LOLO

Version I

• Guests prompted at museum entrance to use cellphones or tablet to use Guide by Cell to collect images of specific shapes in the museum galleries.
• Guests then can go out into the gallery and look for symbols they recognize in all the art in the museum. Take a photo of the symbol and upload it to a database. (This is a great option for tours as each group can pick a different symbol to look for)
• Back at the museum entrance an interactive display can populate based on the photographs that have been uploaded so how how guests interpreted the prompt and shapes.

Version II

• Guests prompted at museum entrance to use cellphones or tablet to use Guide by Cell to explore the shapes around the world.
• Artworks that contain the symbols highlighted will have wall plaque with image and QR code with the shape.
• Code leads to GBC page with information on the meaning of the shape in the collection, will also mention what other collections the shape can be found in.

Challenges

While developing this prototype, the ideal was always Version I. Which in concept seemed easy enough, users submit photo to a database, and that data is called into a website with design elements.

Pulling the data from said database proved harder than we thoughts.

• Initially we tried using Guide By Cell, the Lowe's mobile tour service, and after some time we were able to use their features to form a database of photos and captions. The issue came when we needed to pull that data, there was no way to streamline it so it would update automatically. And to create that API would be an added cost to the museum.
• We then turned to something as simple as a Google Form which would then of course drop all that data into a beautiful Google Sheet. This again proved more complicated, as pulling the photo data from the sheet through an API was not working.
• Eventually we came to a different form program called JotForm, which not only had a great UI for the user process itself, but also pulls an API with all the information needed. Unfortunately this breakthrough came the day before this project was due. So instead I was at least able to develop Version II and get that working, which is what we have below.