Hi Helen,
Full disclosure: We're a consultancy and agency specialising in R&D for digital in cultural organisations, specialising in mobile. We provide independent advice but we do partner with other agencies to create mobile experiences. We also help clients write strategies and briefs for digital interpretation.
My advice is to focus the brief on:
- the experience you want visitors to have (is this about learning, connecting with the subject matter)
- the objectives you want to achieve and how they will be measured (we want to reach ?k of users)
- the target audience (include data if you can) - why are they motivated to visit, what do they want to know, who do they arrive with
- explain the context of use (majority of users will use at home however x will be using onsite, connectivity where they will be used)
From this the suppliers should be able to articulate if their technology does the job and how it does it. There are so many ways to skin the cat that it tends to be about choosing the right compromise and focusing the budget on the area that delivers the best returns. Ask suppliers to explain their choice of technology and outline the risks associated with it.
If you are in an enclosed space, I would seriously consider providing devices. At the moment the data in the UK is that very few people are downloading and using trail based apps (via web or native) due to a wide variety of barriers (awareness, battery usage, connectivity, perception of value) although the cost to the organisation is likely to be higher, you stand a much better chance of reaching visitors and therefore the cost per user is likely to be lower.
My final tip is focus on designing a service rather than a product - mobile experiences are rarely well used because they are usually invisible to the user (they aren't looking for them and they don't know how to access them) without designing the whole service so make sure you have enough budget for designing the touch points (training staff to talk about the experience, SEO)
There's some useful materials attached to this blog post to help develop a digital brief: http://digitalcapacity.artscouncil.org.uk/blog/2013/3/19/top-tips-on-commissioning-digital-projects.html
We also wrote a paper for Museums and the Web about our insights from trails at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY - it's very "audioguide" but the models of the service design may be useful - http://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/a-new-look-at-an-old-friend-re-evaluating-the-mets-audio-guide-service/
My view is that every mobile project being developed by a cultural organisation is an R&D process at the moment - we're all experimenting and no-one has found a silver bullet yet but that makes them exciting, rewarding and involves a learning curve for everyone involved.
Good luck,
Lindsey
Lindsey Green
Frankly, Green + Webb
07801 355 498
@lindsey_green
http://www.franklygreenwebb.com
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