Digital Toolkits

One of the greatest ways museums can capitalize on technology is to take advantage of digital toolkits. Oh, and a lot of them are free, did you know?

Digital toolkits are easy to use and very manageable. They range from Google docs to Wordle to Flickr to Garage Band--anything that allows you to do everyday things...but digitally. The argument that I make for digital toolkits is this: they help you address learning issues. Some audiences need more interactive platforms. Others learn by capturing and sharing photos. Still others can't learn unless it is fun. So consider a learning issue that you'd like to tackle whether that's creating and fostering social communities for learning or an activity where visitors can produce something from their experience (a photo collage, story, etc.) And I guarantee you, there is a digital toolkit for that.

This post will highlight two digital toolkits and suggest ways that they can be implemented in museums.

1. History Pin
History Pin is a place where people from around the world can share about their family, cultures, country, etc. and foster relationships and communities. A number of museums and other public institutions have already joined! The iPhone app is also easy to navigate. Watch the short introduction to the site and how it works.

Some potentials for this toolkit:

• The museum can become part of the community and use the site to post collections and even digital tours. 
• It can be a place where visitors can tell their stories. Specifically, families that are generations apart can come and share stories about a place with which they are both familiar. Historypin did a project with a school in the UK and has experience enormous success. 

What other potentials can you think of?

2. SCVNGR - a scavenger hunt game design that allows you to go places, do challenges, earn points!
This is a great way to get tourists and locals alike to experience the museum in a fun and interactive manner.

Watch the video below on how to play SCVNGR.

SCVNGR | How To Play from SCVNGR on Vimeo.

Museums can benefit from this by creating challenges that will help the visitor learn more about the place and objects. Rewards such as a discount at the museum store, museum admission, museum cafe can be offered for earning points.

Museums may draw in people that never intended on coming but wandered in just because they were nearby and were intrigued by the challenges and rewards.

Some thoughts to consider are--how would museums convince visitors to download the app in the first place? How would they know that these options exist? And that is easy--hopefully the museum is already connected via social media. More popular avenues such as facebook and twitter are great ways to advertise these digital toolkits.

If you have a smartphone, download the apps discussed here (totally free!) and write a comment on your experience and how you think it can help museums. Even if you don't have a smartphone, you can join HistoryPin (you can use your Google account) and upload your own photos. Try them out and drop a comment. We'd love to hear your thoughts.

GPS and IPS

The GPS (Global Positioning System) is handy in so many arenas: travel, traffic, geotagging, military ops, etc. However, the GPS does not work indoors. According to this article, there are two groups that are striving to make IPS (Indoor Positioning System) a reality: a team of Stanford students and an Australian firm called Locata. 


The team of Stanford students have launched WiFiSLAM to locate indoors by way of existing wireless networks in buildings and smartphones. Some applications that they are working towards are step-by-step indoor navigation, to product-level retail customer engagement, to proximity-based social networking.


Locata recognizes the shortcomings of GPS and strives to expand its potential. The Locata technology works both indoors and outdoors. 

Here's how it works: "Conceptually, Locata’s solution is very simple.  Just place a LocataLite (our equivalent of a GPS satellite) in an area where GPS signals are unreliable and the LocataLite “fills in the holes” in GPS coverage.  This seems like a logical and intelligent thing to do given the evident demand for an improvement to GPS."

Of course, many other companies are working on IPS, and as they do, museums should consider the possibilities:


1. Visitors no longer getting lost in a museum
2. Personalized tours (available on a smartphone app) that visitors can choose
3. Scavenger Hunt mania! Knowing where other teams are can offer a whole new experience
4. Conversations on social networks and live feeds about objects in the museum. For example, if visitor A is looking at an object and posting great comments, and then visitor B, who is at another part of the museum, is intrigued by the conversation and wants to see the object, too, visitor B can pinpoint where visitor A is and simply follow the indoor positioning signal. 


What other possibilities/applications can you think of? Consider our introduction post on ubiquitous computing (and learning) and how this blurs the spatial and traditional boundaries to learning, how this can be a platform for different modes of representation for learning, and how this will address the individuality of visitors. 

Introduction: Technology in Museums


It is without a doubt that technology is revolutionary. And while there are debates about whether technology enhances or impedes the process of learning, we assert that in the context of museum education, education should be at the forefront while technology follows education trends.


New paradigms are now in place concerning learning: learners move from passive to active learning and learners can create their own knowledge, publish it, and engage with the global community. According to Bill Cope and Mary Kalazntzis's article in the book, Ubiquitous Learning, (learn more about Ubiquitous Learning here), there are 7 "moves" that helps take advantage of ubiquitous learning. (The full article can also be found here). 


NOTE: the article focuses on ubiquitous computing which is defined as "the pervasive presence of computers in our lives". Ubiquitous learning is the overarching concept that learning that happen anywhere, anytime. 

1. Technology has the potential to blur traditional institutional, spatial, and temporal boundaries of education. Education can happen anywhere and at anytime. Furthermore, education is lifelong--it is not confined to a certain age group. 


2. The teacher is no longer the sole fountain of knowledge. Each learner has the capability to access information with the touch of a button. This also enables learners to move from passive to active learning.


3. In a society where we value individuality, differences (learning styles, personal backgrounds, etc.) among learners can be properly addressed and met through technology. 


4. Modes of representation are numerous thanks to technology. Educators need to understand and utilize as many modes as possible while incorporating traditional modes of learning.


5. In order to become a part of ubiquitous computing, educators must first master the language of technology in order to use it to its full potential. Therefore, ubiquitous learning helps develop conceptualizing capacities for both the educator and learners. 


6. In a world where we allow technology to do more of the thinking for us (i.e. phone remembering numbers or calculating simple math), educators will need to find new ways to evaluate learners' capacities. 


7. Ubiquitous computing makes possible peer-to-peer interactions in a global context. Anyone, anywhere, at anytime can access public information, publish comments, and start a conversation. This idea of "collective intelligence" can happen across social networks, creating inclusive and safe environments to share knowledge. 

Please stay tuned for examples from museums and our thoughts.
Please feel free to comment on our posts. Remember that this is an inclusive and safe environment where learning is encouraged!