Hi Emil, I am also curious how you arrived at the numbers as that will probably have an impact on the numbers you see.
I agree with Paul, I know a number of museums do not "advertise" or mention their audio guides on their website, so unless you are going to them in person or calling and asking you would not know that they have them. When I've asked in the past why museums don't mention them often the answer is "we don't mention the self-guided brochures on the website either." As to why a museum might not have audio guides there are a number of reasons. For most I think it comes down to balancing a scale. What is their mission? What institutional goals have been determined? What tactics and strategies have they identified as being the best to achieve their goals and their mission? These points have to be balanced with knowing what their audience will want and the return on investment factor. Perhaps they have done audience research and found their core audience truly doesn't have an interest in learning that way. If that's the case when balanced on the scale with costs the return on investment doesn't make sense. There was a mention of language options. Again perhaps the majority of their audience speaks one language and when you factor in the costs audio tours the return on investment doesn't make sense, so they opt for a tour brochure in that language instead. The costs of production and hardware are (sadly, in my opinion because I love media guides) out of reach for many medium to small museums. Then there are also the upkeep costs after launch. Cleaning supplies, staff to maintain check-out/in procedures or give technical support to guests that have issues with a device, replacing worn out and damaged equipment. Then you have to think about the expense of updating content. That is not to say that these factors cannot be overcome. My previous museum had a staff of 13 (full and part time) and were funded by the city. The only reason they were able to obtain audio guides was they won a grant to cover the initial expenses. The move to mobile apps can help a museum overcome the hurdle of hardware expenses and upkeep, but those expenses are often replaced with development costs. And the museum is left with convincing the public to use their own devices, something that as a field I think we are still struggling to communicate. As far as the portion of content included on guides. Again, I agree with Paul, they are meant to be highlights. When planning guides you don't want to overwhelm the audience and you have to consider audience fatigue. There is also the logistical side of things in the galleries. Museums try to accommodate all types of learners so typically there is a group using audio tours, a group using paper guides, a group following a docent on a tour, and then people who are reading wall labels. These people may switch between groups at any point in their visit. There is a dance that has to be thought about in trying to keep all those groups from converging on the same object at the same time because that is not a good experience for anyone. We very rarely set an object up to have all four experiences. Best, Heather Marie Heather Marie Wells Digital Media Specialist 600 Museum Way Bentonville, AR 72712 479-418-5700 (main) CrystalBridges.org ________________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of musedia <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 19, 2015 4:21 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] AudioGuides Hello Emil, Very interesting question. I'm interested to hear about how you arrived at those numbers? What method did you use? The figures sound a bit low, from a European point of view. There are many audioguide services available at heritage sites as well as outdoors. And not all museums inform about audioguide services through their websites, unfortunately.. Am also wondering what level of expectancy you were measuring against? The concept of audioguides is based on selecting points of interest to visitors, to offer highlights of an exhibition or to offer specific themes as part of the interpretation. Very few museums, I would have thought, aspire to put the *total* content of objects in an exhibition into a handheld electronic guide! (Although in the past, audioguides have been described as "audio labels"!) That is not to say that in some cases, services could be improved, regarding the amount of languages available, accessibilty content etc. Some of the best productions out there are based on what questions the target visitor groups are asking about the subject/theme/objects in the exhibition, as well as observing visitor flows through an exhibition or site and so on. Good luck with your research! Best wishes, Paul Henningsson ------------------------------------------------ musedia box 12139 se-402 42 gothenburg sweden tel . +46 (0)735-52 23 36 e-mail . [email protected] skype . musedia www.musedia.net http://blogg.museiteknik.com ------------------------------------------------ At 12:19 2015-10-18, you wrote: >Dear MCNers, > >In a last few weeks, I am researching audioguides market, in EU and US. I >found out, less than 10% of the museums ( especially >medium-small ) introduces audioguides service, and even there, it covers >5%-10% of the exhibits. Same situation with a coverage of available >languages. > >I am wondering, what are the *real reasons* for such a low penetration. Any >opinion will be highly appreciated. > >Thanks! > >Emil >CTGuide Org. > >_______________________________________________ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: [email protected] > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > >The MCN-L archives can be found at: >http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- Detta e-postmeddelande har sökts igenom efter virus med antivirusprogram från Avast. http://www.avast.com _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: [email protected] To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: [email protected] To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
