Imagine a university museum visit where you can interact with artifacts on your own. As you approach an ancient artifact, your phone reveals its story, blending history with digital interactivity. All through a beautifully designed mobile app with a seamless user interface.
Previously, Yale University's museum curators struggled to engage visitors, track feedback, and announce events. This changed in January 2019 with the launch of their native mobile app for the Yale Center for British Art and Yale University Art Gallery.
This technological leap revolutionized visitor experiences, simplifying tasks like engagement tracking and feedback collection. Courtney Long, the acting assistant curator, highlighted its significance by quoting, "It was important to use this new tool to integrate our collection with the community."
Picture Sarah, a history major at Yale, who discovers a newfound passion for Renaissance art through an interactive app at the university's art gallery. Or consider Professor Thompson, who uses the app to design a virtual scavenger hunt for his art history class, turning a traditional lecture into an engaging adventure through one single app interface.
Mobile apps in museums, especially in university settings, are transforming the way history is preserved and presented. They bridge the gap between ancient artifacts and the digital age, making each visit a personalized journey through time.
In this article, we will explore the transformative impact of mobile apps for university museums and highlight our top 10 reasons why university museums should adopt them.
The Need for Digital Transformation Across University Museums
The need for digital interfaces in university museums has never been more pressing.
The American museum sector, a significant contributor to the economy and employment, has been hit hard since the pandemic. Museums support over 726,000 jobs and contribute $50 billion annually to the U.S. economy. However, the pandemic's impact has been devastating.
At the pandemic's peak, all museums were closed, with 33% of directors fearing permanent closure, potentially resulting in the loss of 12,000 museums and 124,000 jobs.
Despite some relief through initiatives like the PPP and SVOG, a 2022 survey indicates that museum attendance remains 38% below pre-pandemic levels, and 17% of directors still fear permanent closure without further support. Financially, 60% of museums have reported losses averaging over $791,000 since March 2020, with most having budgets under $1 million.
This fall in numbers highlights the urgent need for digital intervention, such as mobile apps for museums or virtual reality/augmented reality museum tours.
In the next section, we will explore specific ways in which mobile apps can rejuvenate university museums, making them more accessible, engaging, and resilient in the face of ongoing challenges.
1. Bringing the Museum Experience to the Student’s Dorm
In an era where digital connectivity is paramount, mobile apps for museums are reshaping how university students interact with cultural and historical content. This transition is particularly relevant given the lifestyle of college students.
Insights from Reddit's college subreddit reveal that students tend to spend more time in their dorms during weekends than on weekdays. This trend highlights a unique opportunity for mobile museum examples to make the museum experience accessible right in their personal spaces.
An essential facet of these developments is the focus on inclusivity, especially for individuals with disabilities and non-native language speakers.
The best museum apps are now incorporating features like audio descriptions, sign language options, and multi-language support, ensuring that the museum experience is accessible and enjoyable for all.
This approach not only broadens access but also enhances the educational impact of museum visits.
2. Reach More Eyes Through Mobile Apps
The concept of scalability in university museums, especially in the context of mobile apps for museum tours, is gaining significant importance. University museums, traditionally aimed at enhancing student learning and promoting research, have often been limited in their physical reach, primarily catering to university alumni.
However, as noted in the International Council of Museums' article "Museums as Learning Laboratories for Competency Development in University Alumni," the advent of information and communications technologies (ICTs) is changing this dynamic. The move towards virtualization is dramatically expanding the accessibility and reach of these institutions, making them more inclusive and universally available to both national and international students.
The ability of mobile museum examples to accommodate an ever-growing collection is a crucial aspect of their scalability. As alumni contribute to the collections, these digital platforms can effortlessly integrate new additions, providing an evolving and rich educational resource, with the significant advantage of hosting virtual trips for an unlimited number of students.
This feature dramatically enhances educational outreach, as there's no limit to how many students can participate in a virtual tour, breaking down physical capacity and location barriers.
An excellent example of this innovative approach is the outdoor sculpture tour offered by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. This feature on their mobile app allows users to virtually step outside and explore, despite any physical or geographical constraints.
3. Scalability and Flexibility: Cloud-based Solutions for University Museums
At Museums22, we're all about making things easier and more accessible for university museums. Our solution? It's cloud-based, which means you can forget about the hassle and expense of setting up fancy hardware or worrying about running out of storage space.
We understand that trying out new things can be a bit daunting. But here’s the cool part: with our cloud-based approach, it's super easy to experiment and launch new features. It's like playing with building blocks—you can add, rearrange, or remove features anytime, without any coding work or expensive consultants—all with a single monthly subscription cost!
4. SaaS-Based Simplicity for Museums with Museums22
At Museums22, we have identified that museums have a hard time building custom tech solutions from scratch. Not only are these significantly expensive to build and maintain, but often require a dedicated team on payroll to manage and update.
To solve this industry problem, we have designed a seamless, SaaS (Software as a Service) solution for university museums. It includes everything from mobile apps for museums (both iOS and Android) to a progressive web application and a responsive webpage, all managed through an easy-to-use backend dashboard.
We've tailored our system to be incredibly scalable and flexible, adjusting perfectly to your museum's size and audience. There's no limit to the number of users, making it ideal whether you're a quaint gallery or a sprawling museum. The backend is a breeze, allowing quick creation of various visitor tools with single-point data entry, and it efficiently tracks real-time usage.
Moreover, content hosting is diverse; our platform can handle multiple formats, and we’re constantly rolling out functional enhancements. This means your museum stays ahead of the curve, sans the hassle of hardware upgrades or maintenance worries.
5. Multitasking Pre-Student University Tours with Mobile Apps
Mobile apps for university museums also revolutionize pre-student university tours. These virtual tours, accessible through our user-friendly apps, bring campuses to life for prospective students and their families.
They allow prospective students to explore unique campus landmarks, dorms, and dining halls, much like MSU of Denver’s Undergraduate Campus Tour, without having to wait for guides or dates.
Furthermore, virtual tour facilities like Boise State's Virtual Tour for Parents provide peace of mind by showcasing safety and living facilities in an easy-to-access virtual setting.
Our tours also highlight campus life, from social venues to sports facilities, as seen in Clemson University's Student Life Tour.
6. Data Collection: Know What Intrigues Your Audience
And how do you stay continuously engaged with these students all year round, even after their visit?
Our mobile museum examples are adept at gathering valuable insights during a visitor's journey.
Remember our examples of a digitally-powered museum from the introduction? They can use this data from the mobile app to maintain year-round engagement with visitors.
This data, capturing visitor interests and behaviors, informs targeted communications like tailored monthly newsletters. These newsletters are more than just updates; they're personalized invitations, keeping visitors informed about upcoming events and exhibits relevant to their interests.
This strategy transforms a single museum visit into an ongoing relationship.
7. Social Media Integration: A Digital Word-of-Mouth
Our mobile apps for museum tours at Museums22 aren’t just about exploring and learning; they’re also about sharing experiences. Social media connectivity makes museum tours more interactive and communal - as each shared post acts like digital word-of-mouth, inviting more potential visitors.
This is why our apps include a social media connect feature for visitors to directly share their experiences online. All with the click of a single button.
8. Multi-Lingual Audio Guides: Speak To Global Visitors In Their Mother Tongue
Museums22 celebrates the diversity of cultures and languages, which is why our mobile apps for museum tours feature multi-lingual audio guides. This addition ensures that visitors from different linguistic backgrounds can fully enjoy and engage with the museum's offerings.
Our storytelling approach for audio tours is designed to be rich and user-centric. We meticulously research, write, and edit content to create immersive narratives that bring museum exhibits to life.
The audio guides are curated on the app with a blend of music and visuals, such as images, videos, and animations, making the tours not only informative but also visually appealing.
Additionally, we offer these guides in various leading international languages, catering to a global audience.
9. QR & AR: Two Letters That Open Up A Whole New World
There's no denying that QR codes make lives easier. Whether it is for financial transactions or booking tickets, QR codes are a leading trend. Then, why should museums stay behind?
You're strolling through the museum, and there's a curious QR code next to an exhibit. Give it a quick scan with your phone, and voilà—you'll unlock interesting details and stories right on your phone.
Plus, with our Augmented Reality feature, exhibits come to life in a new and interactive way. Imagine a painting swirling around or a sculpture talking about its origin - with AR, artifacts come to life!
10. Many Museums, One App
Museums22's mobile app expertly consolidates multiple museums into a single, user-friendly platform, offering users a digital passport. This allows one university to host multiple museums within a single app interface!
This ability to host multiple departments or museums in one app not only simplifies the user experience but also promotes cross-engagement.
Visitors to one museum might discover another interesting collection or exhibit within the same app, fostering a deeper exploration of what the university has to offer.
Mobile Apps for Museums Make Visitor Experiences Easy - Get Yours Today!
Imagine having a mobile app that lets you manage your museum presence online:
Social Media Posts
Digital Catalog of your Exhibits
Manage visitor experience and collect data
Audio guides that begin their narrative as soon as the visitor is near an exhibit
& much more!
In the past, museums have had to spend a large fortune building these applications from scratch.
This would have included hiring consultants, development and design teams as well as a team of content writers to create the content. Naturally, such expenses made digital transformation and mobile apps difficult for museums.
But with Museums22, you get access to your very own mobile app through a single monthly SaaS subscription that starts from $299!
Ready to transform with the times?
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