research, technology, and engagement

RESEARCHTECHNOLOGYENGAGEMENT

Robert SteinDeputy Director for ResearchTechnology, and Engagement

Indianapolis Museum of ArtFlickr Credit ~heardsy

for staff at the Art Institute of Chicago

A BIT

ABOUT THE

MUSEUM

Some facts About the IMATHE INDIANAPOLIS

MUSEUM OF ART

152 ACRES

300 STAFF

127 YEARS

Enrich Permanent CollectionTHE INDIANAPOLIS

MUSEUM OF ART

381,000 VISITORS

1M WEB VISITORS

54,000 OBJECTS

A BIT

ABOUT ME

Flickr Credit ~chocolatedisco

Flickr Credit ~spiffy0777

National Center forSupercomputing Applications

Flickr Credit ~benchilada

Indiana UniversityPervasive Technology Labs

A BIT OUT OF

MY ELEMENT

chocolatedisco/

2006

Robert SteinChief Information

Officer

Network Administrator

Systems Administrator

Database Administrator Help Desk

2008Robert Stein

Chief Information Officer

Director of IT Operations

Systems Administrator

Database Administrator

Help Desk

Software Developer

Software Developer

Director of New Media

New Media Project Manager

Video Producer

Video Producer

Head of Libraries and Archives

Reference Librarian

Catalogue Librarian

Periodicals

Archivist

2010

Robert SteinChief Information

Officer

Director of IT Operations

AV Systems

Director of Publishing and

Media

New Media

Publications

Photography

Head of Libraries and Archives

Archives

IMA Lab

Software Project Manager

Software Developer (x4)

Web Designer (x2)

Conservation

Objects Lab

Paintings Lab

Textiles Lab

Paper Lab

Conservation Imaging

Conservation Science

Audience Engagement

Docent Programs

Research and Evaluation

Public Programs

IMA STRATEGIC PLAN

IMA STRATEGIC PLAN

1. Collection and Program Vitality

2. Financial Strength and Stewardship

3. Research Leadership

RESEARCH LEADERSHIP

RESEARCH LEADERSHIP

1. Establish the IMA as a research leader among its peers in the areas of:

• Art History• Conservation Science• Information Science• Visitor Studies

RESEARCH LEADERSHIPKEY OBJECTIVES


Create an institutional culture that fosters creative thinking and the production of new knowledge through experimentation, evaluation, in-depth analysis, and critical reasoning


Become a leader among museums in the production and sharing of open content and scholarship


Become an organization where models for evaluation are conceived, implemented, and shared; commit to long-term evaluation and the analysis of results as part of routine planning processes


Develop collaborative relationships with researchers and institutions that enhance the IMA’s research capacity internationally

3 MAJOR SHIFTS

SO FAR

3 MAJOR SHIFTS

SO FAR

1.Creation of a Research Division

2.Merging of Publishing, New Media, & Photography

3.Change from Education to Audience Engagement

WHY

ENGAGEMENT?

Art museums have for decades described their role as interpreter of cultural inheritance. In our new socially networked world, interpretation is no longer a one- or two-way street. Transparency changes the museum dynamic from registrarial fortress to public square. Interactivity allows for questioning, augmentation, and dispute of official interpretations by scholars and informed observers. Art museums host conversations among experts and enthusiasts, rather than privileged glimpses into the working methods of curators. Works of art themselves ‘converse’ through loans and exhibitions. Teachers, students, and museum staff and volunteers exchange ideas about the objects in our care and the experiences to be had in our facilities and on our websites. Visitor comments and market research initiate conversations that permeate the former comfort zone of institutional remove. Blogging by museum staff and by others about museums opens up new engagement, exchange, and conversation.

Maxwell Anderson, The Art Newspaper, June 2010.

GATHER

STEWARD

CONVERSE

If museums had just one purpose, our jobs would be much easier. But museums address multiple needs, regardless of the era in which we find ourselves. For art museums, those needs include collecting and caring for examples of cultural heritage and providing the public with avenues to understanding the intentions of artists in their time and the relevance of works to the present. But the Web has altered this last-mentioned obligation, from dispensing information alone to soliciting new forms of participation. And while museum professionals will always offer the “official” interpretation of objects in our care, we also should welcome the opportunity to attract the notice and to encourage the engagement of people anywhere.

Maxwell Anderson, Dallas Museum of Art

GIVING THE

PUBLIC A VOICE

In a world shaped by immediate access to a vast sea of digital data, museums will serve as: sources, sharing information emerging from their collecting and research; aggregators, finding and integrating information from the many sources touched by their work; curators, selecting and annotating content to help people find reliable information; and educators, providing context and commentary. Technology will enable museums to scale up these core functions, which are already embedded in their work.

In the future, museums also will become mentors, recruiting and training people to contribute and interpret content; and moderators, encouraging people to engage with content, sharing views, opinions, and their own expertise. And museums will continue to be welcome havens of respite and retreat, where people can unplug, disconnect, and immerse themselves in silence, beauty, and wonder.

Elizabeth Merritt, Center for the Future of Museums

AGGREGATORS,

CURATORS, MENTORS,

AND MORE

PARTICIPATORY

CULTUREA participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another…

Participatory culture is emerging as the culture absorbs and responds to the explosion of new media technologies that make it possible for average consumers to archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content in powerful new ways. Jenkins, Henry. 2006. “Confronting the Challenges of

Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.”

The work of organizing museums has not kept pace with the times. The United States is far behind the spirit of its own people…

This can not long continue. The museum of the past must be set aside, reconstructed, transformed from a cemetery of bric-a-brac into a nursery of living thoughts.

Goode, G. Brown. 1891. The Museums of the Future. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

Goode, G. Brown. 1891. The Museums of the Future. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

A NURSERY

OF LIVING

THOUGHTS

Flickr Credit ~adforce1

ENGAGEMENTBUILDING A NEW DEPARTMENT

“Usually, I am drawn to art because it is visually appealing or relates to a technique I am familiar with. However, when I first viewed Utagawa Kunisada's painting, I was visually and viscerally jarred.

As I looked and realized a child was in her arms, the painting became emotionally powerful to me. I realized and related to, the overwhelming need to create, right now, regardless of other obligations. With sons 18 & 20 it's been a long time since I was the nursing mom I took her to be.

Between first coming to the Viewing Project and returning to it to write this, I have toured and enjoyed most of this floor. The image – visually not a favorite – continues to haunt me.”

Utagawa KunisadaJapanese, 1786-1864

Nakamura Shikan in the role of the Fox Kuzunoha(Kuzunoha kitsune), 1861

Color woodblock print

https://project.imamuseum.org/Media_Database/Collections/2002/00000-00099/2002.73/6D1DED38-4B97-4C15-ABB9-E7BFB148197B_O.jpg

“You know that moment when something completely takes over your being? Like when you get the news that a loved one has died and you never got to say goodbye. That moment – when you can't feel anything – the world suddenly slows down and you're part of it. All you hear is the slow thud of your heart. This was like sharing that moment. I've never viewed art like this.

33 year old nursing student. Avid lover of art and reading. Lost about every physical one I have ever had in the last year. Trying to find ways to cope and feel normal - sought refuge or salvation here.”

Bill ViolaAmerican, 1951The Quintet of the SilentDVD, Panasonic Plasma screen, line doubler, surge supressor, DVD player

Flickr Credit ~measter2

WHAT’S

MODEL?

THE RIGHT

Flickr Credit ~shutterhacks

A REVIEW OF

THE LITERATURE

1.Pekarick and Doering2.Pittman and Korn3.Falk and Dierking

IDEAS

PEOPLE

OBJECTS

Flickr Credit ~ellenlove

Developed by Andrew Pekarick and Zahava Doering at the Smithsonian Office for Policy and Analysis

Results from a series of surveys of exhibitions at the national museums

IDEAS

PEOPLE

OBJECTS


Visitors tend to favor interpretive materials that focus on one of either ideas, objects, or people

IDEAS

PEOPLE

OBJECTS


IDEAS

PEOPLE

OBJECTS


IdeasGaining information or insight

Enriching my understanding

ObjectsSeeing rare, valuable, or uncommon things

PeopleFinding out what its like to live in a different time or place

Getting a sense of the everyday lives of others

ReflectionReflecting on the meaning of what I see

Being moved by beauty

These predispositions tend to drive the experiences they seek out – and are highly correlated to exit-satisfaction results for those types of experiences.

IDEAS

PEOPLE

OBJECTS


“Visitors are happiest when they encounter experiences that are unexpectedly satisfying”

IDEAS

PEOPLE

OBJECTS


“Experientially richer visits seem to be rated higher”

Flickr Credit ~da100fotos

ATTRACT, ENGAGE,

FLIP

“Most of the visitors we observed and interviewed revealed a primary orientation, but—if given the right contents or presentation—could flip to unexpected discoveries of a different type.”

VISUAL VELCRO

Flickr Credit ~quinnanya

VISUAL VELCRO

To illustrate, let us imagine the humble Velcro patch. It consists of a strip of tiny loops, originally inspired by a burr caught in dog fur or velvet’s fuzzy surface. Now imagine a sensory impression, in this case an artwork, arriving in your perceptual field. Unless the visual impression has a hook that can fit into one of the loops on your specific LTM “patch,” it will glide right by and be forever forgotten. If there is something in the artwork, however, that strikes you—a figure, a vivid color, a bodily sensation resulting from the artwork’s massive or minuscule scale, a memory trigger or implied narrative connection—then we can say that artwork has “Visual Velcro.”It has hooked into your cognitive structure and stands a chance of remaining in your memory.

Peter Samis, New Technologies as Part of a Comprehensive Interpretive Plan, 2007.

quinnanya/

Photo Credit Alan Levine

The work of interpretation, then, is to give cognitive hooks to the hookless, and assure that these hooks are sufficiently varied so that they can successfully land in the mental fabric of a broad array of visitors. Once visitors have a framework, all kinds of sensory impressions, emotions and reflections can weave themselves into the fabric of perception.

Peter Samis, New Technologies as Part of a Comprehensive Interpretive Plan, 2007.

Flickr Credit ~pobrecito33


A Study by Randi Korn and Bonnie Pitman at the Dallas Museum of Art 2003-2008

To establish a “Framework for Engaging with Art”

A Conceptual Model to Structure and Evaluate Educational Activities


OBSERVERS

PARTICIPANTS

INDEPENDENTS

ENTHUSIASTS


Observers are somewhat more tentative about looking at art and being in art museums. Among the clusters, they are the least comfortable analyzing or talking about their experience with art, though almost half have some educational background in art and art history, and the majority stay informed on exhibitions and related events. Some Observers may be new to looking at art and visiting the museums, as they do not recall in detail their experiences with works of art. But most return to the Museum after an initial visit, and their membership participation is similar to that of the more demonstrably engaged Participants and Independents.

OBSERVERS


People in this cluster enjoy the learning and social aspects of their experiences in art museums and are comfortable looking at most types of art. They have a strong knowledge of and interest in art, and they like to connect with works of art through music, dance, dramatic performances, readings, and a variety of other ways. Participants easily provide thoughtful descriptions of what a meaningful experience in an art museum is, value “real” works of art, and actively use interpretive resources and programs.

PARTICIPANTS


Independents like to view art on their own and develop their own explanations and interpretation. Their interactions with works of art are intense. They are confident about their art knowledge, have strong educational background in art, and are comfortable with art terminology. They talk easily with others about art and have passionate responses to art. They feel the Museum needs to create a setting that encourages and allows visitors to slow down and look at works of art.

INDEPENDENTS


Forming the largest segment of onsite visitors, Enthusiasts are confident, knowledgeable, and enjoy looking at all types of art. They connect with works of art emotionally, both directly and through the performing arts. They participate actively in a wide variety of Museum programming and use interpretive resources in the galleries. They have the strongest art background. They like discussing the meaning of a work of art with friends, and they are interested in the artist’s materials and techniques. Enthusiasts frequently visit the Museum and, among the clusters are the most likely to be members.

ENTHUSIASTS

Pitman, Bonnie, and Ellen Cochran. Hirzy. Ignite the Power of Art: Advancing Visitor Engagement in Museums. Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2010. Print.

Looking at works of art

Reading explanatory wall text

Performances in the galleries

Watching video in the galleries

Responding to art by creating art

Taking a guided tour

Using reading areas in the galleries

Using computers to learn about art

Pitman, Bonnie, and Ellen Cochran. Hirzy. Ignite the Power of Art: Advancing Visitor Engagement in Museums. Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2010. Print.

Flickr Credit ~phineasx

THE MUSEUM VISIT

CAN HAVE MANY

FACETS

Founder of Institute for Learning Innovation

Professor Learning and Science Education at Oregon State University

Research conducted primarily at zoos, aquaria, and science centers.

But also with art museums including the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Denver Art Museum

JOHN FALK

FREE-CHOICE

LEARNING

FREE-CHOICE

LEARNINGAccording to tourism researcher Jan Packer, most people visit museums, parks, and other similar venues in order to “experience learning” or what she calls “learning for fun”

Falk suggests that learning and leisure are becoming one and the same experience

LEARNING AND

IDENTITYBritish education researcher, Holmes, theorized that there is an inverse relationship between learning for performance and learning for identity building

… By contrast, in learning situations where jading is minimal and intrinsic motivations predominate—such as is typical of the free-choice learning that occurs in museums—learning is primarily identity-driven

LEARNING AND

IDENTITYMost learning research is still predicated on conceptualizations of learning that make sense within academic contexts—learning is about the mastery of facts and concepts in order to orally, or in writing describe or defend an idea or proposition. However, it appears likely that within the world of free-choice learning, learning is typically, if not primarily for personal rather than public reasons and often strongly motivated by the needs of identity formation and reinforcement. In this context, learning tends to take the form of confirmation of existing understandings, attitudes, and skills in order to allow the individual to be able to say “Okay, I now know that I know/believe that.” The goal is not “mastery” in the traditional sense, but rather to provide the individual with a feeling of personal competence.

MUSEUM VISITORS

FEEL OUT OF

THEIR ELEMENT

TOO

IDENTITY-RELATED

VISIT MOTIVATIONS

Explorers: motivated by a need to satisfy personal curiosity and interest in an

intellectually challenging environment.

Experience seekers: aspire to be exposed to the things and ideas that exemplify what

is best and intellectually most important within a culture or community.

Professional/Hobbyists: possess the desire to further specific intellectual needs in a

setting with a specific subject matter focus.

Rechargers: motivated by the yearning to physically, emotionally, and intellectually

recharge in a beautiful and refreshing environment.

Facilitators: motivated by the wish to engage in a meaningful social experience with

someone whom they care about in an educationally supportive environment (parental

facilitator and social facilitator).

ENTRANCE

Flickr Credit ~aunto

NARRATIVE

WHY FALK?


• It is simple and easy to understand.• It is fairly well documented in the literature.• It has been tested and used in many

museums.• It can be used by more than one department

in the museum.• Falk has developed and tested a simple

method to identify visitors motivations.

BASELINE

MOTIVATION SURVEY

EXPLORER

RECHARGER

FACILITATOR

PROFESSIONALS

HOBBYISTS

EXPERIENCE

SEEKERS

AFFINITY SEEKERS

Results (371 participants)

The most common visitor types were explorers (22.6%), experience seekers (22.4%), and rechargers (21.8%). Affinity seekers were the least common visitor type (2.7%).

Experience seekers

Rechargers Facilitators Professiona/Hobbyists

Affinity seeksrs

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%22.4% 21.8%

17.0%

13.5%

2.7%

Parental vs. Social Facilitators

Of the 63 respondents who identified themselves as facilitators, 54% were parental facilitators (visiting with children under the age of 18) and 46% were social facilitators (not visiting with children under the age of 18). These correspond to 9.10% and 7.8% respectively of the total participants.

parental facilitators social facilitators0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

4054%

46%

Explorers (22.6%)• Who are they?

– Not specialists – Repeat visitors– More likely to be attracted by new exhibitions

• What do they do once at the museum?– Spend a lot of time in front of what interests them– Non linear visitation patterns– Read labels, wall text, brochures, take guided tours– Likely to participate to

programs and lectures– When visiting in a group

less likely to interact with other people

Experience seekers (22.4%)• Who are they?

– Either first-time or infrequent visitors– Learning is not a priority– Interested in the museum as a destination– Time-conscious

• What they do once at the museum?– Go straight to icon objects and exhibits (need orientation and

recommendation for that) – Less interested in

temporary exhibitions– Like to take pictures– Almost always visit the

shop and the café that they see as part of the visit

Rechargers (21.8%)• Who are they?

– They see museums as places to recharge and to be inspired– Often repeat visitors– Learning is not a priority

• What do they do once at the museum?– They like to wander around and discover for themselves

beautiful objects and places– Not likely to participate in programs and lectures– Not interested in blockbuster

exhibitions– Only rarely use interpretative

material– Not likely to use commercial

facilities (shop & café)

Facilitators (17%) • Who are they?

– They visit to satisfy the needs of someone else– Do not see the museum as a place for extensive personal learning– Interested also in the entertainment aspect of the visit– They can be time-conscious

• What do they do at the museum?– They engage in social interaction– Visit patterns depend on

the needs of their companions

– (Parental) facilitators need guidance in interpreting the objects for their children

– Use café and gift shop

Professional/Hobbyists (13.5%)

• Who are they?– They are usually the smallest category of visitors– Most critical visitors– Art students, artists , academic, museum professionals– Repeat visitors

• What do they do once at the museum?– They come with specific objectives and follow a specific path– Unlikely to read labels

(unless they are students or for specific objects)

– Interested in intense behind the scenes access to objects

– Attend lectures and programs– Look for specialized books in

the gift shop

ACTIVITY INVENTORY

Flickr Credit ~zomerstorm

WHAT ABOUT

ONLINE VISITORS?

Flickr Credit ~quinnanya

2011 Web Stats1M Visits (3.6M Hits) +7%56% (566K) not in Visit 6%58% (580K) not in IN +5%2011 Museum Attendance

381,026 (-11%)Mobile 8.8% (2x 2010)

WHAT’S THE ONLINE


ENTRANCE NARRATIVE?


WHAT’S THE RIGHT MODEL?

Planning/thinking about a trip to the

museum

Searching about specific information

Teacher told me to do this website

Looking for teachers resources or

activities

Thought it might be interesting site to

explore

Haley-Goldman & Schaller, 2004



Gathering information for an upcoming visit to the physical site

Engaging in casual browsing

Self-motivated research for specific content information

Assigned research for specific content information

Ellenbogen, Haley-Goldman & Falk, 2008



Using the site to plan or follow up a visit to the physical site

Using the website to locate subject-based information

Accessing the website as part of browsing activities on the Web

Using the website to interact or transact with the museum

Peacock & Brownbill, 2007



It seems (at least on the surface) that motivations for visits to physical museums are different than for museum websites:

Experiences, identity-building vs. communication/information seeking

Investment in visiting the physical and virtual museum is not the same

Ellenbogen, Haley-Goldman & Falk, 2008

HOW CAN WE

FIGURE THIS OUT?

Google Analytics Is Not Enough

Initial Open-Ended Survey

0%10%20%30%40%

Coded Results from Open Ended Online Motiva-tions n=113

Follow Up Categorical Survey

A Much Better Response

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

5:407:09 6:19 5:56

12:00

Online Motivation by Type and Time n=4076

Percent Visits Average time

Plan a

Visi

t

Find S

pecific

Info

rmatio

n for P

rofe

ssio

nal Reaso

ns

Find S

pecific

Info

rmatio

n for P

ersonal R

easons

Casual B

rowsin

g

Make

a T

ransa

ctio

n0

102030405060

Average Time per Page by Motivation Type

time/page (sec)

Visitor Flow

IN THE MEANTIME

Flickr Credit ~nicholasjon

LOOKING

AND SEEINGFlickr Credit ~rocketjim54

Utagawa Hirōshige (Japanese, 1797-1858) - Nihonbashi in the Snow

EXPERIMENTS IN TRACKING GAZE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Silvia Filippini-Fantoni, Audience Engagement

Tiffany Leason, Audience Engagement

Charlie Moad, IMA Lab

Ed Bachta, IMA Lab

Flickr Credit ~hseoane

THANK YOU