Optimized websites and apps that extend the Museum experience onto mobile devices. This can include q-codes integration, interactive kiosks, GPS technology, outdoor interactive signage and other environmental marketing.
Jury Chair: Dana Allen-Greil
New Media Project Manager, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
GOLD: Explore 9/11
National 9/11 Memorial and Museum and Local Projects LLC
Judges said: This well-curated and compelling app brings the 9/11 Museum outside, creating a museum experience where one might otherwise experience only crowded sidewalks and a construction zone. By capitalizing on the unique qualities of a mobile app—such as geolocation, multimedia playback, and augmented reality—the museum extends its programmatic mission and creates a compelling contextual experience for its audiences. History comes alive as users follow a walking tour with geo-aware content, listen to passionate first person accounts, and view a timeline of events illustrated by user-contributed photos. The “Explore 9/11” app represents an excellent model for the future of museum applications.
Producers said: The official 9/11 Memorial iPhone application for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum is a mobile guide to understanding 9/11 through the eyes of those who witnessed history. The application features a seven stop walking tour of the area around the World Trade Center, accompanied by audio and photo narration. The application also allows visitors to view images related to the events of 9/11 taken nearby wherever they are, and includes an Augmented Reality mode in which photos are overlaid on the camera view. All photos were contributed to the museum by survivors and witnesses through 911history.org. An interactive timeline of the day’s events and aftermath includes dynamic links to witness photos.
SILVER: MoMA Mobile
Museum of Modern Art, RenderMonkey, and Walking Productions
Judges said: This all-in-one, multi-platform app and mobile website lets you take the MoMA experience with you in your pocket, whether you have an iPhone, an Android, or other Web-enabled phone. A staggering array of content is available at your fingertips, from the latest information on events and exhibits to a fully searchable collections database. Easy to use navigation allows you to make your own path through the dynamic and comprehensive content and is appropriate for onsite as well as offsite users. The app is impressive not only for its depth of content and ease-of-use but also for the way it smartly integrates various kinds of information—linking you from a collection record to an audio clip to an event happening now on the second floor. The MoMA Mobile app sets a high bar for mobile museum offerings.
Producers said: Carry MoMA with you wherever you go. Use the MoMA Mobile App to find out about current exhibitions, plan a visit, browse or search tens of thousands of works in the collection, take multimedia tours, or learn about artists and art terms. Take a photo through MoMA Snaps and send it to a friend, or choose your playlist to create a soundtrack for your MoMA visit. The app is available for both iPhone and Android devices. A related mobile browser version is also available.
BRONZE: Explorer
American Museum of Natural History and Spotlight Mobile
Judges said: This app excels at what it was designed to do, which is to help visitors navigate from place to place and customize their experiences along the way. The impressive turn-by-turn navigation represents an enormous leap forward for geoawareness inside museum buildings. An app user can fully customize a museum visit by building one’s own itinerary, bookmarking information for later retrieval, or changing the order and topic of a tour on the fly.
Producers said: Explorer was the first application to provide indoor, real-time location awareness. The innovative use of location awareness in the Explorer application is a significant technological breakthrough and marks the first time an institution or business has been able to offer people a live, continually updated determination of where they are inside a building.
Jurors:
Stacy Adamson
Marketing and Communications Associate, National Building Museum
Douglass Brashear
Mobile Practice Director, NavigationArts, LLC
Sheila Brennan
Assoc. Dir. of Public Projects, Center for History & New Media, GMU
Peter Corbett
CEO, iStrategyLabs
Elissa Frankle
Education Consultant, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Molly Huh
Head of Marketing and Public Relations, The Kreeger Museum
Nick Jackson
Daniel McKee
Business Director, Insomniac Design Inc.
Michaela McNichol
Marketing Program Specialist, United States Capitol Visitor Center
Kate Orf
Jason Steinhauer
Liaison Specialist, Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Kevin Yam
Director, Mobile and Interactive Products, National Geographic
