Paid Crowdsourcing as Concept and Content Generator to Enhance Museum Experiences

Abstract

Current design and development practices for technologies in museums are costly and difficult to scale. We present a case study that shows that paid crowdsourcing is a viable approach for the design of a Museum app from concept to the development of a working prototype, and the creation of scalable content for over 80 museums worldwide. The concept that was developed is a quiz-type mobile app, the content of which was collected by existing crowdsourcing platforms. Our work extends prior studies of crowdsourcing in cultural institutions by reporting on the process, platforms, and data we utilized so that other institutions could replicate them. Paid crowdsourcing of content for a mobile museum application creates opportunities for new museum experiences that fit into the modern technological society. This emerging crowdsourcing approach addresses the evolving museum trend of being community-centered. The case study shows interesting opportunities for content modification regarding decent and up-to-date information which can make the application self-sustaining.

Appendix 1 Quiz questions provided by Crowdflower workers (in bold the right answers)

#	Museum	Question	Answers
1	Philippine Museum, Manila	Who made the Spoliarium?	Juan Luna
			Luna Juan
			Picasso
			Dali
2	Indian National Museum, NewDelhi	How many art pieces does this museum have?	200,000
			250,000
			100,000
			500,000
3	Paschendale 1917, Zonnebeke, Belgium	What is the museum about?	Fight of Paschendale
			Victory of Paschendale
			Loosing of Paschendale
			Constitution of Paschendale
4	National Historic Museum, Sofia Bulgaria	Who made the Samara flag?	Nuns
			Soldiers
			Wife
			Themselves
5	National Historic Museum, Sofia Bulgaria	How many Items you can find in the museum?	650,000
			100,000
			1000,000
			500,000
6	Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad	What is a talking clock?	English bracket clock
			French Clock
			Russian Clock
			German Clock
7	El Prado, Madrid	In which century Madera made Las Meninas?	17th
			16th
			15th
			18th
8	Musei Vaticani, Roma	On which myth is Laocoon and his sons inspired?	Trojan Wars
			Heracles and Heracleidae
			Argonauts
			House of Atreus
9	Louvre, Paris	Who painted the Mona Lisa?	Leonardo da Vinci
			Rembrandt
			Dali
10	Louvre, Paris	How many works are exhibited?	35,000
			20,000
			15,000
			45,000
11	Cappella Sansevero, Napoli	Who sculptured the Veiled Christ?	Giuseppe Sanmartino
			St. Antonio
			Davor Salhi
			Michelangelo
12	MoMa, New York	Who painted the girl in front of a mirror?	Pablo Picasso
			Dali
			Van Gogh
			Karel Appel
14	The museum of vintage ladies dresses, Kiev	When is the first lace parasol created?	1772
			1872
			1672
			1972
15	Victoria, Kolkata	Who is the architect of the museum?	William Emmerson
			Jean Paul Gaultier
			Henry Berkeley
			Anthony Lake
16	Athens Museum, Athens	Are all the statues in the museum complete?	No
			Yes
17	Museum for physics, Brussels	Where is this the Iguanodon found?	Bernissart
			Anvers
			Brussels
			Liege
18	Imperial Museum, Janeiro	Which year the museum starts their historic collection?	1943
			1843
			1899
			1950
19	Kiev Museum of Russian art, Kiev	When is Boris and Gleb painted?	14th century
			13th century
			15th century
			16th century
20	Museum of Macedonia, Skopje	Which artifacts are from Kokino?	Cans and Jars
			Plates and cutlery
			Pots and pans
			Jewelry
21	Ancient Museum, Thessaloniki Greece	What flag symbol had the ancient Macedonians in Greece?	Vergina Sun
			Vergina Moon
			Dorgina Sun
			Dorgina Moon
22	Hagia Sophia Museum, Istanbul	What do the mosaics reflect?	Christian Iconographics
			Islamic Iconographics
			Jew Iconographics
			Hindu Iconographics
23	Reina Sofia, Madrid	What type of art is in Reina Sofia?	Modern and Contemporary art Renaissance
			Midevil
			Bauhaus
24	Victoria Museum, Vijayawada	Who is the founder of the NIZAM Dynasty?	MIR QAMARUDDIN Khan
			Mir Ahmed Ali Khan
			Mir Hidayat muhi udin
			Mir Said Muhammad
25	Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam	Who Painted the “Nightwatch”?	Rembrandt
			Van Gogh
			Karel Appel
			Mondriaan