charting new territories in virtual worlds

Charting New Territory in Virtual Worlds

Nina Simon, Tech Museum of Innovationnina@museumtwo.com

David Klevan, US Holocaust Memorial Museumdklevan@ushmm.org

Chris Lawrence, New York Hall of Science clawrence@nyscience.org

Nora McCartney, New York Hall of Sciencenmccartney@nyscience.org

Paul Sparrow, Newseumpsparrow@newseum.org

first, some background

virtual worlds are communication platforms with 2 defining characteristics

1. Strong sense of presence in real-time interaction with others

2. Ability to share and manipulate 3D content

Landscape OverviewChildren’s worlds are booming corporate spaces-Club Penguin, Webkinz, Nicktropolis, Habbo Hotel-primary demographic 6-12-primary use is brand and product extension

Adult worlds more community & business-focused-Second Life leads with 500,000 active users-peer-to-peer transactions, user-generated content-virtual networking, telecommuting, conferences

museums in virtual worldsfive examplesUS Holocaust Memorial MuseumNewseumTech Museum of InnovationNY Hall of Science (x2)

Witnessing History: The Night of Broken Glass is…

DISTANCECOLLABORATIVEEXPERIENTIAL

KINETICOBJECT-BASED

DISCOVERYan interactive virtualexhibition created by youthfor youth in which visitorsadopt the role ofinvestigative journalists onassignment to engage inobject-based discoverylearning, and ultimately,share their stories.

L e a r n i n g

a project of theUSHMM and GlobalKids in which youthlearn history and 21st

century literacy skillsby curating anddesigning a virtualexhibition.

Virtual

The Tech Virtual is a collaborative platform using the Web and Second Life to democratize the exhibit design process.

Over 2000 unique people have visited the virtual workshop, and over 300 are now designing their own interactive exhibits.

The best of these virtual exhibits are being co-developed in real life for an exhibition to open June 3, 2008 at The Tech.

The interactive exhibits on display beginning June 3 have been designed by virtual volunteers all over the world.

The BIG QuestionsWhy do something in virtual worlds?How much does it cost?What are the challenges?How do you evaluate success?Who do (or don’t) you reach?How do you get institutional support?Can we see a demo?<your question here>

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/

home

Why do it?• marketing

• brand extension

• develop new exhibits

• intimate community for distributed participants

• immersive education environment

• ultimately, it’s about mission

back

back

How much does it cost?

Island in Second Life: $900Second Life developer: $10,000-$100,000Your own custom world: $100,000-$1M

Great staff to manage community and sustain ongoing programming: priceless

back

back

Cost• Budget = $23,750• Scope of work

– GK staff & USHMM staff integrated content from the museumambassadors’ summer experiences into Second Life

– 2 GK staff developed a curriculum to guide museumambassadors through the curatorial and development process,and facilitated program sessions from offices in New York Cityvia videoconferencing, World Wide Web, and in Second Life

– Digital Refinery built exhibition in world using museum assetsprovided and based on ambassadors’ design specifications

– 10 weeks x 3 hours = 30 hours plus use of GK Island and manyextra hours of planning, etc.

– Creation of machinima and weekly postings on GK blog

back

Development:5 months / $16,000 (outside contractor)-1 full-time staff to develop virtual exhibit process

Operation:2 part-time staff -managing community -developing exhibits -providing programming and support

back

Development:12 months / IBM foots the bill-6 full-time IBM staff-1 full-time museum staff for 6 months

back

Challenges?

• Technological barriers to entry

• Industry/institutional skepticism

• technological instability

• Requires ongoing staff time

• Aligning expectations and goals with funders and partners

back

back

Challenges

Coordinating SchedulesReliability of Technology Managing Expecations

Learning to Fly – High Entry Bar

back

Challenges-job tasks change: curators as community managers-engaging a skeptical museum field

back

Working with students with disabilities

Assistive technologiesPLUS virtual worldtechnologies... oh my!

Challenges

back

How to evaluate?

People use virtual worlds in a fundamentallydifferent way than they use web or gallery resources.

As the technology evolves, so do best practicesand benchmarks.

So how do we figure out if the experiments work?

back

back

Evaluation• Impact on student ambassadors

– Final Product (ie, the in-world exhibition)– Written and oral feedback– GK blog

• Impact on “visitors”– YouTube machinima 350 views / 3 comments– Visits to exhibition and comments posted

• Impact on museum staff– Virtual curation & user-generated content

back

back

Very specific goal: garner enough participation to develop a high-quality 2000 sq ft exhibition of (real) interactive exhibits designed in virtual world

Success!

but...

200 people designed52 exhibits. 8 are now

being built in real life.

back

Other specific goal: create a space for museum professionals to develop exhibits collaboratively

Not there yet.

back

Who do you reach?

Are you using the virtual world to reachcurrent or new audiences?

Is it an intimate experience (25 for VHOS) or an open public environment?

Who can get there, and who can’t?

back

Different Communities, Different Needs

60 SL visitors per day. 25% come 5+ times per month.But are they the visitors we want?

back

back

Getting Support

USHMM and The Tech Museum were lucky--we have leaders who drank the koolaid.

But what about the rest of us?

back

Can I see a Demo?

Heck yeah!

back