Museums must be - and stay open
I am writing this article as a museum visitor, former curator at the museum, archaeologist and employee of tuomi. So the situation of museums touches me in many ways. But no matter how my perspectives on the question "Should museums reopen" may differ in detail, perhaps depending on their role, my answer always remains: there is no doubt that museums must reopen. Museums are first and foremost places of direct, physical experience. One goes "into the museum". That is the actual experience. The presence, the direct contact with exhibits and other people, be they other visitors or the museum staff. That's why the question of whether museums should reopen is not an issue. Museums live from and for receiving visitors within their walls. Museums are important places for any society, even if not everyone sees it that way. As a place of encounter, learning, exchange, remembrance, self-assurance, research and the communication of research results, a pleasant pastime, I could think of much more. (Statements by museums and visitors on the question of whether museums should open can be found in the blog parade of Jörn Brunotte #closedoropen.)
Which does not mean that "virtual visitors" are less important. In the short rather than medium term, adequate offers for "virtual visitors" will be standard - at least for those museums that want to remain relevant. This also means, of course, that these visitors must be included in the "success statistics" of the museums, especially when it comes to financial and personnel resources. Anyone who does not recognise these visitors as equal in today's world has not understood how the world now functions. Period.
As a scientist and a friend of museums, I cannot imagine a society with closed museums. Gratefully, I have used numerous digital offers at national and international level, but I am delighted by the idea of going back to the museum.
Enriching the experience
At tuomi, my focus is on helping museums to further enrich the physical, analog museum experience on site with digital media, e.g. media guides, media stations and barrier-free installations, and to make them more accessible to everyone.
But Corona also forces us as developers of software and hardware for museums, national parks and other cultural institutions to rethink some concepts. Currently, multimedia and audio guide rental devices and, in some cases, media stations are not in use in museums. Hygiene concepts and also corresponding recommendations of museum associations prevent the lending of devices or the shared use of touch screens and hands-on stations. This is of course a huge restriction for the visitors of the exhibitions, but also for the museums themselves, who are thus unable to present some of their content as usual.
Own device solution without an app
It is very helpful that we can offer app-free solutions with our NFC guides without any further effort. Visitors therefore need do nothing more than activate the NFC function on their device (the Corona era has made contactless payment with smartphones much more popular, so that NFC is becoming more and more "mainstream") and can then access the content at the info points in the exhibition.
We have gained a great deal of expertise in the field of software development around NFC technology over many years, and right now we see many possibilities for using app-free solutions with NFC chips in museums. We are very skilled at this and are continuously developing "Dorengo" to this end.
Own device solution with an app
Apps for download are also certainly being used more at the moment. More complex installations, which also integrate other technologies or are to be used in areas with low network coverage, also make this virtually unavoidable. However, the concepts have to be right in order to convince users that the app really does offer added value. It must also be ensured that users are made aware of the possibility of an app download at the right time and in the right place.
So what does that mean for us
Even if rental equipment will continue to be an important part of our concepts because of its undeniable advantages, we will also have to focus even more on parallel solutions for visitors' end devices. With our media guide system "Dorengo" we have been successfully implementing such solutions for some time now. Some of our customers who have implemented this dual strategy can now simply hold back the rental devices and rely on the own-device strategy.
Media stations more or less contact-free
It would be a great pity to do without media stations altogether. But if you offer a solution that works virtually touch-free, you can avoid the hygiene concerns. With "Dorengo", we also offer solutions for this purpose to make the use of media stations possible without having to touch a touchscreen on the media station.
It is to be hoped that the number of new infections, which will hopefully continue to fall, will lead to a relaxation, among other things in the use of rental equipment and media stations. However, since the hygiene measures are generally sensible, one should perhaps consider whether tablet guides should not be seen more as mobile media stations. Hygiene measures are much easier to implement if only one visitor at a time touches the touch screen of his individual tablet. After returning the device, it can be disinfected and can then be used again in a hygienically perfect way. This is much easier and more consistent than is possible with a large number of screens used by everyone in the exhibition.
Smart information panels for your visitors, if the museum has to remain closed
With "Dorengo" you can also create app-free digital offers for your visitors in the outdoor area of your museum. As information boards at the museum, but also mobile, e.g. as a postcard that you send to your regular customers. In this way you can open another digital communication channel with your visitors. The charming side effect here is that a real touchpoint remains.
If our solutions can help to open museums further in every respect and to keep them at least digitally "open" even in times of crisis, we are very happy about this and for me as an archaeologist this work gives me the good feeling of doing something useful.
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