If you missed it this week, Brendan Ciecko (CEO & Founder @ Cuseum), with special guests Susan Edwards (Associate Director, Digital Content @ Hammer Museum) and Koven Smith (Museum & Nonprofit Digital Strategy Consultant), came together in a webinar to talk about steps cultural organizations can take to captivate, connect, and communicate with their remote “visitors” and audiences.
You can view a recording here and read full transcript below:
In light of the rapid spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and social distancing recommendations from public health officials, many visitor-serving cultural organizations have made the decision to temporarily close their doors to the public. As a result, these organizations face great uncertainty about what the next days and weeks hold for them during this unusual time.
This past Wednesday, over 3,000 people from the global museum community, joined Cuseum's Brendan Ciecko, with special guests Seema Rao (Deputy Director & Chief Experience Officer @ Akron Art Museum), and Scott Stulen (Director & President @ Philbrook Museum of Art), to discuss steps cultural organizations can take to engage their audiences digitally and continue their important work as trusted community resources during this public health and economic crisis, even when physical sites remain in lockdown.
Every day, another major news headline comes out citing the transformative power of 5G. According to the World Economic Forum, “we’re on the verge of a new age of interconnectedness” that will change the world in profound ways. This isn’t just an incremental improvement to existing 4G network technology, it’s an entirely new mobile infrastructure. Now, after years of speculation about the potentials of 5G, it’s finally here.
From dancing dogs to pop culture references, GIFs have added another element of fun to how we communicate in the digital age. Animated GIFs are like short, sweet, videos or digital flipbooks that allow images to come to life on your screen. While GIFs have been around since 1987 (they’re over 30 years old, and also known as “graphics interchange format”) they didn’t rise to mainstream popularity until the late 2000’s. Since their new rise to fame and everyday use, GIFs have not only redefined how we communicate over social networks, email, and SMS, but they have also presented themselves as a new tool to engage and educate audiences in the museum realm. This has led museums and cultural institutions to embrace GIFs as a way to bring their collections to life and engage younger, digital-centric audiences.
At Cuseum, we’re deeply interested in how new technology and approaches impact the multitude of ways museums and cultural attractions interact and engage with their visitors. Over the past few years, we’ve watched many changes redefine how organizations think about digital engagement and the general expectations and behaviors of their visitors.
We’re excited to announce that Cuseum has been selected by World Tourism Forum Lucerne as “one of the world’s 15 most innovative travel and tourism startups.”
Technology is undeniably a big part of the world we live in today. From smartphones and social media to video streaming, technology has redefined the content we are exposed to and how we engage with it. With a large chunk of our days spent online, it comes as no surprise that many museums have begun to use social media and digital platforms to draw in audiences. This does not mean museums should stop trying to create an engaging in-person visitor experience; instead, it asks museums to extend the experience to the digital world with tools like the live stream. But before you hit the record button, we have come up with a few ideas on how your museum can leverage the power of the livestream!
Cuseum recently made headlines in CNN, ABC, NPR, and beyond for the launch of the White House Historical Association’s new app, “WHExperience” created in partnership with Amazon Web Services! The White House is one of the most iconic national landmarks that draws an impressive crowd (an upwards of 100,000 visitors annually!). The White House Historical Association was founded in 1961 by First Lady Jackie Kennedy as a nonprofit and non-partisan organization, with a mission to “protect, preserve, and provide public access to the rich history of America’s Executive Mansion.” With the support of both the Secret Service and the National Park Services, the WHHA has enabled visitors to enjoy the White House’s rich history; however, the new app “WHExperience,” has extended that mission into the digital world to create an engaging and educational experience for all!
The White House Historical Association launches their new mobile app today, in partnership with Cuseum and Amazon Web Services.
There is a growing discussion around how AR can be used to elevate the museum experience and bring exhibitions to life. PSFK, a leading trend reporting publication and authority on consumer experience, reports on the topic in the piece “How Augmented Reality is Changing the Museum Experience.”
Dan Sullivan, head of Growth & Partnerships at Cuseum, recently spoke at MIT Museum’s “Hacking the Museum,” which was part of the larger Cambridge Science Festival that took place from April 13-22. The event brought together leading minds from across industries to “talk about and demo museum APIs and collections databases with museum hackers” and to look at how technology like AR can be leveraged in the museum space.
Cuseum was recently featured in Wired, a leading technology news publication, in an article that explores the growing role of augmented reality in museums, and how it can be used to engage visitors and drive creativity. Additionally, the use of AR in museums illustrates how technology has the potential to “shake up” the museum world, and bring institutions into the digital age in a way that will speak to a larger audience.
We are thrilled to announce that Cuseum’s Founder & CEO Brendan Ciecko will be speaking at MIT Hacking Arts! The conference will take place at MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA on November 19th and will bring artists, innovators, technologists and hackers together to “explore the future of the arts.”
Cuseum (formerly Spotzer) was recently featured in Fast Company, a leading technology and entertainment publication, in an article that seeks to understand how the iBeacon can be utilized in cultural institutions like museums and libraries. The article focuses on the central question, “are cultural institutions the environment iBeacon has been waiting for?” Further, it looks to understand how groundbreaking technology like the iBeacon can be leveraged across industries to help cultural institutions provide visitors with an experience that targets their direct interests.