the physicality of being
                                practice as a classroom. My background has been         embodied (or having the audience be embodied) in
                                an asset because it’s allowed me to see the intercon-   the avatar of a young black woman.
                                nectedness of things.
                                                                                        How do you want the world to be different
                                When I viewed the installation                          because of the work you do?
                                NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism (NSAF)                    It’s a tall order! We want to get people to pause
                                at SXSW in 2017, I was bowled over by                   and consider how they engage with others around
                                the way you combined physical “future                   them. We are exploring stories that highlight
                                objects,” such as the hyperface anti-sur-               people expressing their humanity through
                                veillance scarf, with virtual reality to                technology.
                                create an immersive narrative. [See side-                   Before Hyphen-Labs, we were all working in
                                bar on page 25 for more information on                  fi lds such as architecture, engineering, and game
                                NSAF.] What are the particular strengths                design, where there were very few women and even
                                of VR as a storytelling medium?                         fewer women of color. We don’t want other women
                                VR as a storytelling medium isn’t limited to the        who look like us or identify as we do to feel alone
                                physics of space and time as in reality. We wanted      or that their voice and contributions don’t matter.
                                to give our audience a sense of temporality in the      We do this work because we are imagining our
                                opening scene in the neurocosmetology lab and           present so our futures have a clean slate, and to
                                then challenge that in the second scene in a 3-D,       empower ourselves and others with the knowledge
                                hallucinatory dreamscape. Finally, in the third         that we can do anything and be anything.

   The NeuroSpeculative
AfroFeminism installation
       at “Storyscapes” at
     the 2017 Tribeca Film
      Festival in New York
   received an honorable
   mention for immersive
                storytelling.

   26        MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
What has your experience with museums
              been like? What do you think our sector
              does well, or what could we do better?
              For all of us in Hyphen-Labs, museums have been
              our second homes. From going on elementary
              school fi ld trips to museums to walking through
              the storied halls of museums throughout the world,
              our experiences with museums have been an on-
              going conversation. Museums create magic in that
              creators are made to believe that their works could
              be featured among the canon.                                  The NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism installation—here at the 2017
                                                                            Tribeca Film Festival—has also been featured at the Sundance Film
                  However, one thing that museums could do bet-             Fest, SXSW, and the Gray Area Art & Technology Festival.
              ter is widening the lens of this canon. There are a lot
              of curators and artists of color who are creating art
              in general and using emerging technology to make
              critical work. But until these discussions matriculate
              to the institutional level in a way that really drives    bridges the physical and digital. Thematically, most
              action, creating change on inclusion or incorpora-        of the museum’s permanent collections would center
              tion will remain elusive.                                 on mysticism and spiritualism and how both have
                  Also, museums tend to be unnecessarily cautious       been subverted throughout history at the hand of
              around embracing new technology. How are muse-            imperialism and colonialism.
              ums engaging with young people and collaborating
              on installations and exhibitions with the incredibly      What’s next for you and your colleagues
              brilliant independent curators and artists who don’t      at Hyphen-Labs? How can our readers
              fi into the traditional structure of the museum? Th       continue to follow your work?
              first step would be to invite more diverse groups of      We are going to continue making critically engaged
              people to convenings and partner with organiza-           work around human-centered design. This year,
              tions that are working in these spaces. Another way       we’re working on some new projects and collabo-
              to do this is to partner with schools to help demysti-    rating with awesome artists, researchers, designers,
              fy the inner workings of the museum world, because        scientists, and writers. One of our main goals is to
              it seems inaccessible.                                    continue making our work accessible to anyone who
                                                                        is interested in engaging with it. Hyphen-Labs is
              If you were going to create a museum, who                 currently in residence at Somerset House in London
              would it be for, and what would it be like?               and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
              One museum I’d love to create looks to Th Racial          where we are the Ida Ely Rubin Artists in Residence
              Imaginary Institute (TRII) as a rubric. (TRII is an       at the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology.
              interdisciplinary cultural laboratory that uses exhi-         We’re always looking for partners and support to
              bitions, readings, dialogues, lectures, performances,     continue our work and hope to have more of these
              and screenings to engage around the subject of            conversations in the future. Readers can follow our
              race.) My museum would tell the story of futurism         work at hyphen-labs.com; Twitter: @hyphen labs;
              and speculation through the lens of black, brown,         and Instagram: @hyphenlabs.
              and indigenous people of color and women. A
              major focus of the museum’s exhibitions would aim
Hyphen-Labs

              to demystify the processes of the body, nature and        Elizabeth Merritt is AAM’s vice president of
              environment, evolution, technology, and death.            strategic foresight and founding director of the
              Every room would be an immersive experience that          Center for the Future of Museums.

                                                                                                      MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org   27
By Susan Chun

           The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has taken
           purposeful steps to improve accessibility—and has
           improved the visitor experience for everyone.

          A WINNING
          APPROACH TO
          DIGITAL MEDIA
          ACCESSIBILITY
28   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
Participants in the
                Accessibility in museums is a game                         An Intentional Commitment to Accessibility                  fall 2018 Coyote
                of small ball. Th term—borrowed from baseball—             Every month, the MCA’s volunteer accessibility task         Scavenger Hunt
                refers to the strategy of scoring runs by advancing        force meets to examine the museum’s accessibility           check-in at the MCA
                                                                                                                                       Chicago. Using
                around the diamond one base at a time, using base          efforts. Th task force formed in 2015—the year              a mobile phone
                hits, sacrific flies bunts, and stolen bases. In small     of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with               interface to the
                                                                                                                                       Coyote database,
                ball, a team does not wait for a home-run hitter to        Disabilities Act—for a one-time audit of accessibility      visitors participated
                save the day; everyone on the team contributes.            work around the building requested by the Chicago           in a game of visual
                                                                                                                                       hide-and-seek.
                    Accessibility at museums is small ball—a patient,      Community Trust. Colleagues from many depart-
                methodical game in which most gains are made with-         ments, including visitor services, facilities, marketing,
© MCA Chicago

                out fanfare and major funding. It’s our strategy for im-   exhibitions, performance programs, design, and
                proving accessibility at the Museum of Contemporary        digital, shared what they were doing with respect
                Art Chicago (MCA), and it is working.                      to accessibility: each independently, usually with

                                                                                                        MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org      29
minimal funding, and almost always with little ado.         R E S          Using Coyote to Describe the World by
                    Encouraged by the range and ambition of each other’s        OUR            Sina Bahram, Susan Chun, and Anna
                    efforts, we decided to continue to meet. We have            C E S          Lavatelli
                    gathered every month since, adding members from                            mw18.mwconf.org/paper/using-coyote-
                    our public programs, development, HR, security,                            to-describe-the-world
                    store, and prep teams.
                                                                                               Inclusive Design: From Approach to
                        This unchartered group was never offi ally sanc-
                                                                                               Execution by Bruce Wyman, Corey
                    tioned by museum management, and task force par-
                                                                                               Timpson, Scott Gillam, and Sina Bahram
                    ticipation is not listed on any MCA job description.                       mw2016.museumsandtheweb.com/
                    But team members are proud of our reputation as one                        paper/inclusive-design-from-approach-
                    of the most productive and effective working groups                        to-execution/
                    at the museum. In three years, we have:
                                                                                               “7 Things Every Designer Needs to
                                                                                               Know about Accessibility” by Jesse
                      • developed a rolling three-year plan;                                   Hausler
                      • written and published an accessibility values                          medium.com/salesforce-ux/7-things-
                        statement on our website (mcachicago.org/visit/                        every-designer-needs-to-know-about-
                        accessibility/values-statement);                                       accessibility-64f105f0881b
                      • developed guidelines for exhibition planning,                          “Which Are More Legible: Serif or Sans
                        touch tours, and visual description;                                   Serif Typefaces?” by Alex Poole
                      • created regular, recurring schedules for accessible                    alexpoole.info/blog/which-are-more-
                        programs in our theater and galleries;                                 legible-serif-or-sans-serif-typefaces/
                      • incorporated accessibility training into our new
                        staff onboarding; and
                      • offered lunchtime workshops on accessibility for
                        staff                                                   A Truly Accessible Website
                                                                                Another major win is our website (mcachicago.org),
                       Some of our wins are small. When a wish list             which is managed by Director of Digital Media Anna
                    prepared during an early group exercise revealed            Chiaretta Lavatelli, along with members of the design,
                    that the visitor services and security staff working        publishing, and new media departments. It launched
                    in exhibitions wanted to offer stools to visitors with      in 2015, along with the museum’s new identity. Th
                    mobility impairments seeking to rest, the learning          site showcases the museum’s exhibitions, programs,
                    team offered the keys to the docent closet, which           archives, and stories; its playful identity telegraphs the
                    has folding stools for gallery tours. Other wins are        museum’s goal of extending a radical welcome to all.
                    bigger: our performance team, led by former Curator         Th digital team expressed this radical welcome by
                    of Performance Yolanda Cesta Cursach, rolled out            building a site that purposefully adheres to the best
                    a pioneering relaxed-performance program for our            practices in accessible—or inclusive—design.
                    theater performances, which is being emulated by                To build an accessible site from ground up, we
                    cultural organizations in Chicago and around the            worked with Sina Bahram, one of the fi ld’s top acces-
                    country. Relaxed performances are for people, with          sibility consultants. Something he once said stuck with
                    or without disabilities, who prefer some flex bility        us throughout the process: “I believe that there’s this
                    related to noise and movement in the theater. Stage         commonly held myth that if something is accessible, it
                    lighting is less intense and theater lights are kept at a   has to be ugly, it has to look like it’s from 1990, it has to
                    glow to facilitate patron movement. Volunteers, many        be boring, it can’t be pretty or creative. We don’t want
                    of whom are members of the disabled community,              to perpetuate this myth, because it’s wrong and it ends
                    are present to assist, and American Sign Language           up hurting everybody, from designers and developers
                    interpretation and audio description are provided.          to users.” By building accessibility into the site from

30   MUSEUM / January−February 2019 / aam-us.org
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