SNSE Weblog

lots of updates

2007-06-11T20:44:42Z

I feel like I should break this out into more than one post but there is just so much going on, there's hardly time to breathe! Phone system is finally coming together. We are upgrading our entire phone system so we've got the opportunity to streamline the visitor experience of SNSE audio. Dial in and enter a 3 digit code. It's that simple. We are using an xml backend so it will be very easy to update and change as SNSE evolves. Also, Formative evaluation is underway. SNSE signage testing occurred this weekend at the Maryland Science Center. We'll get the report back next week and then we can finalize our signage for opening. A few more things to comment on... Rutgers is working on securing focus groups with teenagers. Onomy is installing their Times Square of Science and Technology exhibit as part of Breakthroughs - which will have several integrates SNSE spots. We just got some bids in for the SNSE reader rails that will hold instructional information for guests. The 2D designer is working through some SNSE logo designs. Verizon installed their repeater last week and we are waiting for the bid to come back for cellular repeaters to strengthen all other cell signals in the buildings...

even the political world is embracing its mobile potential

2007-05-29T23:02:37Z

Getting funding for the SNSE project was not easy. I felt like I needed to go out of my way to explain how the cell phone was more than just a device to make phone calls. It was like people didn't even know about texting - despite the fact that it's been available on cell phones for a number of years. Now I see that even the Hillary campaign has embraced text messages. According to the website, you can get updates on your cell phone by texting the word "join" to 77007. I actually found a pretty interesting breakdown of what they did and didn't do well (which I am hoping we can learn from). The article brought to light things like being MMA compliant. The MMA is the Mobile Marketing Association. I had no idea there was a body that oversaw mobile marketing let alone rules for being compliant! I am glad I found the information though, because I am trying to determine how to write the graphic panels and the information on our website about SNSE. I want to stay in line with things people are already accustomed to. Seems like I should check out the MMA and see what we need to do to be compliant. SNSE is not a mobile marketing campaign - we are a mobile learning campaign - but seeing as how people are becoming accustomed to mobile marketing, there is probably something to be learned from it.

unforeseen costs - cellular repeaters

2007-05-24T15:35:02Z

Given that visitors in our science center have had signal troubles before, we knew we'd have to spend money on cellular repeaters. We just got an initial estimate this morning which was much higher than we thought it would be. Needless to say, we are looking into options to bring the cost down (donations, using repeaters only in essential areas of the building).. but I just wanted to post this as a warning to other not-profit learning institutions... assess your need for cellular repeaters early and work it into your budget, this is not an insignificant cost. I'll let you know how we resolve it.

Indirectly related to MLearning: Photo Friday

2007-05-19T15:18:57Z

While this site isn't doing a cameraphone challenge - like we are - it's still a weekly photo challenge and has been going on for years. Each Friday they post the theme for the week. Hence the name, Photo Friday. As a participant, you take your own photo and upload it to a static webpage. Photo Friday doesn't collect the actual photo submissions - just links to them. The participants vote on each other's photos.

Save your graffiti tag to your phone?

2007-05-10T22:37:37Z

I just realized that one of the most iconic experiences in the Communication gallery is not a SNSE spot. Actually, two of the most iconic experiences are not associated with SNSE. I don't know why it never came up but it seems to make sense to marry SNSE with our Graffiti Wall and Language Karaoke experiences. At the Graffiti Wall, you can archive your work to a nearby touchscreen kiosk. I am guessing that people would love to have their "tag" on their phone too! I can't believe we overlooked this one. Once we figure out how to get a picture onto a phone from a kiosk station - then we should add that functionality to the Graffiti Kiosk. Also, once we figure out how to get video to people's phones - we should send them a "lite" version of their Language Karaoke video experience - which would be a fabulous add-on at the Language Karaoke station! Anyway... this blog just seemed like the right place to capture these thoughts.

new PEW report

2007-05-09T19:49:22Z

I am such a fan of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. I love their reports... here's the latest..."A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users"

Sonopia - a new marketing concept in the mobile world

2007-05-08T20:52:00Z

In yesterday's NY Times that was an articled titled, "Cellphones Tailored for Any Organization" by Louise Story. The focus of the article was this new start-up company called Sonopia. Check out this excerpt from the article:

For decades, consumers have been able to choose a credit card based on its affiliation with a particular group — a college alumni association, for example, a sports team or a retailer that offers reward points. Now a start-up company called Sonopia is trying to apply the same concept to the cellphone market...[Sonopia] is positioning its phones as a tool for companies and nonprofit groups that want to distribute news and entertainment to their customers and loyalists.

Umm....similarities to the goals of SNSE? Yep. I'd say so.

Rutgers CMCS - Update

2007-05-03T20:22:54Z

I just had a status phone call with Rutgers. They've been doing some observational research of our educational outreach programs in middle/high schools to get a sense of our audience. They will be doing more observational research (during soft openings) to gain more perspective on how teenagers behave in our environment and how they behave with their phones. Ultimately, they will be doing some interviews with teen visitors probably during our summer months after we open. They will use all this research to develop the questions that they think the focus group research can answer. Focus groups will probably start in the Fall.

Exhibit Designs - Update

2007-04-23T20:04:09Z

After a few internal iterations, we have settled on some exhibit designs that will be going to the general fabricator for review. We have a design for a computer kiosk. Each kiosk will be self-contained with a computer, monitor and keyboard with trackball. We will have 2 kiosks - one in our Grand Piazza near the cafe and movie theaters - and one on the top floor in our Breakthroughs cafe. Since people will be signing up for and checking the status of their cameraphone challenges at these kiosks, we wanted to locate them in public areas near the entrance of the museum and in the heart of the museum. We also wanted to make them small enough not to impede traffic flow, but big enough to be seen in a busy public space. Additionally, since we sometimes move things around in our Grand Piazza - the design had to be relatively easy to move out of the way. We also have a design for a reader rail. For those who have been to our science center, you know we have a center atrium. In the renovated science center, you will be able to interact with the atrium piece via SNSE so we need to put instructions for this near/on the atrium railing. This design also needed to be flexible - accommodating temporary graphics in the near term and permanent graphics for the long term. Again, we needed to make them big enough to be noticed but small enough to not impede visitor traffic flow. Lastly we have a small exhibit sign. These signs will go up next to exhibits that are SNSE spots. This sign will indicate to visitors that "you can do something with your phone here." That might be calling in for audio information, sending/receiving text message, or receiving a picture message.

operational plan for loaning out phones

2007-04-02T21:57:24Z

So we had a meeting today to decide some of the details on how to loan out phones to our visitors. The first question: Where? Visitors already have a lot of decisions to make at the box office, so that wasn't ideal. We want visitors to focus on purchasing stuff in the store. We didn't want loaning out the phones to detract from regular processes for other visitors. So, in order to minimize the impact of someone getting a loaner phone, yet keep it centrally located, we decided on the Welcome Desk. The second question was: Collateral? When we’ve handed out strollers and wheelchairs in the past, we’ve taken a drivers license. We will do the same here. The third question: Charging? Phones needs to be charged behind the scenes somewhere - not behind the Welcome Desk. There is simply not enough room. Perhaps 3 trays of phones that charge on a cart behind the scenes. One tray at a time comes out to the Welcome Desk and lives in a locked drawer. At the end of the day the trays go back to the charging unit behind the scenes. The last question: When? Since we will be conducting a series of soft openings, we decided to try out the system and see what works and what doesn't work. Then we can make changes prior to opening. So, since the grant has mandated that we hand out phones, I think we have a very workable solution. But, it doesn't change the fact that I am sad that we need to expend energy on solving an issue that seems to directly conflict with the primary objective of the grant -extending the learning experience beyond the walls of the science center...When visitors return loaner phones - it concludes their learning experience. I would rather spend my energy on devising the most engaging ways for people to use their own phones. I am also worried that offering loaner phones will mean that people will use our phones instead of theirs - which will really detract from the mission of the SNSE program?!?! I guess this is all information that we should keep in mind for the Formative.

ASTC Session Announcement

2007-03-30T21:05:14Z

I just wanted to put an official post on the blog about my ASTC panel.

Making the Most of Mobiles - Using Mobile Phones to Enhance the Visitor Experience

Science centers are starting to embrace mobile phones as part of their interactive experience offerings. First, you will experience several project demonstrations. Then, panelists will discuss how they brought their vision to reality and what they learned along the way.

I will be leading this panel at this year's ASTC conference which is taking place October 13-16, 2007 in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Graphics/Exhibit Design Update

2007-03-22T15:30:50Z

With the research piece underway, the team has shifted gears to pinning down our graphics and exhibit design needs. This project is so tricky to think about because 1) visitors are not used to having opportunities to use their cell phones at the science center - so there is no precedent and 2) it's a cross museum initiative so it involves a lot of different people. Since there is a very fully evolved building signage plan, we have been using that as a base to think about SNSE signage. We'll be introducing visitors to SNSE in the lobby near the box office and gift shop. We'll then remind visitors about SNSE throughout our general circulation areas. Lastly, we'll have special reader rails and smaller exhibit signs to provide instructions at each SNSE Spot. Now, before we begin flushing out what those panels look like, we are working on the design of our brand logo. In terms of exhibit designs, we are also building off of items that hold wayfinding signs. We are trying to give SNSE its own identity - aside from wayfinding - but yet not too unique. It still needs to mesh with the other designs that are already set. It's a fine line.

Research Kickoff

2007-02-13T20:44:19Z

On January 30, I hosted a kickoff meeting for the research piece of the SNSE project. The Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) and Center for Mobile Communication Studies (CMCS) were both in attendance. ILI are the museum learning experts with specific experience in how technology initiatives have faired in museums along with a history of research conducted at Liberty Science Center about SNSE and the Communication exhibition. CMCS are the mobile communication specialists. Given that each brings a unique expertise to the table, they are each conducting separate studies; however, I will be working with them to make sure that the research studies are reinforcing each other. ILI will be studying visitors onsite usage of SNSE and the learning that happens after the visit. Right now we are in the planning stages for their Formative evaluation. CMCS will be working with focus groups of teenagers mostly from underserved areas. SNSE really wants to engage the teenage audience. So, by talking with the teenagers, CMCS will derive themes, directions, and possibilities for consideration into the SNSE project going forward. By combining the information gathered by both these partners, I am really looking forward to learning an answer to the following question: How can the mobile phone help people continue the learning experience beyond the museum experience? I am sure there will be some exciting research to share in the upcoming years!

ponderings about free subscription model

2007-01-11T20:18:58Z

We have a lot of vendors all working on different pieces of SNSE. So we decided to have one of the vendors do all of the backend programming and create a free subscription service. Which means that at every single SNSE stop... no matter how simple or complex it is... you would first be prompted to subscribe (assuming you haven't subscribed already). In talking with a few people, I am starting to have my doubts about this system. First, subscribe is a scary word. In today's world, people may avoid doing something if they have to subscribe. I know that I am more likely to order stuff from amazon than anywhere else on the web because I have an account there and I trust them. A small e-commerce site that I have never heard of usually doesn't get my business because I don't want to have to give my personal information to yet another website. Second, even if we make it only 1 step to set up a SNSE account, it's still 1 step more before you get the content you are requesting. That additional step may not be the best user interface design. Especially with texting, people expect immediacy. Third, what's my motive to subscribe? If I haven't yet gotten a taste of how cool SNSE is... how could I possibly be motivate to subscribe? I am starting to think that we only need users to subscribe if they want to use our premium services... but I need to understand more about why the vendor thinks the full subscription service is the way to go.

ASTC proposal: Making the Most of Mobiles

2006-12-19T17:56:34Z

In order to get the word out about what the science center community is doing with mobile phones, I decided to put together a panel for next year's ASTC (Association of Science-Technology Centers) conference which will take place in October 2007. The panel is called Making the Most of Mobiles: Using Mobile Phones to Enhance the Visitor Experience. First, attendees will experience several project demonstrations, including SNSE. Then, panelists will discuss how they brought their vision to reality and what they learned along the way. Institutions represented on the panel include: Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and NY Hall of Science. Museum of Science and Industry partnered with Motorola in order to make videos available to visitors on mobile phones for the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition. California Academy of Sciences worked with Guide By Cell in order to implement an audio tour so visitors could use their own phone to listen to fascinating stories behind their most popular exhibits. The New York Hall of Science is installing a system created by Touch Graphics that will allow users to navigate the Hall, listen to audio descriptions and interact with exhibitions using a cell phone-based interface. I should find out in March 07 whether the panel proposal has been accepted.