Listening to the Future: Museum Podcast Research

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Listening to the FutureMuseum Podcast Research

• Glenda Sims
• Blanton Museum of Art
• University of Texas at Austin

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Audio Assets at the Blanton

• AudioTour - Uncommon Commentary
• Acoustiguide
• ExSite Wand
• Music for the Blanton Live
• Composed by Donald Grantham
• Inspired by specific works of art
• Student Podcasts
• Rachel Varons Thesis Podcasting in the Museum
  Giving Emerging Adults a Voice

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Uncommon CommentaryAudioguide
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Music For the Blanton

• Prelude Beckoning
• Music
• Joaquín Torres García
• Constructif en rouge et ocre

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Student Podcasts
Claude Vignon, David With the Head of Goliath
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To Podcast or Not to Podcast?
UT MP3 Player Penetration
Blanton iTour PDA Research Experience
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Blanton Mission Brand

• Extraordinary Experiences
• Connecting visitors with art and ideas

Art
Ideas
Experiences
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Podcast Research Focus

• Will visitors successfully use audio on their
  own MP3 players?
• Advantages/disadvantages of MP3 players
  wands
• Will free podcasts marginalize museum
  audio players?
• Museums best interest to podcast
  audioguide content?

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Podcast Audio Research

• Test subjects
• Museum visitors
• Original Target
• Own mp3 players
• Download prior to arriving at museum
• Device Comparison
• Each test subject experiences both devices
• MP3 Player Acoustiguide ExSite Wand
• 2 Blanton iPods (backup)
• Audio Content
• Uncommon Commentary (31 episodes/stops)
• Music for the Blanton (18 episodes/stops)
• Student Podcasts (2 episodes/stops)

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Podcast Download Barrier

• Requires visitor pre-planning
• Find and successfully download podcasts to MP3
  player

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Format Issues

• M4A Enhanced
• (-) iPod only
• (-) 31 stops 31 chapters LARGE download
• (-) No ability to customize
• all or none
• (-) No easy random access
• () Easy to download

• MP3
• () Device agnostic
• () 31 stops 31 episodes small downloads
• () customize, pick stops you want
• () easier random access
• (-) Default download behavior 1st episode only
• (-) Download not intuitive

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Device Comparison

• Wand
• Advantages
• Intuitive, easy to use, user friendly, simple
• Familiar known interface, like a TV remote
• Disadvantages
• Bigger
• No headphones
• Cant fast forward
• No image
• Based on Blantons audio player selection.
  Other Acoustiguide devices offer these options.

• MP3 Player
• Advantages
• Multimedia/image
• Smaller
• Personal
• Fast forward
• Disadvantages
• Attempted download but incomplete (failure)
• Didnt download prior to visit
• Complex confusing compared to wand
• Headphones/isolation
• Menu too many choices
• Fragile

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Device Preference

• Now that you have experienced the Blantons audio
  content on both the ExSite wand and an MP3
  Player, which would you choose to use next time?

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Podcast Advantages

• Visitor Involvement (download)
• Customizable Personal
• Preview/Review content
• Provides more choice
• Inspiration to visit

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Implications Recommendations

• Uncommon Commentary Audio Tour
• Personal Offer Visitor Choices
• download podcast to personal mp3 player
• use free audioguide in gallery
• Device Keep It Simple
• Museum provides free random access audio wand
• intuitive, simple
• no headphones (?)
• Podcast Just Do It!
• Museum multi-purposes quality audio content
• already in mp3 format
• transcripts provided by Acoustiguide

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Implications Recommendations

• Music for the Blanton
• Offer as an album, not a podcast
• Add an audio introduction
• Add a map

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Podcast Research Summary

• Personal MP3 players successful? YES NO
• 61 preferred them
• download barriers need on demand access
• Free podcasts marginalize audio tour? NO
• Not today. Devices continue to evolve. Visitors
  continue to want quality content.
• Provide audioguide as podcast? YES
• For the Blanton? Absolutely!
• Broader reach, more choices, personal, allows
  for planning, preview and review.

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Student Podcast Project

• Rachel Varons Thesis
• Podcasting in the Museum Giving Emerging Adults
  a Voice
• Select a work of art
• Brainstorm ideas
• Audience UT Students
• Justify your claims
• 1 - 4 minutes
• Research recommended
• Podcast review parties
• 8 podcasts created.
• Only 2 3 published on official Blanton Web Site.

X
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Student Podcasts The Challenge

• Discerning Formalize a Review Process
• Constructive comments
• Diverse opinions
• Critical Thinking
• Evaluation with evidence
• Quality Set expectations for official
  publishing
• Free Thinking Outlet for Unedited Podcasts
• subversive/dissenting
• need an outlet for the renegade
• student blogs

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Student Podcast Researchselected excerpts

• Podcasting in the Museum Giving Emerging Adults
  a Voice
• - Rachel Varon
• Benefits of Student Produced Podcasts
• Connect with art in a format that is familiar to
  them
• digital technology
• Actively engage in a discussion about a work of
  art
• not just a consumer
• Become a guide or authority on a work of art
• via podcasting
• Understand that there is more than one viewpoint
• listen to peers opinions about a work of art
• Question and engage more deeply with sources
• Variety of voices and sources of information

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Podcasting in the Museum Giving Emerging Adults
a Voice - Rachel Varon

• Producing Podcasts Constructivist Teaching

Multisensory
Imaginative
Podcasting
Conversational
Experiential
Personal
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Art, Ideas PeopleA Meaningful Dialogue

• Are You Listening?