YourTour Summary
The YourTour project conducted in 2013 was based around the development of a novel test
system to explore new ways in which personalised audio, visual and text content and
information can be delivered to museum visitors. The project aimed at tackling the following
research question - how might you enhance the experience of gallery visitors by providing
personalised, audio-visual content that adapts according to their location in the gallery and
their reaction to the information and the work? The YourTour project, however, was not
developed as merely a hypothetical study; rather The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, has a
possibly unique and very intriguing challenge when it comes to curation and visitor
information.
The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
The YourTour team comprised three partners in a jointly led project. The first was the
Sainsbury centre for Visual Arts (SCVA) in Norwich (represented by Nell Croose Myhill) who
were interested in the Design with Heritage project as a means of forming collaborations
which would allow them to develop research ideas with other professions and resources not
easily available to a provincial gallery operating on a limited budget. FACT was another
component of the team (represented by Roger McKinley) and had specific interests in the
integration of technology in to the heritage institutions sector as part of the Europe wide
cross-disciplinary research consortium, ARtsense. The final member of the team was Dr
David Scott from the University of Westminster, a research psychologist and an architect
with a long running interest in the possibilities of feedback from human experience in
spatial design, through the integration of technology. Each of the partners shared an
interest in the project as a means for support and the opportunity to develop ideas and
work with people from other backgrounds. The Design with Heritage project facilitated this
opportunity.
The basis of the project was a response to a real life
problem faced by the curators at the Sainsbury
Centre for Visual Arts.
The building and the
exhibition were famously designed by Sir Norman
Foster. A specification of the exhibition is that only
minimal written information can be displayed to
accompany the artifacts on display. This reflects the
ethos of the design and curation of the display. At
the core of this is that the visitor experience is nonlinear and non-prescribed. Visitors are free to make
their own connection and discoveries in the gallery
by moving between the objects at their own free will
and with little to influence their thoughts and opinions of them.
The Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection has very little labelling, the only information
available is the name of the artists, the place of origin, date-or period, acquisition date and
object number. There is no interpretative material in the gallery and even the introduction
to the Collection is very small and placed outside the gallery itself. This is a model which
many galleries are moving towards, most recently Tate Britain who have rehung their
permanent collection with only the basic information on the label. Whilst allowing for
freedom of audience interpretation and emphasis on letting the objects speak for
themselves, the pieces in the collection had a wealth of information behind them, and the
gallery wished to keep to the minimalist design aesthetic, whilst somehow incorporating this
history and interpretive information.
The Sainsbury Centre of Visual Arts was therefore interested to explore ways to share this
information without compromising the collections ethos. The YourTour project developed a
prototype for a gallery information system, employing a new approach to designing apps or
web services suitable for ‘bring your own device’ scenarios. Conventional museum guides
lead visitors through a collection on a curated path or offer access to databased content,
which can be selected by a visitor. In place of these types of system or others that rely on
explicit inputting of information or personal profiles, the YourTour system was designed to
use real-time non-invasive monitoring of visitor behaviour to autonomously provide a live
stream of location specific content to a tablet device. In place of conventional systems that
rely on explicit (and laborious) inputs of personal profiles, the system uses real-time
monitoring of visitor behaviour combined with tracking of their location to infer their
preferences and potential interests. A content management and delivery system then uses
this information to provide individual and adaptive gallery tours. The device keeps track of
what objects visitors have been drawn to and provides tailored content to the visitor based
on their personal journey around the collection, making connections between objects they
have been drawn to during their visit. The working methods of the team were through
period design team meetings and coordination centered at UCL.
This project was embarked upon with the vision that it could have multiple implications for
curators and for how visitors are presented with gallery information, with the potential to
make a significant difference to their enjoyment of galleries and exhibitions. Moving
forward, the project hopes to have illustrated the merit in further investigation into systems
of this type. It is hoped that with further academic support of a future project will lead to a
permanent implementation of a system derived from this study in the SCVA.
The project developed two test devices along with prototypes of the associated psychophysiological measures and IT systems. A short pilot study was conducted, followed by a
more extensive experimental test of the performance of the prototype system in situ. The
project team had the permanent collection at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts
available as a suitable and willing test site. The study has had multiple implications for
curators and for how visitors use gallery information, with the potential to make a significant
difference to their enjoyment of galleries and exhibitions.
The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
“We want to create a device that will enable us to deliver interpretative material in the
galleries to those who want it, as unobtrusively as possible. Taking the approaches used by
our guides, and producing and maintaining the ethos of the display- letting the objects
speak for themselves, allowing the visitor to make their own connections and associations
across the gallery and therefore time and space – to create their own tour.
We still want to encourage personal discovery in the gallery, and just as the Sainsbury’s
chose objects because of a ‘gut reaction’ or emotional (rather than academic) appreciation
of the objects, we hope YourTour will maintain that way of looking, navigating and
experiencing the collection. YourTour therefore will allow people to find out more
information about the objects they are interested in, I think it is important that there is no
predetermined route- it is still the visitor navigating the space on their own terms, with the
support of technology to deliver more information when they want it, about things they are
interested in.” – Nell Croose Myhill