Like any other museum, the Brooklyn Museum can be challenging to navigate for those who've never visited before.
In an effort to provide directional assistance to the public, the venue has launched the ASK Brooklyn Museum App. Available for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, this smartphone companion does more than guide visitors through the venue.
While it helps navigating through the Egyptian artifacts and European paintings, ASK Brooklyn is also designed to act as a tour guide, providing further insight into the works of the museum. Visitors can ask the app questions and share photos of objects in real-time to gather information on what they're seeing. The ASK Brooklyn Audience Engagement Team provides answers within 45 seconds. Users are authorized to ask questions anonymously through the app, which only operates within the Brooklyn Museum.
"People like the anonymity of it," Shelley Bernstein, vice director of digital engagement and technology at the museum, told AM New York. "They don't feel like they're asking a stupid question."
Team members who are qualified to respond to ASK Brooklyn questions typically specialize in certain areas of the museum. Their answers usually refer users to a wide range of resources, including the museum's internal wiki, Brooklyn Museum publications and artist statements.
As app users walk through the museum, they are tracked with location-aware Bluetooth sensors to identify exactly where they are in the facility. The goal is to provide the Audience Engagement Team with more information on what a visitor is referring to in his or her question.
Since the launch of the app, there have been some instances in which team members could not answer an app user's question. In these particular cases, Audience Engagement Team Member Megan Mastrobattista told AM New York that they usually offer to get back to the individual at a later date.
ASK Brooklyn was developed after a pilot research program revealed that visitors were looking for a more personal connection with the museum's staff, according to Museum 2.0. Its solid five-star rating in the App Store may be indicative of whether its developers have satisfied museum visitors thus far.
