Where is the road to “digitalization” of museums?

　　Digitalization is one of the technological trends in the development of human society. Digital technologies represented by 5G, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, blockchain, etc. are booming, profoundly changing the face of all walks of life, and also Provide more possibilities for the museum’s knowledge dissemination and public services.

　　Reporter Peng Deqian

　　The latest news comes that the East Building of the Shanghai Museum, which took more than six years to build, will be fully completed and open to the public this year. The new museum has set up a wealth of digital interactive experience spaces, including the "Ancient Civilization Exploration Palace" for teenagers, the "Digital Museum" for on-site immersive tours, the open "Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration Experience Museum", etc.

　　With the continuous evolution of the information age and digital society, the widespread application of digital technology has greatly improved the speed and efficiency of information dissemination. The global museum industry is exploring its own paths to overcome problems -

　　How to introduce cultural heritage more vividly through digital means? How can augmented reality and virtual reality technologies facilitate knowledge creation? How to operate digital services sustainably without staff? Where is the road to “digitalization” of museums? In this industry trend of reshaping the venue experience and expanding new functions, museums in the UK and Germany are at the forefront.

　　Focus on the audience

　　Seeking the best technical strategies

　　The British Science Museum Group consists of five museums including the Science Museum in London, the National Railway Museum in York, and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, which preserves 7.3 million collections in the fields of science, technology, engineering, medicine, transportation, and media. In March 2017, the British Department of Culture, Media and Sport released the "British Digital Strategy", which aims to make the UK a place to conduct advanced research, test new technologies and develop digitalization through first-class digital infrastructure, advanced skills training and effective supervision. Excellent place for business. The British Science Museum Group actively responds to this strategy and continues to tap its digital potential.

　　When the two keywords "digital technology" and "museum" are mentioned, the first reaction is often to preserve and display collections and exhibits through digital means. As of April 5, 2023, the British Science Museum Group has produced a total of 459,737 digital resources for collections in the fields of science, technology, engineering, medicine, transportation and media. Three years after its launch, the online collection resources website has received more than 2 million visitors worldwide. In the fourth year, the annual number of visits to the website reached 1.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 75%.

　　However, what is more worth mentioning is that the museum’s application of digital technology does not stop there. Even the technology applied is not the most cutting-edge or cutting-edge. Instead, it adheres to the digital principle of “putting the audience at the core” and seeks the best technical strategy. "Float" throughout the entire process.

　　Receiving visits is the basic way for museums to serve their audiences and is also an important source of income. Therefore, it is particularly important for museums to improve service quality and attract more visitors. The group comprehensively uses a variety of digital technologies to optimize and recreate every aspect of the visit. In 2022, the per capita consumption of the British Science Museum Group's visitors was 5.81 pounds, and a total of 13.5198 million pounds in visit revenue was obtained that year.

　　For example, the Science Museum in London divides its audience into two categories - tourists and educators, and tailors its "official museum website" for each of them. On the homepage of the official website for tourists, a "See and Do" label is set up in a prominent position. Click on the label to browse the list of all tourism resources in the venue. There are combined filters such as "Visiting Time" above the list, so tourists can filter according to their own preferences. Quickly filter out the content you are interested in visiting. On the homepage of the official website for educators, the most eye-catching position is reserved for the "Learning" label. Click on the label to quickly open the personalized pages customized and developed by the venue for various educational groups, making it easier for educators with different needs to quickly lock in. information.

　　This "differential treatment" does not just stay on the homepage of the website, but is deeply embedded in specific exhibition resources. Taking the "Wonderful Laboratory" exhibition hall of the London Science Museum as an example, the introduction page for tourists focuses on displaying the opening time period, location, annual and daily pass prices, sightseeing guide, etc.; the introduction page for educators focuses on Displays the applicable educational age levels of the exhibition hall, related courses (such as electricity and magnetism, mathematics, etc.), the maximum size of the reception group, appointment calendar and education guide, etc. Accurate service positioning has increased audience stickiness, and the revenue of "Wonderful Laboratory" in 2022 will reach 1.289 million pounds.

　　Today, more and more museums are realizing that custom-developed auxiliary apps for visiting activities can help break the limitations of traditional visits, display abstract knowledge such as the background and meaning of collections and exhibitions in an interesting and interactive way, and effectively enhance the audience's experience.

　　To this end, the British Science Museum Group has developed a number of auxiliary apps, and "Treasure Hunter" is one of them. When the audience visits the museum, the "Treasure Hunter" App that is quickly installed on the mobile phone will randomly pose a photo challenge. If the audience can find the "treasure" that best matches the description and take a photo and upload it, they will win. This novel gameplay realizes the deep integration of digital technology and visits, turning the museum visit into an immersive adventure game. As a result, the "Treasure Hunter" App won the British "Best Family and Children's App" award.

　　At the same time, museum operators are constantly expanding upstream and downstream with the help of digital technology, allowing the content of collections and exhibits to break through barriers, cross boundaries, and extend into new areas, attracting more attention.

　　In March 2023, the British Science Museum Group developed 14 applications and popular science games, such as "Rugged Wanderer", which attracted a large number of "new audiences" on the Internet. They also uploaded the digital resources of key collections to the popular game "Animal Crossing: New Horizons", which has sold more than 31 million copies worldwide, for display. More than 250,000 online viewers came into contact with the exhibits in this way for the first time.

　　Nowadays, with the accelerated development of the information age, digital resources have increasingly become an important way for people to obtain knowledge. To this end, the British Science Museum Group provides different knowledge sharing agreements for different types of digital resources, allowing the public to copy, modify, distribute and perform digital resources for free under the premise of complying with the constraints, and to freely use them in education, scholarship, and public welfare. and other fields. As of April 5, 2023, the group has provided free use licenses for a total of 200,184 digital resources, covering natural history, science and technology, art and culture and other fields, allowing more people to obtain and use these precious cultural heritage and resources for free. Knowledge achievements.

　　Facilitate “outside the library” learning

　　Inspire longer-term thinking

　　Since 2017, Germany has launched the Museum 4.0 project - a cross-institutional digital project that connects cultural institutions in different regions across Germany, aiming to provide the public with new ways to learn, experience and participate in museums. Over time, the range of participating institutions expanded.

　　“Today’s museums should be at once our past, present and future. We are the memory and guardians of culture and history, while at the same time being part of contemporary society and actively participating in it through our work. As the public and as artists As a communication medium, we should strive to provide new perspectives and open minds to various cultures, so museums should become unfettered and creative places today." A museum director said in a previous interview.

　　Germany’s Museum 4.0 project has four main goals. The first is to collect relevant information and gain experience by developing, testing and evaluating the digital infrastructure used by different museums for display, education, communication and research; the second is to understand the conditions under which digital technology is used by analyzing the way different target groups explore museums. can achieve personalized goals; the third is to conduct close exchanges between institutions on the requirements, implementation methods and standards in digital application design, and connect and bind their respective technical applications; the fourth is to compile documents and best practices The results of the project are shared in the form of cases to support museums throughout Germany to better move towards digitalization.

　　In the German Museum 4.0 project, the practical case of the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History is impressive.

　　Like most museums, it has a huge collection. Due to limited conditions, only a small part of it is on display, and most of it is inaccessible to the public. To this end, the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History, which has a collection of more than 4,000 items, has started its own plan.

　　The museum developed and launched an innovative digital application that combines virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality - "Surface Adventure". This game, realized through virtual reality technology, allows the public to experience the living space under human feet that has almost never been observed in detail from a first-person perspective. Different from the traditional microscope perspective, virtual reality technology directly shrinks the player character to 1/200, so that the player and the organisms in the soil can meet within sight and have the opportunity to communicate in depth.

　　On this basis, players can also break into hidden habitats through the Easter egg mode and obtain scientific content that cannot be provided by regular displays.

　　The Senckenberg Museum of Natural History has also launched "Datarama", a walk-in 360° surround projection space for audio-visual and interactive data exploration. It allows the public to enter the story behind the museum with a new identity - in a unique virtual environment, visitors can independently discover the museum's scientific collections, meet and interact with scientists, and gain a deeper understanding of the museum's research work. learn.

　　Interestingly, the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History has developed two forms of digital tools to encourage interested enthusiasts to actively participate in scientific research. Among them, the "BODENTIER hoch 4" App can help beginners follow experts to identify soil and animals, and is very easy to use. The "Landscape Photos" website collects landscape photos taken privately and willing to be made public over the past 100 years. These landscapes focus on areas where biodiversity research has not yet been developed, providing a rich source of information for those who want to understand habitat changes.

　　The Humboldt Forum Museum, newly completed on Museum Island in 2021, is also one of the project participating institutions. It is called a super museum because it has more than 20,000 exhibits.

　　The new experiences brought by digital technology not only further encourage audiences to search for them, but also attract and help more people to learn "outside the library" through careful design, inspiring longer-term thinking.

　　The Humboldt Forum Museum collaborated with Humboldt University Berlin to develop the mobile app "My Exhibits" - it recommends an exhibit that may be of interest to each reservation visitor and shows its interconnections with other collections. Visitors are encouraged to leave their own impressions and descriptions of the exhibits. After interacting with others, visitors can reinterpret selected exhibits and introduce them to their friends via social media. In this way, people’s reading, understanding and thinking about the collections begin weeks before they visit the museum, and will not end when they leave the museum. (Liberation Daily)