Before the vast majority of the world’s museums and attractions were forced to temporarily close due the COVID-19 pandemic, visiting a museum was often an interactive, tactile, and social experience, involving many person-to-person interactions. From exchanges at the admissions and membership desks, interactions with fellow patrons, and special experiences involving touch screens or hands-on activities, the visitor experience has historically been filled with physical touchpoints. Now, as museums prepare to reopen in an era of social distancing, many are imagining a “contactless” future.
Last Wednesday, over 4,400 people joined Brendan Ciecko (CEO and Founder @ Cuseum), Atiba Edwards (Executive VP & COO @ Brooklyn Children’s Museum), Andrea Montiel de Shuman (Digital Experience Designer @ Detroit Institute of Arts), & Don Undeen (Former Senior Manager of MediaLab @ Metropolitan Museum of Art) as they explored the evolving “visitor experience” and what the “contactless” future may hold. This webinar examined the merits of digital media, emerging technologies, and more!
Here, you can also view and add to the Coronavirus Preparedness Community Document. This is a living document for organizations to share their best practices.
View the video recording here.
Read the full transcript below.
Brendan Ciecko:
Hello everyone. My name is Brendan Ciecko and I'm the founder of Cuseum. First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who is joining us today, as well as say thank you to our amazing guest speakers. I hope that all of you are staying safe and healthy. And if you're joining us for the first time, a big welcome. And for those of you who have tuned into any of our past webinars, welcome back. It's great to see you again. There are over 4,400 of you registered for today's conversation. So, I'm excited to jump on in.
It goes without saying, a lot has changed since our first webinar back in March. Over the past few weeks we have covered a lot of ground and completely new territory, navigating the challenges and impacts of the pandemic in the museum and cultural sector. It's been incredible to watch the museum and cultural community come together to share ideas, to share inspiration and to help and support each other now as the world is seemingly opening back up, we pivot and shift our attention accordingly. Countries around the world and states around the U.S. have started to move forward with their phased reopening plans.
Week after week more museums, more aquariums, more zoos welcome back the public to join them on site. So, we eagerly are reading the news to see how they've prepared and what it's like, for instance, to go to Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, the first major art museum to reopen in the U.S. We're all looking for tips, we're all looking for clues as to what the new experience will look like from the front desk, buying tickets, waiting lines, to walking through the halls and galleries. And really, the number one priority here is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our visitors and staff. And also, introduce new means to support contactless experiences.
So, looking at art museums, we've all seen the signs, "Don't touch the art." And now we know we can't really touch anything except for our own belongings, hand sanitizer and our smartphones. But before we embark on today's conversation, I want to take you on a quick journey back in time, 30 years to be exact. The year was 1990 and I was two years old at the time, I turned on the radio with my little toddler hands and I heard something I'd never forget. And so, to quote everybody's favorite 90's MC Hammer, U Can't Touch This, back to the present, you could say that truer words have never been spoken and are shaping the way many of us are looking at visitor experience design right now.
So, thank you Mr. MC Hammer. And all kidding and all fun aside, today's topic is the contactless future. Re-imagining the visitor experience in the age of coronavirus. And without any further to do or shenanigans, please allow me to introduce our special guest. So, joining us from Brooklyn, New York, we have Atiba Edwards. Atiba is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Brooklyn's Children Museum, overseeing finance, HR, visitor experience, and marketing membership facilities in other areas. Prior to joining Brooklyn's Children's Museum, the coed, charter middle school in Brooklyn New York, and before that you spent five years in investment banking at JP Morgan and Nomura Securities.
Atiba also runs FOKUS, an arts non-profit organization based in Brooklyn and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Atiba was born on the island of St. Vincent, in the Caribbean, and grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He graduated from the University of Michigan with degrees in industrial and operations engineering and general studies with a focus in poetry and musicology. Thanks so much for joining us, Atiba.
Atiba Edwards:
Thank you, I'm excited to be here.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you. And also joining us, we have Andrea Montiel de Shuman. Andrea is the Digital Experience Designer at the Detroit Institute of Arts, where she leads public facing digital experiences to help visitors see themselves in the art. Among other collaborations, Andrea serves as program co-chair of Museum Computer Network, organizing committee of the tech and media MUSE Awards, for the American Alliance of Museums, and education program advisor for the future Smithsonian Latino galleries. And she has been involved with a number of reflective digital initiatives with the Knight Foundation and AAM, mainly discussing the ethics and moral implications of emerging technology. Thanks so much for joining us, Andrea.
Thank you. And also joining us, we have Don Undeen. Don is the founding manager of the Maker Hub at Georgetown University. He was also the founding and senior manager of the Media Lab at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2012 he was tasked with establishing a space for experimentation at the intersection of art, technology and the museum experience at the MET, by working closely with New York City's creative technology community, the MET's Media Lab developed a world wide reputation for consistently delivering provocative, exciting and valuable projects.
Don has traveled around the world, consulting with museums, universities, governments and religious organizations on how to develop space for creativity and innovation. And he also advises entrepreneurs and students on project development and serves as a technical lead for cultural projects. Lastly, Don helps multimedia artists develop new works, and he himself creates new digital art systems and art objects using fabrication and vintage technology. And I also want to add, because it's in your Twitter and other biographies of yours, that you have guinea pigs and you're always chasing unicorns.
Don Undeen:
That's right.
Brendan Ciecko:
So, I have no idea what either of those things mean but we are excited to have you.
Don Undeen:
Super excited to be here. Really impressive panel you got put together.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thanks, Don. And, lastly, I'm Brendan Ciecko, I'm the founder of Cuseum, I'll be your host for today's conversation. So, let's jump into the questions for our guest.
Atiba, recently, we received an exceptional number of questions from children's museums, science museums and living history museums. These types of museums are especially immersive, hands-on and tactile. And the idea of a contactless future poses some unique challenges to them. How have you been thinking or rethinking the visitor experience at Brooklyn Children's Museum to limit physical touchpoints? And how does this figure into your larger plans for reopening?
Atiba Edwards:
Yeah. I think that's a great question and one, we've been battling with for some time. The first way is really just thinking about language. So, contactless, at times, can erode the notion of human interaction, where you think about contactless delivery and all the other options. Somebody drops a package on your door and basically walks away, you never get to see them. So, we're always thinking about limiting the touch experience. So, moving away from contactless to limiting the touch experience in a way that still provides tactile work.
There's no substitute for being able to pick up a block and play with sand and feel the grains of sand running through your hand. Even the greatest VR technology will never be able to mimic that. So we're keeping touch. And it can't go away. We've just been thinking about how we make sure we can sanitize, clean and get those same props and those same manipulative, those same hands-on things back into our visitors' hands as quickly as possible.
So, it's causing us to really think through very timed programming and timed experiences in that we might have to close an exhibit for 10, 20, 30 minutes to do a good, deep clean, to then open it back up.
We can't really see anything that replaces touch. I think, as many of us might remember, that's how we learn hot and cold and what was pointy and what was hard and what was smooth. There's no way to teach that other than a very tactile enjoyment that we get. So, being a children's museum and one where, when you have children, they're any youth, they're the most determined ever. Where if they see something they want, they will beeline after that. And best of luck to you to run after them.
So, also keeping that in mind where we're trying to create spaces that feel almost all in. So, you can get a lot of experiences in one room. And then as you move to another room, it's another experience that's unique to that space. So, you're never longing to try to say things like, "Oh, I really want to run back to this other room," or go to this other place. So, creating almost full comprehensive, timed experiences is the current work that we're thinking about. As you mention, it's always evolving. So, how do we get in there to sanitize thoroughly and cleanly and efficiently. Not necessarily quickly, but efficiently so that when we open it back up to the next wave or group, they feel like they're in a safe space as well.
Brendan Ciecko:
That's super helpful. I mean, candidly, so many of the conversations that we have been a part of facilitating, have been with art museums, with zoos and aquariums and often science centers. But we haven't really heard the voice of folks in the children's museum realm. And it's really refreshing to hear that there is a direct commitment to, of course, tactile learning. But, saying, "Hey, we're not going to replace this, we're just going to really ensure that it's efficient, really ensure that we're doing everything to keep your safety and wellbeing in mind." So, I'm sure that's being greatly appreciated by folks who have tuned in for today's dialog from a children's museum background. So, that's great. Thanks for that.
And, Don, as a result of restrictions on tactile experiences at some types of museums, it is likely that digital experiences will see an increased importance in museums. And as the founding senior manager of the Media Lab at the MET, you have a pretty unique background in creating new types of digital experiences. What role might technology play? And how can museums embrace a more experimental or agile or prototyping approach to thinking through their visitor experience right now?
Don Undeen:
Thanks, Brendan. So, one of the things that this question has got me thinking about is some of the stuff that we addressed when we, when I was running the Media Lab, is looking at structurally what's the problem with innovation in museums? What keeps institutions from, like museums, like being like a startup, for example. If our idea of innovation is what startups are able to do, why can't museums do that? And the obvious reason is that if you're a museum, you can't really fail forward in the same way . That is if you're a startup.
The MET can't just close up and then start a new MET down the street or something. So, it would, it's a very different relationship with risk. And so, I think that as we move to a more contactless environment, in a way, those principles don't change. We still have to think about helping institutions create environments where they can continue to innovate. Particularly when Little Finger in Game of Thrones says, "Chaos is a ladder," right? Sometimes this chaos is an opportunity for us to like, all the rules are changing and flexing.
And it creates an opportunity to try some things we wouldn't have an opportunity to try otherwise, which I think can be exciting. Even given the constraints that we're dealing with in terms of reduced funding for institutions and budgets being what they are. But I think some of the key things that- that have already, that have been already going on, at the museums, particularly around things like open access. That was happening before all of this went down.
Actually, those institutions that have already done that are better positioned to participate in really thinking creatively about how to empower new types of innovative digital experiences. I really believe that most museums are not technology innovation companies. Just like most museums don't necessarily design and build their own websites, institutions don't need to be designing, building, doing all of their own innovation.
But they're open access. When institutions make all of their content freely available for any purpose, all of a sudden, you've created opportunities for lots of creative innovators to design experiences. And it might not be something that the museum would prioritize, unless there's a more niche audience. Or serves an audience that, "Wow, this is going to be really useful for the next three months because until things open up a bit." Or this, or, "We really need this innovation until we have a vaccine." By opening up content, I think that's key for institutions to engage with folks who want to innovate quickly. Other things that they can do is simply just to be on the platforms and meeting people where they are.
Brendan Ciecko:
Don, something you said resonated with me. It was almost to summarize, like play to your strengths and partner on your weaknesses.
So, to some degree if you are this incredible content factory or content repository, but don't have the technical expertise or the same eye of the creative technologist, then let people play in your sandbox.
Don Undeen:
Yeah. Absolutely. Open data is a really foundation part of that.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you. It seems like a lot of people also appreciated your Game of Thrones reference.
So, thank you for that. So, the next question is for Andrea. At the Detroit Institute of Arts, you have the unique benefit of having a long standing research development department that has compiled and analyzed best practices around visitor experience for the past two decades. Through this research, what have you learned about the visitor experience? And how might that translate into this new quote, unquote contactless, digitally oriented world that we're getting back into?
Andrea Montiel:
Yeah, I don't have a precise idea of how many years it's been . I think that it's been more than 20, for sure. But, I would, thank you so much for that question. I will introduce just the thought that I'm going to cover what I know and what I've experienced. I'm super proud to work at an institution that has decades worth of studies and really, really wonderful engagements with the communities. Really transformative work led by people like Nancy Jones, Ken Morris, Jennifer, among others that have been leading really wonderful work on, around interpretation and visitor centers there.
So, this has given us some advantages, for sure. We come into this situation also from a slightly different perspective, just for a moment of context, the DIA is in Detroit. And we are partially publicly funded. So, a good amount of our operation budget comes out of the millage. So, we have service agreements. Right now one of the wonderful things that we're able to do is because we have a research department. They have been able to bring thought behind developing engagement approaches, all kinds of contributions recently from Melanie Parker, Richard Lewis.
So, among many others who have been bringing also considerations of accessibility, stopping and starting to think of, can we build some sort of strategy on the side of engagement approaches? This is all about taking a minute to reflect, as we also have teams heavily engaged in producing content rather fast. I think that you all experienced it. The first wave is definitely reactionary. But as time advances, there's definitely opportunities. We have the internal capacity, at least, to take some time and start designing some form of an approach. But yeah, historically, I will say that some of the great aspects of this is making sure that you are lifting the voices of your communities and that you are lifting the quality of your content on top of the delivery. It's like you find a problem first, you find a need that you want to meet first and then you develop a product in a way that will be meaningful, meaning making is a keyword. The whole purpose is to help visitors find meaning in art.
Brendan Ciecko:
For sure, and thinking about the visitor experience, upon returning, it's also essential to take into consideration that many museums will be operating with reduced staff and reduced budgets. How does this figure into your reopening plans? How can organizations maybe do more with less?
Andrea Montiel:
So, I cannot speak on behalf of all of those plans. I'm not engaged in necessarily all the plans about the reopening. But what I can tell you is that we're carefully thinking about the visitor experience. There have been all kinds of wonderful conversations across many, many museums. Because I think that there's something to have in mind. If I was to just talk about the DIA right now, I'm talking about a really large institution.
But, I don't think that that's to the benefit of everybody that is on this phone call because there's all kinds of differences in budgets, there's major lay-offs, we are going through a moment. So, I definitely think that, there are ways in which we're going to be surprised. I think that it will be a mistake if we assume all of the behaviors. I definitely suspect we're going to be surprised.
Brendan Ciecko:
I feel like I'm hearing a lot of that from the field, not only the assumptions being made from wearing the hat of a fairly large institution, but also, you can do all of the planning in the world and have every single thing that, in your eyes, is a solution. And once you put it into the hands of real, live people, everything goes haywire. So, you can have the best physical signage on the ground, to make sure people stand in line. And I'm sure many of you have seen the photos from a number of museums around the globe, human nature is very much at odds with some of these things. So, it's absolutely a challenge.
So, a question open to all three of you, when thinking about the visitor experience end to end, not just the interaction with the art or the tactile. The core of it all, the initial touchpoints, the friendly interactions with admissions staff, are often key to welcoming visitors and ensuring a positive experience. Now, many museums are introducing things like timed ticketing, placing physical barriers between visitors and staff, limiting physical interactions by all means possible.
In light of these new restrictions, how can organizations offer a personalized experience to help visitors feel more welcome when they walk into the museum? Atiba, you said something really important early on, even around like the subtle connotations of contactless and what it is to be a human and how touch plays a role in that. So, I'd love to hear from you first on that.
Atiba Edwards:
Yeah. I think it's twofold. It's really thinking about what I like to do is take every problem from the solution end. So, from a staffing standpoint, you have to make sure your staff feels comfortable, they're trained, they understand everything that's being done. And you're thinking, "If I'm a staff member walking in, what are all the things I want to see in place to make sure I feel that there's a sense of safety in sanitary and- and have been changed."
And then, parallel to that, you have the visitor. So, what I like to do is I literally walk through the front door as a visitor, what are all the things I want to experience along the way? And the reason is that you can do all the things for the visitor and sometimes overlook the essential component of the staff. And what's going to lead to a problem is, if a visitor says, "Okay. Hey, what are you doing to sanitize X?" If the staff member can't accurately, quickly answer that, the visitor's going to start to think to themself like, "All right, how safe is this place now that they're open again?"
So, when we get ready to reopen, it's probably at least two to three weeks of just training for our staff. Making sure they understand what we're doing, and also, I saw a question pop up earlier, cleaning now becomes everybody's responsibility. There are definitely some folks who are, are closer to that. Like the facilities team will obviously be the ones who are closer to some of that work, but keeping in mind, as we walk around our space, it might be that to get this space opened back quickly, we need all hands on deck to do it.
So, this all in attitude is really the time that it will shine the most. And I think like this is a great example with this panel, but across the space, everyone in the globe is going through this. So, we're all in on helping each other. It's keeping that in mind as we go through the work. And then, the notion of that human element, as you ask, it goes back to the training. So, what are all the things we can do to make sure that our staff members are giving the best customer service. That's ultimately how I view it, at the end of the day, it's the best customer service possible, while keeping in mind physical space and physical distancing but also limited touch.
So, it might be, in some cases, stepping simple things like standing up. If there is that physical barrier in between, oftentimes many of our desks are seated, so we're always looking at someone or sometimes looking up or down. So, there's a lot of small things, just like simply standing up and interacting with them, welcoming them, being thankful, letting them know if there's any questions you can ask. So, there's above and beyond measure of customer service that I think has to shine on this standpoint, from a staffing component to make sure the visitors feel safe. But one of the biggest things not to ever get overlooked is making sure your staff fully understands everything that's happening, even if it's not necessarily there, it's their department or their wheelhouse, they should have a good sense and be able to talk to all through things that are in place, from cleaning, to timed ticketing, to how to purchase things. So, it's a time when cross departmental, cross function, cross museum conversations are very integral. So that any visitor walking in feels like they're in a space that's actually functioning as best as they can in this next moment that we're entering.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you. So, it sounds like the importance of being part of a united front, making sure that everybody is on the same page about what needs to happen, what is going on, is critical here. But also, something that you mentioned really stood out to me. And it's almost like there are small cues to take from like the world of hospitality, in restaurants and tourism, where if you think doing what you need to do is enough, you're already wrong. You need to go above and beyond to make sure that your visitor is not only comfortable but delighted to be there, given all of the circumstances around them. So, it's really interesting to hear, even that your training is three weeks long. It's not three hours long, it's not a walk in the park a day. It's three weeks long to make sure that everybody is on the same page about the culture, the flavor, the language and knows what's happening cross departmentally.
So, I think that sounds like you're going to be positioned for success. But you're also probably going to learn a lot throughout the process. So, I appreciate you sharing that. And, Don, I mean, one of the things about all of the time in the world and planning in the world and theory in the world is one thing, but once you put something out into the hands of real, live visitors and walk through that experience through the lens of a visitor, there's probably lots of surprises that take place. And I know from your time with the MET Media Lab and you guys were in the business of that. Of tinkering and prototyping, internally but also putting things out into the wild and seeing how things react. Was there ever a project that worked exactly how you thought it would be in theory and sketch up? No. Like, that's not how things are. What are your thoughts on how one can make sure that the experience is not only ensuring that the guest feels safe and their wellbeing is taken into consideration, but also that tidbit of delight or human touch?
Don Undeen:
Yeah. Honestly, I'll, I feel like Atiba really said it best, this notion of starting with the people, obviously. It's like technology and all those experiences come much later. The other thing that Atiba said that like he did was this notion of solidarity. If we create this sense of the staff and the visitors, we're all in this experience together as people, connecting as humans, that's the core of it. And once you do that, you understand that, people are coming into this space. And it's not like the museum is the only contactless space that they're interacting with. Like people in general understanding, they come, bring to this with the new behavior patterns that they're learning to handle, existing in a contactless environment. So, that just means that we can look at what people are already doing. And in many ways meet them where they're at. And I think you made a great point about looking at other industries as well and seeing how they're handing it. What do restaurants do?
Brendan Ciecko:
Let's dive a little bit deeper into that notion. I know in South Korea, and I'm sure in many other places around the world, they've introduced automated kiosks, mobile app services, to make sure that there's no human contact at all required to do simple things like reserve, pickup or scan tickets or cards at theaters. And if you browse any, it's actually a little entertaining, to be honest with you, if you browse any travel industry website right now, you'll read that every airline is going kinda quote, unquote, contactless. There's no more physical tickets, I can even order food and beverage through my app, everything can be done on your smartphone or with minimal contact. So, on the note of looking to other sectors, I'd love to hear from all three of you like, what are some sectors that you're watching for ideas on contactless experience? I know we're all speaking with each other as the museum community, but yeah, there are interesting things probably to take from your local grocery story that inform some of the experience design.
Andrea Montiel:
I mean, one thought that I can offer. I was actually having a group conversation from MIT yesterday. We were having this precise moment, and we discussed how the technology world, some part of the technology comes out expecting that some parts will fail and that they'll have to figure something out. So, they designed a system that allows for iteration. That is one of the ideas that definitely has inspired me recently, thinking about, as museums are approaching this era, in which by the way, I don't think that everything will change, I think we're going to be surprised. I think that, once again we can't assume everything.
We can think of how other industries have embraced iterations and certain levels of risk. Because this is something that we struggle with the idea of testing out, something that could potentially fail. Now, I will say, some of the great aspects about iteration practice, and especially if you include some reflective practice and this sort of fairness in the room, then you have a solid structure that might look a little bit like this. In this COVID-19 situation, you might have a number of interactive.
So, you might want to make a list to observe what were your regional experience goals of that interaction. And now, imagine what parts of this interaction can be removed around the touch. And then, once you design this new experience and you definitely need to talk with your colleagues, the people that will be using it, the people that will be maintaining it, because you started with the top. Then you need to see what your museum has a capacity for. Does your staff feel comfortable enabling this type of experience?
So, I think, if we start with the factor that we are going to be testing some things, there are ways. Include your community, you can talk to them, you can just send out a survey or, there's definitely ways to test the products that we're building for the future, for museums. We need to be engaged in the communities that we're serving. Especially as we're getting a ton of new voices. -
Brendan Ciecko:
I love that. I mean there are endless ways to approach that, whether it be even a simple survey. But I also feel like a design charrette, where you bring people together on a Zoom meeting that are visitors of every walk of life and background. And you're probably doing this in Detroit, it sounds like you guys have your finger on the pulse of communities and including them in that design process. So, I love that idea of making sure that it remains visitor focused, community focused, audience, centered.
Andrea Montiel:
In your communities, it is so crucial that you also identify the voices that you're not lifting, and the communities that you will not be able to reach. So, I think that if you start with the idea that, as you're designing products, it will not reach certain audiences, you can think of low tech or other ways to make those reach.
Brendan Ciecko:
Great. Thank you. And I know we talk a lot about a number of different obvious tools and approaches that have existed in the past and are- are being ruled out. But, Atiba, you have a pretty interesting background in musicology and poetry. We've recently heard from several museums that, due to limitations on tactile experiences, that they might be creating experiences with sound and visual elements, and just elements that engage the senses seem to be more important or will play a bigger role than just the expected, traditional experience.
And I know, Don, you have experience in multimedia and digital arts. So, I'm curious, what multimedia or multi-sensory experiences might play a role to engage audiences with their broader senses, even when contact is limited.
Don Undeen:
I think sound is a great one. I love going down to the Dali Museum in Florida. They have these really cool almost sound domes you stand under, and it's something that we often forget unless we're really into the audio world. Sound is something that tells so many stories and really connects to a deeper part. You think about how many times you have listened to a song and you close your eyes because you think that's going to help you hear it more, as you think it's going to cause you to focus.
So, I think sound is an interesting one. And the ability to get it up and running is somewhat of a low cost. I mean, you need speakers and some track or some production in there. Visuals also are good too but, for a sound is something that is of interest because it's really one of the key elements that often get overlooked in design. Taste is off the table for now, without a doubt.
I think sound is something I really am trying to figure out how we can play into that space, and even a way that while you're in an exhibit, we have 30,000 objects in our collection, how do we use sound to tell a story that overcomes the barriers of the written word. When you put things in text, you take for granted a lot of accessibility options there.
But if we can try to put things into sound, it doesn't accomplish everything, but it allows for almost a shared experience. If a family is huddled around an artifact we have, they can share this sound and really listen to it together and see who hears different things. So, I'm a big fan of using sound and soundscapes, really whenever possible.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you. Don, what are your thoughts on that? And then, I want to throw one other element into it, what role does voice play in this? There's sound as a delivery, but there's also voice as an activator. I know we have seen museums experiment with Alexa, and other things of that nature, as a means of answering questions or engaging in transactions. Like ticket ordering and other things. What do you think about sound and audio and voice?
Don Undeen:
Yeah. Well, I think what we're going to have to do is look at not just one technology, but a range of different affordances to top audiences, because I think every one of these other solutions excludes a degree of people. Same as touch, right?
And maybe we've made these assumptions that touch is this universally acceptable way of delivering out information and that it is not, and it never was. We cut that out, we have to look at all these other options. And we start to recognize that there's a spectrum of approaches. I mean, voice, facial tracking, for better or for worse has got some interesting things going on. You could do touch but maybe you're using your feet and- and body position, gesture tracking, right? Personally, to me the best experience we would be able to get would be getting on FaceTime with someone who actually knows what the heck they're talking about. Right?
Like, you can have fantastic human interaction, like we're doing right now, even with people that are on the opposite side of the planet. And maybe we haven't spent as much time building experiences like those, because we were trying to create a physical space that has all the information there. We think that a museum is a static thing of objects and information. And it's really just a dynamic space where people interact with each other, in conversation with objects and spaces. There's no reason we can't escalate the conversation with human beings part of all of this, to enhance that experience and make it a more personal and human experience rather than getting AI computer brains and robots to replace human labor in a museum.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you for that. So, I just want to give a quick little note about tomorrow, a conversation that we'll be hosting on the topic of virtual memberships, creating digital benefits and virtual access for members, along with some folks from the Exploratorium, the Carnegie Museums, the National Steinbeck Center. There's a lot of talk right now about the face of membership, how it's going to evolve and what digital or virtual memberships can be offered. I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges. There's a lot of big challenges to overcome, but it's obviously an area of unknowns right now. So, tune into that if you're interested in hearing about or engaging, and what the future might hold there.
And jumping back into the questions, this one's for you, Andrea. In the world of mobile or handheld, there are many new capabilities that can support social distancing, guiding the visitors around, making it easy to pull up content or multimedia without needing to congregate around object labels or engage with something physically. I know that many years ago you worked on a pretty exciting tablet based guide that leveraged augmented reality to overlay content and help with wayfinding. I know that you saw a lot, you learned a lot, also it was the first of its kind in the field. Are there ways that you think these types of tools, in some sort of maybe minimal, iterative capacity, can be shifted to help with social distancing or some of the challenges that museums are facing right now?
Andrea Montiel:
I think that maybe reframing the question a little bit. Because I think, it depends entirely on the purpose of that experience, in my opinion.
It depends entirely what you were trying to accomplish. I have, that project in itself was never entirely mobile based. We offered a device, because we are aware that there are people that do not have mobile phones. I think that this is one of the questions that I have, as I see the field move towards the mobile only, right now, or seen some of it, the reality is that not everybody has a phone. Not everybody has high-speed internet. So, I think that these are the types of considerations that you're thinking about. Addressing technology again in your museum, if you are serving a diverse community, you need to reach them in diverse ways. So, I think that if you are thinking maybe you're going to use a mobile application first, okay, what other options are you offering for the people that will not be able to reach that platform?
Brendan Ciecko:
Well, that's interesting. And I know it's going to vary by community. But I always go back to the Pew Research that like 96% of Americans now own some sort of mobile phone or cellphone of some kind. Do you think it's a matter of just making sure that there are a couple managed and sanitized, resources or devices to accommodate those that don't have those devices on them or won them in general?
Andrea Montiel:
Yeah, and even rethinking the experience a little bit. I mean, I think that if the experience makes sense, to adapt it like that, absolutely. I think that, once again, it's about reimagining how you can reach the experience target that you have. Because at the end of the day, it was not about having augmented reality.
You are helping visitors, have a new context around a piece of artwork. So, are there other ways that you can do that? And I think that there are ways to do that, via mobile. It's about readjusting the experience with this and I don't want to speak for everybody, because different museums have different audiences and particular needs. So, the biggest point that I will continue to nail is, as you need to readjust your experiences, engage the visitors that you are going to serve, because there's updated information. I keep on hearing that, "What we knew about visitor experience is now going to change" I don't necessarily fully agree with that. I think that something will remain. There's a lot that we need to relearn, for sure.
Brendan Ciecko:
Okay. That's helpful. I love that you keep coming back to, "Ask your audience." Like, "When in doubt, ask your audiences." We are not our target audience, those of us that are on this webinar today, whether as a speaker or as a guest, we are not our target audiences, ask the people, ask your audiences what they want. And I know, I know we've been talking a lot about the digital side, um, which is obviously going to play a role and be- be an asset moving forward. But, that said, looking at young children and other audiences, tactile experiences will remain essential. Other forms of engagement will remain essential. Are there ways to create, safe, tactile experiences?
One colleague at a children's museum noted that his organization is exploring the possibility of creating hands-on activities that are limited to each family unit, sanitize in between. Atiba, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I know we often don't have the voice of the Children's Museum or folks that are more active in the tactile. So, I'd love to hear a little bit more about this as well.
Atiba Edwards:
Yeah, I think the space Children's Museums, but many others, morphed into one that's no longer, at least for the next, let's say, 24 to 30 months, no longer just free exploration. Every experience will almost feel guided. So, that you might have, with timed ticketing, what's really there is you're building a capacity to know how many people you have in this chunk of time and where they're going to go. So, you're, you- you would, there's a world where we have 30 people in this room, doing this activity. And then, when they leave, we sanitize, but also replace some of the things that can be sanitized. So, I would say the big change is that it's not a full-on, free exploration. It becomes more of a guided experience, from the minute you register, to when you walk through the door. You- you're almost going to be guided into, "Okay, here is classroom A, that you start in. Here's the activities, everybody has them."
And then, when that group leaves, there's a second set of activities that takes place in another room. But the manipulatives, the things that can be cleaned. So hard plastics, non portable surfaces that can be sanitized well, those can be sanitized in between. But, it then becomes a real, planning process where if you have materials, felt fabric, things that you can't really sanitize quickly. Either you're going to, you have a decision, either you double and triple up on the same item, which adds a cost, or you have to rethink your programming where we just can't do that anymore. So, there's going to be some real new realities that we're working and that the things that we did and we sort of took for granted, we just can't do right now, for the next, two, three years or so, until this passes in people's mind. I think the big picture is that it becomes a very, it becomes a guided experience, which takes away from some of the joy of exploring museums, but also allows for them to open in a way that feels realistic, feasible but safe for all.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you.
Atiba Edwards:
For sure. So, it's always trying to plan for as many avenues as you can. So, in some cases everyone will be online, able to buy a ticket, but if I walk in with a smartphone, maybe doing something as simple as putting up a sign that has a QR code that links to your ticket and website, that's going to cover some more people. And then, it might even also include the people who walked in that didn't even know had to buy a ticket online. So, I don't want to be turned away but if you have room, I can fit in there. So, there's another avenue that still takes it back to the old fashion, where you have to walk up to buy a ticket.
It might be that they're communicating through the plexiglass but the credit card still has to get scanned. So, create every sort of plan possible, but know that whatever you plan for, one thing is going to fail on you. Um, and being okay with that, because, to the question you asked earlier, Brendan, one of the interesting industries to really keep an eye on is food service and restaurants. And, I mean that because, when you think about the visitor experience and whoever is serving that table or busing that table or the host, they have to really answer almost every question possible in the drop of a dime.
So, if I come in, I wonder, "Okay, have these been sanitized?" "Yeah, our sanitizing schedule is X, Y and Z.
Product that takes all the viruses in the world that we know of right now, but the one thing that is often getting overlooked is, if I walk into a restaurant and somebody is too close to me, you- you're going to see a different element of the human world come up.
Brendan Ciecko:
Oh, for sure.
Atiba Edwards:
Where you're going to have some real tense situations happening very fast that almost all the staff are needed. That's why I mentioned early all hands on deck. Everyone has to be able to be able to try to de escalate a problem to the best ability possible. Because if you and I are in a space and we're needing to be deescalated, if I'm on the staff and I walk away from that, I'm creating a very strong powder keg of a situation. So, I think it's, plan for everything you think you can, but then know that, what is the fail-safe when this doesn't go right?
Brendan Ciecko:
That's critical and knowing that there are going to be weak links in that equation that no one could ever account for. I remember, just off of your point of the restaurant business, I was reading something over the weekend in the Atlantic, that was titled I'm a Chef in a Seaside Town, I'm not an Epidemiologist. And it was about the horror stories of being a restaurant worker or a restaurant owner and just how exactly how you put it, the different sides of human nature coming into play when people don't observe social distancing or things that you couldn't have even planned for start to happen, which is pretty unbelievable. But maybe believable.
So, I know, we have seven minutes left, we have a ton of questions from the audience. So, I want to leave some time for those. I want to give a couple closing words before we jump into those. Basically after this webinar, we're going to compile everybody's questions, ideas, problems, statements, solutions, into one living and breathing document to share with the museum community at large. So, feel free to share your thoughts on the webinar chat, or email them over, or tweet them over whatever platform suits you best. We are all hoping for a smooth reopening phase and strive to be as ready as we possibly can.
The fact that you're here, shows that you're taking proactive steps at your organization. Um, and the community is here to help you every step of the way. So, really grateful to have the voices of Atiba and Andrea and Don and everyone who's chimed in on the chat box today, sharing ideas and questions today, that's always incredible to see. So, let's try to get through three audience questions, leaving a little bit of room at the end for- for one closing question for all three of you.
So, I have one question from Alexander Kulick, from the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. How do we address visitors that may not want to follow protocols we are putting in place for public and staff safety? How are other museums positioning their stance in terms of enforcing distance, masks, routs, etc.? And I've seen a lot of similar questions asked in the chat in the Q&A.
Andrea Montiel:
Where to even start with this one? Don, I don't know if you have, or Atiba, if you want to start. I need like two seconds to think about this one.
Brendan Ciecko:
Atiba, do you want to jump on that one?
Atiba Edwards:
Yeah. I think it goes back to that staff training. Because that's going to become a very tense moment. But you want to educate your staff and everyone around you that, yes, this is a change and it's something that's a requirement for the safety of all visitors and staff. And really rooting it in the aspect where it's a change that we are asking everyone to make. And it's a required change for- for a peace of mind so that everybody can experience the space as safely as possible, versus worrying about the person next to them and that's in front of them. So it's around education and really driving home the fact that, yes, this is a requirement. But it's not something that's singled out to you, it's something we're asking all of our guests to do because safety and being able to open our space is important. And we don't want to run into a situation where we might have to close our space down because of something that took place, if somebody didn't follow the safety measures that we take in place.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you. And I do wonder if more and more museums will start to open source their training guides. It sounds like Brooklyn Children's Museum's doing a lot of great work in this area. A bunch of other museums that have opened and have been learning, probably have some takeaways and learnings that would be valuable to share with the field at large. Thank you for your thoughts on that.
We have a question from Allison Salt at Carnegie Hall in New York City, who says, it would be great to hear a little more from the panel regarding the future of group tours being led by guides and docents. Any thoughts on changes, restrictions, best practices in the post-COVID-19 world?
Andrea Montiel:
Yeah. And I wonder if it's okay to also not have the answer. And more some of the questions that I had in my head right now, because I actually don't know. I definitely have questions about right now, or some of the questions I get in my head is, what type of support are we going to, are we going to get within for seating, the different types of actions that we might need to take as a museum, in response to some- some people that maybe, beyond one person, that I think like, what if it's an entire group that does not want to be wearing a mask?
If things go well, there are definitely protocols if you have a large space. I definitely am more concerned in small spaces. I'm really interested in, for example, the work that the Barnes Foundation is doing right now, In trying to, just identifying that, once they open, they might not have the room. So, they are being very progressive in thinking of ways of moving other offerings. But thinking of physical space, if you have a larger space, making sure that the person that is leading is truly embracing and a living example of social distancing. That they are more than proud to be wearing their masks, that they're more, they are comfortable having the conversation about why this is important and that they can be kind in having that conversation. And I think that there's also some risks that I don't know that we're ready to face. This situation has not just been health-wise, it's also been political. So, what if people very intentionally, aggressively, want to get into your museum as a large group? I do not have the answer for that.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you for sharing that. I think so many things just come back to being empathetic and being a good human being as simplistic as that sound, I think that's the root of it all. So, I know we only have a minute left. So, I am hoping that each of you can leave us with one, big or small idea that we can bring back to our organizations during this time. So, I'd love to start with you, Don. What's one idea that you would bring back to the museum community? I know that you're now at Georgetown, but if you're at the MET, what would your words to the museum community be during this time?
Don Undeen:
Honestly, same as always, I guess. So, I'm going to start with, start with the people and the technology will follow.
Brendan Ciecko:
Great. Thank you. And Andrea, how about you? What would you, what's one big idea that you'd want to share with everybody right now?
Andrea Montiel:
My question is, doesn't have to be digital. That's my encouragement. There's people that will not be able to reach you in a digital way. And there'll be people that will not be okay having, everything just far away from them. So, preparing for that unexpected, natural behavior, that will be surprising.
Brendan Ciecko:
Thank you for that. Atiba, what is one big takeaway you'd want to leave everybody with? Other than, art must show the world as changeable? As your background so beautifully says.
Atiba Edwards:
I think it's a combination of both. So, start with the people, don't forget your staff. And that's the one that often gets overlooked, as we race towards planning and we think about all the cleaning and all the things that have to get done, somebody has to do it. So, make sure you have them on the, like they're number one. Because when they're happy, really, in theory, everyone else is happy. And then they keep it simple. There's a new update from an app coming out where you can actually just call somebody if they're online. It's like, yes, because a phone call works so many ways and now we're really going back to the initial way, so never over complicate the experience. People are coming to your spaces because they already value and trust you're going to give them great things, don't make it such that the barrier is so high for anyone to overcome because you thought it'd be a really great idea to do a VR experience of the solar system but there's only one pair of VR goggles. Just don't do it. Don't do it, completely. So, be okay with saying, "No," to some of the crazy ideas. But allow the crazy idea to at least get launched before you shoot it down.
Brendan Ciecko:
Great. Thank you for that. Well, thank you, Atiba. Thank you, Andrea. And, thank you, Don. It was really an inspiring conversation. I learned a lot. I'm sure that our folks who are tuning from all around the globe learned a lot, have something to take away, have some new questions to ask them- themselves as they ponder and plan what the visitor experience looks like when they reopen or as they pivot and adjust what their, what the visitor experience looks like over time. So, I really appreciate you spending an hour with us. I hope you guys are all doing well, staying safe, staying sane and until next time, thank you. Thank you so much.
Looking for more information? Check out our Coronavirus Resources page.