Felicia Ingram and Kevin Kane offer an insight into the world of digital touch labelling and how it can be used to enhance visitor engagement with heritage objects.

In 2020, the North Carolina Museum of Art received a Mellon Foundation grant to reinstall its entire collection. This presented the curatorial team with an opportunity to think about how the collection might be reimagined and where innovation might elevate the visitor experience.

The first step in this process was to hang and install the art in a number of different ways. A number of approaches were utilised across the various galleries of the museum, including a Kunstkamer-style display and a salon-style hanging of portraiture among others.

As the museum’s Manager of Interpretation, Accessibility and Diversity, Felicia Ingram, explains, “These new and different display formats for the museum made it difficult to use traditional labels and, in many cases, the curators were keen to avoid the use of labels that might restrict the layout of the displays. Instead, this presented us with an opportunity to explore an alternative approach through digital labelling.

“We knew that adopting a digital display approach also enabled us to share more content with visitors. We have an educational website called NCMA Learn, which is full of videos and digital content aligned to our accessibility goals – mainly aimed at people who can’t physically visit us. The adoption of digital labels made it possible for us to take some of this content and apply it to our on-site exhibits.”

So, what functionality has digital labelling brought to the on-site experience? Kevin Kane, Software Developer at the museum, says, “Beyond the standard artwork information you’d find on a traditional, static label, the feature we’re now using most in our digital labels is the magnification tool. Essentially, it allows you to pinch the screen and zoom in on a high resolution photograph of the artwork with excellent picture quality. This means visitors can get closer to the details of a piece than would be possible when viewing a portrait at a distance or through a protective glass screen.

“We can also put video content on the digital labels, including interviews with artists and curators to provide context or interpretive narrative. We’ve also added in a ‘related artwork’ feature, helping to signpost other works by the same artist or in a similar style elsewhere in the gallery.

“Finally, we’re just beginning to incorporate features that provide information on the conservation history of artworks – addressing the provenance of pieces and how they’ve been cared for over time.”

Kevin also notes that the digital labels – which were initially installed in 2022 – are currently being upgraded with analytics tools. This innovation offers valuable insight, giving the team a greater understanding of how the labels are being used, which features are most popular and how long people are spending on an artwork’s content in each visit. He adds,

“This will help us understand which collection objects and styles of interpretive content are resonating with visitors, and what we could perhaps do differently as we roll these digital labels out to other areas of the gallery.”

Felicia notes that the digital labels have been well received by visitors of all ages, providing something different for everybody:

“For children, the ability to pinch and zoom to look at the finer details of an artwork is interactive and engaging. During school field trips we’ve seen teachers using the pinch zoom feature as a close looking exercise, which has brought a new dimension to their learning.

“For adults, it provides additional layers of information and differing perspectives that have been well received.”

Cultivating buy-in and building for the future

The core team involved in the installation of digital touch labels were the curatorial team, exhibition design team, and the interpretation and education team. But Felicia is quick to point out that bringing the digital interactive labels to life required much broader involvement and buy-in from across the museum’s departments. She says, “We, of course, also needed a significant contribution from our editorial team, from tech professionals like Kevin, from registration, art movement and IT. As we move forward, we’ll also work closely with marketing and our online team.”

According to Kevin, a conscious decision was made early on to start the digital labelling project conservatively. Bringing together so many different departments and placing demands on the resources of already stretched teams would have reduced the chances of a positive outcome.

He suggests that by developing a format with huge potential but modest beginnings has been important to proving the value of the initiative. While just a few exhibits currently feature the full functionality available through the digital screens, it’s the proof of concept that will now drive future iterations: “We have the capacity to add in lots of bells and whistles on labels across our galleries. But for the majority of objects we’ve kept to the basics. Doing more than this would have been too labour intensive for too many members of staff in a short period of time.

“I would also add that the kiosks for the digital screens are intentionally low profile and relatively small. That’s important for gaining buy-in because we’ve worked to retain the focus on the original works of art – the labels are meant to complement the pieces, not block them or distract from them.”

Another key factor in ensuring the success of the project involved looking to other institutions that were already doing labelling well and taking the best bits for use at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Felicia says, “Kevin and I actually embarked on a bit of a digital labelling field trip. In total, we visited six other museums that were using similar technologies and applying varying levels of functionality. None of them were art museums but they gave us a good grounding in what was possible and what might work well for us.

“Showcasing how other institutions were successfully using digital touch labels was also useful for us in getting that internal buy-in here at our museum.”

Interactivity to attract new audiences

Felicia speaks candidly about the importance of innovation in driving audience engagement and sharing art with visitors. In a world where the younger generation are overwhelmed by a huge range of media and entertainment sources, she believes that museums like the North Carolina Museum of Art have a responsibility to work harder than ever to create memorable experiences – not just showcase art:

“There is no doubt that museums can be boring. I love art so much but I know that we traditionally rely on visitors simply looking and reading. That’s not for everyone. So, to make museums more fun we have to be willing to adopt technologies that can offer additional benefits or new perspectives.

“That’s not to say that technology is the answer to everything, at all. But it can definitely offer tools to help solve problems.”

This sentiment has been borne out in the observational research the museum has carried out on the back of the digital touch labelling project. Already, they know that visitor screen engagement times ranges from 10 seconds to 10 minutes, with an average of over 2 minutes. As Felicia notes, that initial data compares favourably with traditional labels, which have been clocked at an average view time of 30 seconds.

With the new analytics functionality in place, Kevin and Felicia hope to gather a much broader data set to inform future developments in digital labelling throughout the museum.

Final thoughts

Asked what learnings he would share with other museum professionals, Kevin says,

“Having a central content management system is really key from a technical perspective. You can start small and relatively simple but in order to be able to scale the digital labels over time, I think that the CMS has to be the foundation for the project.

“Our staff can manage the CMS from anywhere and it isn’t restricted to just the digital team. I think that level of flexibility is really important.”

Felicia adds, “For me, it’s ensuring that we always start with the learning objectives that structure the content. The potential for digital labels is massive but they are only as good as the content that goes on there. I think labels need to be as carefully curated as every other installation in our galleries; not just thrown together in an unstructured way.

“In this project we took the time to strategically plan what we wanted to share and what we thought would resonate with our audience. It was never just about using tech for tech’s sake.”

Find out more about how museums are utilising the latest strategies, technologies and tools to enhance the work they are doing for their audiences and communities at May’s Digital Museums Summit.

Last Monday, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao unveiled her proposed city budget for the next two-year fiscal cycle of 2023-2025. The $4.2 billion budget addresses core city services like infrastructure, police, and fire while resolving a $360 million deficit. The budget avoids layoffs by merging key city departments and freezing or eliminating vacant city positions.

In addition to other big changes, Thao’s budget includes significant reductions in grants and other subsidies supporting the city’s cultural nonprofits, artists, filmmakers, festivals, and outdoor markets. Because Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Division is already small compared to other city departments, local artists and cultural leaders say the cutbacks will have an outsized impact—especially on Oakland’s historically underserved neighborhoods and communities.

The Cultural Affairs Division, which falls under the city’s Economic and Workforce Development department, draws money from the General Purpose Fund, hotel and lodging tax, Public Art Fund, and supplementary funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and private foundations. During the 2021-2023 cycle, its total budget was $7.3 million, or less than half a percent (0.362%) of the city’s overall spending. For the next two years, Mayor Thao has proposed reducing the Cultural Affairs Division’s budget to $5.4 million.

The mayor’s budget reduces by 20% the Cultural Funding Program that supports many organizations and local artists, eliminates a $500,000 budget for events at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, and cuts another $300,000 per year that provides discounts for application fees and fire inspections for events organized by non-profits and small organizations. 

The mayor’s proposed cuts also include a 20% reduction in grants and subsidies for five of the city’s longstanding community partnerships—Children’s Fairyland, Chabot Space and Science Center, Asian Cultural Center, Hacienda Peralta, and the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation—that receive funding through the Oakland Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development division. 

Also not included in Thao’s budget plan is a $60,000 subsidy for Lake Merritt’s vending marketplace along Embarcadero. Over the past few years, tensions between street vendors and neighbors at Lake Merritt led the city to organize markets to provide vendors with a place to sell their wares.

Thao’s budget proposal also reduces the amount of hotel tax revenue that can be spent on cultural grants and application services by about $34,000 and puts a hiring freeze on four vacant positions that will limit the city’s ability to host events: one in Cultural Affairs, two in special permits, and a student trainee position. 

As a mayoral candidate, Thao made a campaign promise to “champion the city’s arts and cultural districts and events” and said the arts are “part of what makes Oakland such a vibrant place to live and visit.” Last year, during a Q&A with the Oaklandside, she talked about the “need to fund the arts.”

But the city’s dire financial situation means that Thao and the City Council, by law, must balance the budget by closing a $360 million deficit. In addition to the city’s Cultural Affairs Division, nearly every other department is being subjected to spending cuts. Unions representing city workers have mostly praised the mayor’s proposed budget because although it reduces spending, it avoids laying off any staff.

Aztec dancers performing at the 2019 Dia de los Muertos festival in Oakland’s Frutivale neighborhood.
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The Oaklandside spoke to several people involved in Oakland’s arts and culture scene about how, if passed, the budget cuts will affect their ability to hold events and offer programming. Without adequate funding, some said they may be forced to cut back on programs or shut down completely.

Samee Roberts, president of Heart of the Town, a local event marketing and promotion nonprofit, and a former city employee, called the cuts to cultural funding “foolish.” Roberts said that simply lauding Thao’s budget for avoiding layoffs overlooks the downstream impact that cutting the arts will have. “This budget balancing act is being conducted on the backs of community programs,” she said.

Having a robust arts and culture sector in the city can be an economic driver, she added, attracting visitors and generating revenue for local businesses.

“The arts sustained Oakland through all those ups and downs of the past 20, almost 25 years,” she said. “The mayor is saying that hotel tax revenue is down. It is because we’re still feeling the effects of the pandemic. But the reasons why people come to Oakland and why they spend in Oakland are these events that take place across the city.”

Roberts also oversees Art & Soul, a popular festival in downtown Oakland for over two decades. Last year, the overall budget for the festival was $104,000, over $25,000 of which came through city grants and subsidies. Additional funding for the festival is secured through philanthropic grants and sponsorships. Under the mayor’s proposed budget, the city’s portion of funding would be significantly reduced. 

“$25,000 is a big hit for a small nonprofit,” she said. “I am concerned about the future of the festival.”

Holly Alonso, executive director of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Fruitvale, one of the city’s community partners whose funding is in jeopardy, shared similar concerns. 

Even though the mayor’s budget includes “equity considerations” to account for how the cuts would affect different communities, Alonso said that reducing the city’s already slim budget for arts and culture will severely impact residents and artists from underserved communities.

Peralta Hacienda encompasses three buildings and six acres of open land. The nonprofit offers programs serving Fruitvale and other residents throughout the year, including six youth programs, community exhibits, the Teatro Jornalero collective, and the annual Khmer New Year Festival. 

Alonso said that before the market crash in 2008, Peralta Hacienda received $180,000 per year for operations. After the Great Recession, that funding dropped to $49,000. Its funding increased to $70,000 two years ago, but Alonso is now worried that the budget will again dip as a result of fewer city dollars. 

“What we get now is less than we need to operate,” said Alonso. “The impact of the reduction is on the community. Cutting arts and culture funding is demoralizing.”

Kevin L (left), vendor on the El Embarcadero side of Lake Merritt talks to a customer.
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Kevin L (left), vendor on the El Embarcadero side of Lake Merritt talks to a customer.

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Nonprofit leaders aren’t the only ones concerned about how the proposed budget cuts will impact the city. Members of the city’s Cultural Affairs Commission, which advises the city on policy decisions impacting arts and culture, are also speaking out. The commission was revived in February 2020, nine years after being shut down in 2011 during the Great Recession for lack of funding. 

Shortly after Mayor Thao unveiled her proposed budget last week, the commission issued a petition asking the mayor to “save the arts in Oakland.” As of this week, the petition has garnered 807 signatures out of its 1,000 goal. 

Diane Sanchez, who chairs the commission, noted that Oakland isn’t known for being a tech giant hub like Silicon Valley and may soon be without any major professional sports teams if the Oakland Athletics move to Las Vegas. What Oakland is known for, she said, is the art and culture that comes from here. 

“This is an investment that yields not only a sense of belonging in Oakland, but it also yields financial results,” she said. “The department will have to look and see how it would allocate money, but it will hit a lot of these organizations and a lot of the things that people come to count on,” she said. “When you think of Oakland, you think of festivals. What if there are no festivals?”

City Council must approve the proposed budget or issue amendments and finalize it by June 30.

Hamilton and Biosero, Inc., developer of laboratory automation solutions to orchestrate scientific discoveries, today announced a strategic co-marketing agreement aimed at streamlining automated liquid handling workflows. The partnership builds on Hamilton’s state-of-the-art automated platforms and Biosero’s innovative Green Button Go^® Software Suite to increase lab efficiency.

Under this agreement, the companies will jointly promote and market one another’s products, providing laboratories with a proven, comprehensive solution for automation. Laboratories incorporating Hamilton and Biosero technologies will benefit from Hamilton’s industry-leading liquid handling solutions and Biosero’s intuitive software.

We are tremendously excited to partner with Biosero… Highlighting the combination of Biosero’s advanced scheduling software and Hamilton’s time-tested automated platforms allows us to offer customers a straightforward solution to complex, large-scale workflows. This collaboration underscores Hamilton’s unwavering commitment to delivering the most advanced automated solutions that allow scientists to focus on what matters most — research and discovery.

Matt Hamilton,Hamilton Vice CEO

At Biosero, we are dedicated to streamlining operations and increasing lab efficiency for scientists around the world. Teaming up with Hamilton, a leader in automated liquid handling solutions, allows us to showcase how our respective technologies can be seamlessly integrated into the lab to increase productivity and inspire future breakthroughs.

Ryan Bernhardt, Chief Commercial Officer at Biosero

The co-marketing agreement marks an important milestone for Hamilton and Biosero as the companies combine their expertise to deliver an unmatched automated workflow solution. The integration of Hamilton’s liquid handling platforms and Biosero’s Green Button Go Software Suite will provide laboratories with a powerful and user-friendly system that can be customized to meet their specific needs while delivering consistent and accurate results.

For millennia, Spain has been leading producer of olives thanks to the Mediterranean climate’s long, hot summers and mild winter temperatures. Harvested and cured in brine or ground up to extract the natural oils, the fruits are grown on trees planted in vast groves that stretch for miles over the undulating landscape. The region of Andalusia in particular boasts a time-honored tradition of olive cultivation, producing and exporting more than any other part of the country. For German photographer Tom Hegen, the rows and grid-like patterns of the groves presented an irresistible subject.

Known for his aerial photos of swaths of earth that have been impacted by human presence, such as salt extraction sites, Florida beaches, and solar plants, Hegen captures expansive Spanish landscapes that when viewed from above, morph into abstractions of pattern and texture. He highlights the immense monocultures that spread over nearly six million acres of Spanish countryside, documenting both large-scale agricultural production and smaller farms managed by individual families for whom producing olive oil is a centuries-old vocation.

Explore more of Hegen’s aerial photography on his website and Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Tom Hegen’s Aerial Photos of Spanish Olive Groves Reveal Undulating Patterns and Deep Traditions appeared first on Colossal.