Esther Tobin & Nils Pokel - The Spark All Access Pass in Auckland Museum's VOLUME exhibition:...
Channel: NDF - National Digital Forum
Date: 29/11/2017

The Spark All Access Pass in Auckland Museum's VOLUME exhibition: all the data! 

Wednesday November 22, 2017 14:45 - 15:15 
Rangimarie 2, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 

Hands-on and ears-on, VOLUME was the first major exhibition of New Zealand popular music. What set Volume apart was participation – we really wanted visitors to put themselves in the exhibition and have a go at making music themselves. We developed four major digital interactive experiences to explore different aspects of the music industry, demonstrating the range of creative roles and skills in the sector – beyond being a rock star. Extensive prototyping and user-testing ensured we would have a well-crafted and accessible visitor experience. On top of the interactive experiences, the Spark All Access Pass used NFC tagging technology to provide a highly personalised experience of Volume. Visitors could pick up a pass as they entered which they tagged throughout the exhibition. At the exit, they registered their details and got sent a link to their content. Over 68% of tagholders registered to receive their content – high according to anecdotal industry feedback. Visitors could share the content with friends, family, or on social media. The tagging stations worked on near-field communications, with each pass containing an NFC chip, and each station an NFC reader so visitors could tag in at points of interest and we could record those points. On registering their details, they were sent a link to a microsite that housed all their tagged content. This presentation lays out the specifics of all collectable content and spills the beans on the rich metrics that were captured as part of the process and that led to some deep insights and learnings.

Nils Pokel 
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Digital Experience Manager
Nils is the Digital Experience Manager at Auckland War Memorial Museum. He is a multi-disciplinary digital enabler and innovator with an interest in exploring technology with a human centred design approach. As the ‘resident futurist’ Nils is also driving the digital R&D programme at Auckland Museum which includes piloting emerging technologies such as AR/VR, MR and 3D scanning. @nilscreates


Esther Tobin 
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Content & Interpretation Developer
Esther fell for museology at Art School when she ran out of good ideas of her own. After a range of roles in the GLAM sector and a stint in the UK making documentaries she decided to get a real job and has been developing exhibitions ever since, including: WOW: World of Wearable Art, Air New Zealand 75th Anniversary at Auckland Museum and most recently Volume: Making Music in Aotearoa. Esther is at her happiest when developing creative approaches to interpretation and stand-out visitor experiences.