Posted: March 11th, 2011 | Author: Jasper Visser | Filed under: People | Tags: badges, engagement, foursquare, games, points, rewards, thoughts, visitors | 3 Comments »
Photo by What What on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA)
Foursquare has proven pretty successful at making people do stuff they don’t really need to do. Checking in on Foursquare is like visiting a local museum or gallery: it will not save your life but it’s fun to do so once in a while. One reason, I think, Foursquare is popular is because of its reward system. In the recent 3.0 release a lot of new options have been added to earn points and be really cool.
I know a lot of places offer rewards to returning visitors, etc. Foursquare 3.0 takes this to the next level. Maybe among the many things they reward there’s one or two we could apply to the physical visitors of our museums.
- First visit to a venue
First times are always tricky: they determine if there will be a second or not. A good first impression rocks. Foursquare gives quite some points. A museum might give a special tour, flyer, or even a discount (as people do not yet know if it will be worth their money). “First time visitors enter for free. See if you will come again!”
- Returning visitors
Foursquare used to reward loyalty with turning you into a mayor and offering badges. Now they’re also handing out points for returning visits. My hairdresser does as well, with a nice discount if I come back within 4, 5 or 6 weeks. At museum, for instance a sign at the exit: “Don’t throw away your ticket, it’s worth a coffee next time you’re around.”
- Welcome back
One of the best new rewards in Foursquare 3.0 are the points awarded for returning after a long time (to playing the game, to a venue). It feels like Foursquare has personally waited for my return and that feels good. So, how about inviting people with old catalogues, flyers or tickets who are not friends or members to a special opening of a new exhibition? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: November 4th, 2010 | Author: Jasper Visser | Filed under: People | Tags: audience, games, kids, new media, participation, people, strategies, workshop | 1 Comment »
Photography by Ramon Mosterd.
Last week I hosted a workshop on museums, kids and new media together with SETUP Utrecht and the Utrecht Museums Foundation (SUM). Some of my dear friends of the Innovators Network Heritage (INE) also added their good thoughts. The challenge: How to use new media to get more young kids (0-12 years old) and their parents to the museums in Utrecht.
I know little about kids. I know even less about kids in combination with new media. The Powerhouse Museum (who else?) recently launched WaterWox, which to me looks like a great new media application for (a.o.) kids. That’s about how much I know about it, so I was happy to have 45 talented people from different backgrounds look into the issue.
During the workshop participants globally came up with 3 strategies to use new media in order to get more kids to the museum in Utrecht: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 2nd, 2010 | Author: Jasper Visser | Filed under: Technology | Tags: advice, augmented reality, games, guidelines, mobile museum, mw2010, pilots, tips | 11 Comments »
How can we use mobile media to engage people in cultural and historical heritage? Last week I co-hosted a hands-on expert meeting dealing with this subject. Our objective: to find one or two pilot solutions that we can develop already.
The meeting followed on the post-MW2010 unconference about mobile games for museums I wrote about two weeks ago. Experts of DEN (Dutch Digital Heritage), the Dutch museum association (NMV), the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam and Beeld en Geluid together with host the Museum of National History, came up with a set of guidelines for pilot projects. We used user profiling and a tour through The Hague to develop these guidelines and a handful of ideas.
Our findings below represent what we think a mobile platform for cultural and historical heritage should look like, using contemporary technology.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 20th, 2010 | Author: Jasper Visser | Filed under: Technology | Tags: games, ideas, lessons, mobile museum, mw2010, phones, thoughts | 18 Comments »
Although the most popular location based mobile games, Foursquare and Gowalla, still have limited user bases, their potential is huge. At the moment, Facebook has over 100 million mobile users, a number that is growing with the second.
As a part of the official post-MW2010 programme, Paul Stork and I hosted an unconference session about mobile games and museums. These are my notes, please add your thoughts and opinions through the comments. I’ll add them to the post to create a full document on mobile games and museums.
What is mobile gaming?
Both Foursquare and Gowalla work alike. Based on your location you can check in to a venue, be it a bar, a museum, or whatever. By doing so you let your friends know your location, but you also enter a competition. You can earn badges, become the mayor of a place, score points, etc.
Read the rest of this entry »
