Page 43 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

museum reopened in 2014 with a firm commit- ment to revamping the handling of its contents too. It introduced various digital experiences including an interactive touchscreen interface, a room where visitors can produce their own designs and a laboratory where they can find solutions to the world’s current problems.
The following year, in 2015, the museum imple- mented an in-house project to rethink digital consumption at the museum. The result was The Pen, a tool that changed the way museum users interact with the available digital content. The basic idea of the project was to offer visitors a tool that was minimally intrusive but had huge potential, allowing them to subsequently search for information and establish a closer relation- ship with the museum. Before walking around the museum, visitors receive an optical reader in the form of a pen synchronised with their ticket which enables them to read and scan various codes and the works on view.
Fig. 6. The Pen, tool designed and produced by the Cooper Hewitt Museum https://www.cooperhewitt.org/ new-experience/designing-pen/
Use of The Pen is based on a simple micro- interaction: users can point it at a particular
area close to the museum works in order to digitally “collect” the ones that interest them. After visiting the museum, they can access the museum’s website and, using the code on their ticket, access an interface customised according to their picks. It allows them to learn more about the chosen objects, discover similar ones and,
in general, enjoy the visit in a more unhurried, personalised way.
The case of The Pen is an example of the use
of a specific device to generate a simple but effective interaction design that is minimally invasive with the exhibition environment but
has significant potential. Following its first year of use, the statistics recorded by the museum indicate a take-up rate of 94%, generating an un- precedented increase in traffic and consultation of items on the museum’s website (Chan, 2015). In addition, the device has enabled the museum to gather a large amount of information on visitors’ tastes, preferences and behaviour with a view to improving the running of the centre and planning better informed projects in the future (Sanchis, 2017).
Another possible use of digital technologies to create a significant visit is illustrated by the Brothers Grimm Museum in Kassel, which employs the latest innovations in this field in its exhibition argument. In addition to original documents and an original wardrobe belonging to the Grimms’ legacy, the museum’s managers decided to display works by artists who took part in Documenta in Kassel as well as using digital devices to recreate settings or scenes from the past.
Fig. 7. Projection featuring the 318,000 entries
in the Grimm Brothers’ dictionary. This work is part of Ecke Bonk’s installation Buch der Wörter/ Book of Words: Random Reading presented
at Documenta in Kassel in 2002 http://www. grimmwelt.de/news/erlebnisraum-grimmwelt/
On stepping inside the museum visitors gain an awareness of the importance of the Grimms’ work by means of a projection featuring the
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Digital Trends in Culture