This presentation to the Chinese Association of Museums discusses the opportunities for museums to be part of a connected educational and social experience.

1. Robert Pratten
CEO & Founder
http://conducttr.com
robert@tstoryteller.com
twitter: @robpratten
Connected Museums:
Technology and Trends that are Transforming Visitor Experiences

2. Making life an
adventure

3. We see the world as a storytelling canvas

4. Conducttr is an invisible “experience manager”

5. Audience at the center

6. Conducttr listens
for events and
responds based
on the story and
game mechanics
created by the
experience
designer…
... publishing
videos; turning on
a light; vibrating a
bracelet, awarding
badges, sending
tweets…

7. +42% increase in positive brand sentiment

11. Example: Game of Thrones (Canal+)
AUDIENCE
DATABASE
CONTENT
DATABASE
GAME
LOGIC
SOCIAL
MEDIA, EMAIL
TELEPHONE
NETWORKS
DATA
LOG
PLAYER
INCLUDES:
• POINTS
• BADGES
• INVENTORY
AS WELL AS
• MESSAGES
• POSTS
• STATUS
UPDATES

18. Treasure trapper
(Image copyright: Maverick Photo Agency)
http://edinburgh.stv.tv/articles/283871-edinburgh-university-launches-treasure-
trapper-app-for-children/
http://www.designinformatics.org/node/315

19. Planning for success

20. Role of Museums?
Enrich our lives & society through
engagement with culture and science

21. Historic Royal Palaces
Discovery
Showmanship Stories
Links past to today and
people’s own lives
Unravel & debate
Spectacle, pageantry,
majesty, beauty

22. Tower of London

25. Competition

26. Socio-economic trends
• Fewer jobs but more people
• Jobs of the future need employees who are
– Creative
– Collaborative
– Problem-solvers, not drones
• Flipped classrooms & connected learning
• Intelligent training systems
• Personalization of services
• Multi-cultural societies (immigration & integration)

27. Opportunities

31. Benefits of expanding beyond the museum walls
• Increased visits
• Increased word-of-mouth (leading to more visits)
• Increased sentiment
• Increased store sales
• Increased sponsorship (from better metrics & integration)

32. Data-driven storytelling
CO affects
• character’s mood
• tone of tweets & blog posts
• game difficulty?
Character responses
change based on air
quality in Mumbai, India
If air quality is good, she’s
happy otherwise she’s
grumpy or sad
A narrative unfolds based on the daily air quality. Hence data comes to life.
Your audience

33. How do we make culture engaging?
• Engagement comes with relevance & resonance
• Therefore goal is to personalize to make relevant
• Personalization is possible with knowledge of each person
– Preferences
– Their history (age, experiences)
– Their future (where does this experience fit in their stage of life?)

34. 1. Be Relevant
2. Resonate
3. Personalize

35. Multi-layered approach
Story & Experience
Our lives now
Real history, real artefacts
Teaser content

36. Stories add meaning and emotion
http://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-
word/2015/oct/05/longitude-exhibition-tour-history-science
John Harrison’s sea clocks at Royal
Observatory, Greenwich

37. Games add understanding and learning
A team-based experience
lead by a facilitator.
Suitable for students 12+
A company’s business ethics and social
responsibility are called into question when one of
their space cargo rockets crashes into a neighboring
town
Product code: CVE2015
Now available in the
Conducttr Marketplace
Cosmic Voyage Enterprises
A 60 minute decision-based adventure to stimulate classroom discussion

38. Borrow references from popular culture

39. Concept art for Dishonoured
http://megsdfgablog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/bradford-animation-festival-2013-viktor.html

40. Concept art for Assassin’s Creed
http://www.wallpaperup.com/tags/show/assassin+039+s

41. Create dynamic quest-based adventures
Profile Diary Locker
Quests
Contacts Check-ins
Profile Diary Locker
Quests
Home
Fight for freedom in
the colonies
Discover new species of
underwater sea life
Fulfil an odyssey
Steal a canon from
the army
20%
Profile Diary LockerHome
Fulfil an odyssey
Your journey begins in the West
Wing. Only the bold and the foolish
will attempt this quest!
Tell me.. which are you?
Ok, good. Tell me when you can see
the golden bird with the broken
tallon
I’m more courageous than I look!
Let’s get on with it!
Hold on, it’ll take me a while to get there

42. Profile Diary Locker
Quests
Contacts Check-ins
Web
Onsite Sensors
Onsite Screens
Mobile

43. Connected experiences
Profile Diary Locker
Quests
Contacts Check-ins
Go on an adventure!
1. Become a renowned translator
2. Go on an odyssey
http://bm.cm.cr
onsite

44. Connected experiences Leaderboard
Jonesy 6 quests 10 Artefacts
Marks Family 5 quests 8 Artefacts
Profile Diary Locker
Quests
Home
Fight for freedom in
the colonies
Discover new species of
underwater sea life
Run with the bulls!
Steal a canon from
the army
20%

45. Visitor traffic management using branching
narrative based on
• Time of day (i.e. times of peak loading)
• Room occupancy (i.e. real-time data)
Profile Diary Locker
Quests
Home
Fight for freedom in
the colonies
Discover new species
of underwater sea life
Run with the bulls!
Steal a canon from
the army
20%
Profile Diary Locker
Quests
Home
Run with the bulls!
Steal a canon from
the army
20%
Light loading Heavy loading
Removewhenroomsover-occupied

46. Quest Example: Become a Renowned Translator
• It’s 1799. It’s hot and you’re exhausted.
• You’re with a French soldier digging the foundations of a fort extension at el-Rashid. He discovers
something unusual
– A: Investigate
– B: Where am I?!
• Where’s el-Rashid?
– You’re in the Nile Delta, at Fort St Julien located 65 km (40 mi) east of Alexandria. It’s better known as
Rosetta
– Captain: Hey? What’s that old stone you’ve got there?
– Soldier: I don’t know.. It’s got strange markings on it
– A: Investigate the markings
– B: Hide the stone in your coat (this could be valuable!)
• Investigate the Markings
– IF (ROOM 4 NOT BUSY) THEN “Go to the Egyptian Sculpture, Room 4 and look for artefact number xyz”
– ELSE “These markings are hieroglyphics and Greek from about 196 BC. Go to Room 13 and find the Greek
artefact abc”
Example traffic management

47. But what about Virtual Reality?!

48. Reasons to use VR
• Virtually go to places that are inaccessible
– Too far, too expensive, too dangerous, too small, too fragile
– E.g. The moon, Paris, inside a volcano, inside the body, Altamira caves
• Virtually examine objects that can’t be held
– Fragile, rare, remote, destroyed, reconstructed

49. Dinosaur footprints, Colorado

50. 3D Printing to make the virtual real

51. Virtual to physical = conceptual to tangible

53. Citizen Science: MicroPasts
Many people trace the outline of an
artefact in a photograph.
The outlines become a 3D model

54. Real to Virtual Reality
Social Media, Email, Phone
Sensor network

55. “Meet Lucy”

56. Motivation Wave
Time
High
Low
Motivation
www.behaviormodel.org
© BJ Fogg

57. Right demand at the right time
Time
High
Low
Motivation
www.behaviormodel.org
© BJ Fogg
Hit with spectacle when
motivation or attention is low
Follow-up with deeper
knowledge while motivation is
high

58. Personalized guide Virtual Reality
Adaptive
interpretation
Your personal history (activity feed)
Related content, characters
Alternative perspectives
Places to visit
Things to do
Maps
Activity Data
- What and who this person
did, saw, met, created
Home
Museum
Reality
Personal Learning Companion
Mobile device

59. Creating a transformative experience
Experience
Pedagogical
Feedback & Assessment
Scaffolding
Training objectives Facts & procedures
Characters
Choices
Consequences
Narrative
The story of thing

60. Creating a transformative experience
Experience
Pedagogical
Memory
Engagement
Distributed practice (time)
Localized (place)
Multimedia
Resonant
Motivation
Personalization
Flow

61. Personalized experience & exploration
of virtual world
Activity trace of virtual
experiences
- Places visited, people met,
objects found, events
witnessed, stories heard
Reflection
Conversation
Connection (to community,
knowledge)
The “Real Thing”
- See it, maybe touch it
Virtual Reality
Museum
Simulated environment that
adapts based on what is known
about the visitor
Personal Learning Companion
Mobile device
HomeSchool
Heritage Site
Augmented
Reality
Augmented &
Virtual Reality
Teacher-guided
interpretation
Serious Game
Activity Data
- What and who this person did,
saw, met, created
Preferences & Settings
- Personal backstory
- Male/Female/LBGT/etc.
- Age
Intelligent Engagement
System
- Creates adaptive
interpretation &
engagementThe “Real Place”
- See it, touch it
Connected
learning

62. Be remarkable
Robert Pratten
@robpratten
http://conducttr.com
robert@tstoryteller.com