Kelly Skelton:  Auckland Museum’s Audio Guide pilot: What worked, what didn’t and what’s next?
Channel: NDF - National Digital Forum
Date: 2018-11-28

Tuesday, November 20 • 2:00pm - 2:25pm

The Digital Experience team at Auckland Museum launched an Audio Guide pilot in February 2018 as part of a wider mobile/BYOD programme of work. 

Visitors to Auckland Museum access the He Taonga Māori Audio Guide using their own device via aucklandmuseum.com and content is served on responsive web pages via the MyTours web app. The guide is available for adults as a short (30min) or long tour (1hr) and there is a children’s version which is 20min long. All guides are available in English and Mandarin. 

The guide takes visitors on a journey of our He Taonga Māori Gallery providing additional content for selected objects, insights into how they were crafted and used along with an understanding of Māori culture and language. 

The pilot took at least 18 months to get off the ground. There were a number of factors that caused delays including resourcing, stakeholder engagement, content creation, copyright permissions, to name a few. Despite the lengthy pre-launch phase, post-launch the pilot is running well and helping inform Auckland Museum’s BYOD strategy. 

This paper will share insights into Auckland Museum’s key learnings from the pilot, considerations when creating an audio guide and what we’re planning on doing next. 

Kelly Skelton Edit Profile
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Head of Digital Experience
Auckland, New Zealand
aucklandmuseum.com