Mobile Tours & Transmedia

This trend toward making tours is a piece of the larger issue for me of creating mobile experiences that acknowledge and build on how people already use mobiles. If you were to start not from “We need an app so visitors think we’re relevant. Let’s make a tour.” But instead ask, “What do visitors do with mobiles and how can we build on that to deliver on our mission?” I think there’d be fewer tours. Why? Because people do all kinds of non-toury things with their mobiles.

• They use them to access information (onboard and streamed)
• They use them to communicate with other people (voice, text, email)
• They use them to navigate the real world (GPS, AR)
• They use them to take and share pictures
• They use them to listen to audio
• They use them to play games

Starting from there, what kind of museum experiences would you build using mobiles?

Mobile Tours | Thinking about exhibits