A few weeks ago I, among others, were invited to participate in an experimental architectural tour offered by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). The idea was to Twitter as we participated in an architectural tour of the space. I immediately jumped at the opportunity. The tour took place on June 2, 2009, the following is a recap of the experience and some thoughts on ways to build upon the experience.
Approximately 11 visitors and 3 USHMM staff members took a tour of the exterior, entrance, Hall of Witness and the Hall of Remembrance. The following is a tweetscript of my (@boxednoise) impression of these spaces (posted in reverse chronology):
The floor also serves as a reminder that those that came before us serve as a foundation for our humanity and the future. #USHMM
Honeycombed floor constructed w/ triangles, shows power of one into many. #USHMM
Using scale, materials and emptiness to create a space of remembrance and sacredness. #USHMM
Using architecture to create a sense of confinement and disjointedness.
Architecture evokes emotion and feelings by connecting individuals w/ touchpoints in both an individual’s and the collective memory. #USHMM
Are we being watched? Are there guards in those windows? #USHMM
Exhibits are being concealed by interior architecture; perhaps a since of disorientation in the midst of movement and confinement. #USHMM
Interior creates a collision in consciousness as you are forced to confront industrial materials as you come to grips w/ humanity. #USHMM
Materials, scale and style allow for #USHMM to blend into surroundings. Is deceptive, federal style creates a veil for building’s content.
Walking through a limestone facade into a concrete reality; visitors need to be jolted. Introduces deception and concealment. #USHMM
Building an iconic structure can be positive by creating a publicly recognizable building, but can also detract from the message. #USHMM
How does #USHMM architecture magnify or restrict the stories? Need to balance but not overshadow.
It was great to learn more about the Architect James Ingo Freed and his desire for the Holocaust Museum’s architecture to serve as a “resonator of memory.” The multitude of narratives that exist in terms of the space, exhibits and history provide a rich amount of content for such an effort. The concept is tremendous; a guided tour of a space or exhibits in which participants Twitter their thoughts, reflections and questions using a common hashtag (e.g., #USHMM).
As a result, my focus here is not the content, but rather the structure of the tour and future ways in which emerging technologies, such as Twitter, may be better integrated into the overall experience.
Structural suggestions
As was previously mentioned, 11 visitors and 3 USHMM staff members took a short tour of the museum. This mix of visitors and staff worked well for the trial, however, here are a few recommendations and modifications that might be helpful in creating better exchanges amongst participants and followers both within the physical and online spaces. First let’s focus on the structure of the group:
- Facilitator — Subject matter expert that leads the tour. This person provides the background and history of the space and exhibits while posing questions to the group and answering any that may came up during the course of the tour.
- Moderators — Museum staff that monitor listening posts for the tour in social networks, such as Twitter, surfacing questions that may come up from outside followers and sharing thoughtful Tweets made by participants of the tour.
- Subject Matter Experts — Either museum staff or external experts (e.g., professors, architects, policy makers, Holocaust survivors, et cetera) that can lend background and deeper dimensions to the conversations.
- Participants — This includes both participants and online followers; individuals interested in the space, exhibits or experience and are willing to share and consume content via Twitter, Facebook or other social networks, as well as respond to and engage their networks.
- Influencers — Advocates, members of the media, cultural elite or socially connected individuals that can use their channels of influence to magnify and/or extend the shelf-life of the experience.
Secondly, let’s focus on ways to create moments of exchange and interaction. As with any event it is important to construct norms and structural devices that ensure an engaging user experience. The very act of asking participants to engage technology can automatically generate barriers that prevent interaction with others and the physical space. Therefore it is important to ensure that nobody falls too deeply into the rabbit hole of technology.
This is where moderators play a critical role in connecting participants with one another, as well as with online followers. Since participants are actively listening and processing information in order to post content to their social networks; moderators serve to tether the various groups together. Some tactics to combat the rabbit hole include: asking questions to participants; posting content for followers (e.g., trivia questions, photos, quotes, et ctera); and surfacing questions from followers and posts by tour participants.
Finally, a few on-site and online technology recommendations. Staff members in the role of moderators should be equipped with Tablet PCs or light weight Netbooks running Tweetdeck or other Twitter client. Using a client such as Tweetdeck allows them to more easily follow the hashtag of the tour/event (e.g., #event), enable grouping of the tour participants and provide the ability to post tweets or status updates as needed. And, if possible, wireless access should be provided for all of the participants to ensure better connectivity.
As for online, I would create a destination on the USHMM website that allowed online followers to orient themselves with the space or exhibits while also providing a canvas for user generated content coming from tours to live (e.g., main column could include professional images along with best of tweets or status message and user photos and the left column could include a real-time stream of the tour and related links and content). The possibilities are limitless, for example with the emergence of geotagging in social network/services, coupled with geomarkers within the physical environment the ability for greater interaction with the space, other visitors and the world will emerge.
I’m looking forward to seeing more museums, organizations and tours leveraging emerging technologies in similar ways. Again, I want to thank the staff of the USHMM for the opportunity to participate in this experiment and commend them for the exciting work they are doing, especially the ways in which they are looking to combine and enrich the online and offline experiences of their visitors. Great work!
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Full disclosure: I first visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Musuem (USHMM) six years ago during the inaugural year of our Human Rights: A Culture and Crisis course at Georgetown University and have been in love with the space ever since. At the time we took 100+ undergraduates on an unguided tour of the space and it was a moving experience for everyone involved. The design of the space — along with the stories — had a tremendous impact on me. Since that experience I have used the design and architecture of the building in several lectures about the ways in which physcial space and materials can help tell a story and create engaging, interactive experiences.