The approach will be to build early usable prototypes that will be implemented in creating exhibits and experiences in the museums and galleries early in the project. This early implementation will assist in gathering useful feedback early so that the team can iterate on and improve the solutions.
The project schedule is designed to build upon simple and then increasingly complex solutions, allowing the team to coalesce before diving into more complex solutions. The activities are intentionally front-loaded, building on existing solutions to enable an aggressive implementation plan for iterative refinement.
The first year or Phase I of the project will be divided into four quarterly phases as follows:
April-June 2009: Exploratory Phase |
July-Sept 2009: Maps and mobile |
Oct.-Dec. 2009: Implementation |
Jan.-March 2010: Templates & API |
Team building & site visits |
Preliminary service API |
Object bookmarking service and components |
Pair up designers to work on exhibit templates with mini-grantees |
Data and service inventory |
Testable mobile app prototype (iPhone) |
Refinements to map authoring tool |
Solid API for services and components |
UX research with museum curators and staff |
Map authoring tool & implementation; begin map/audio tie-together |
Search service and components |
Mobile app prototype running on another platform |
Architecture sketches |
Design & implementation of early authoring templates |
Refinement of data integration services |
Museum data integration implementations |
Wireframes for map authoring, navigation, and mobile app |
Prototype data integration and search services |
Coordinate implementation mini-grants |
Ongoing community vision & roadmap |
Expanded Year 1 Quarterly Deliverables
The following section provides an expanded description of the deliverable schedule presented in Table 1.
Q2 2009 |
Community
• do team building as early as possible with site visits
• gather basic info (inventory) from museums about their infrastructure and enterprise solutions
• talk to museum professionals (user analysis) to identify pain-points |
architecture
• sketches to structure the work of the project as a whole (in particular authoring and services early on): focusing on data import and search |
mobile
• planning and early sketches on one platform |
maps
• take web-ready map and work it into early web app prototype
• social networking
• conceptual work; tie-in with architecture services sketches
• authoring resources
• begin templates from idea to development in this quarter: planning, scoping, to coding. |
UX
• build up to wireframes of map presentation
• do early designs of components coming out of map/web work for pick-up by developers in Q4 2009
• work on mobile designs for one platform
• identify components and roadmap them out for build: focusing on mobile and authoring templates |
output:
• sketches of architecture (services, authoring, web solutions); early UX work on maps in particular; UX planning for building out components for authoring and mobile; a sense of what communities we need to integrate solutions for (ContentMS, CollectionMS, DB, etc.); early mobile sketches |
Q3 2009 |
Community
• regular sharing and check-ins of work; plug-n-chug workflow |
architecture
• deliver preliminary API and implement with early museum use-case |
mobile
• testable prototype with basic functionality |
maps
• do implementations of map solution in early museum use-case; tie-together with existing audio solutions for early audio tour integration |
social networking
• look for low-hanging fruit for integration into services
• authoring
• early implementation in museum use-case |
UX
• continue component work (continue to refine work on map design with feedback and user testing with early adopters)
• focus on mobile and authoring here (second mobile platform early work) |
output:
• early implementations; early exhibit authoring templates; early map example; mobile prototype
- basic map authoring tool
- component(s) for displaying maps and information
- native mobile app
- early tie-in with audio tour
- some exhibit templates
- an early exhibit web site
|
First Six Month Deliverable Sketch: April-Sept 2009 |
April - June Map creation
- not factored as a service, just image editing (desktop and mobile)
April - June Data inventory + preliminary service API
April - July Tag it with objects
- couple of map display components
- map + quickview
July - Sept. Preliminary data import/search indexing
July - Sept. Render it on web and mobile
- iPhone
July - Sept. Integrate museum audio materials with map/mobile
July - Sept. Decide on implementation mini grants; adjust priorities accordingly; build out from early implementations
June/July Bring team together for a working meeting in Toronto
|
Q4 2009 |
Community
• continue to work closely with museum partners and ensure project is engaging with the broader open source community and the cultural institution community; preparation for coordinating and executing mini grants |
architecture
• services: search and social networking + tie-in with CMSs |
mobile
• continue to refine the prototype, integrating it with social networking work; work on second platform |
maps
• continue to work with museums to build additional functionality into map (tie-in with services + early interaction (bookmarking)) |
social networking
• focus on low hanging fruit for integration into map and mobile in particular |
authoring
• focus on building out authoring templates that capture an abstracted solution rather than a cookie-cutter and work in the component work from the early design work on map/web |
UX
• continue to work toward design solutions that compliment the deliverables (i.e. mobile, map, authoring templates) |
output:
• couple of social software hooks, more design on authoring tools and templates; more mobile work (second platform); more component work (tie-in with early work)
• begin to tie-it-all-together (services > authoring > map > mobile + web) |
Q1 2010 |
Community
• manage mini grants and work coming out from that – manage expanding and contracting of team as the mini grant work continues |
architecture
• solid API |
mobile
• roll-out mobile solution to museum partner |
maps
• tie together with social networking |
social networking
• tied in with services to be used for maps and authoring |
authoring
• tie-in with services plus multiple implementations with museum partners |
UX
• pair up UI and UX designers to build out multiple templates in consultation with museum partners/mini-grant awardees |
output:
• multiple authoring template implementation examples, mini-grant implementation work, further tie-together of social networking with services (search and index) plus build-out to platforms (web, mobile ((authoring)). |
Second half deliverables: Oct 2009-April 2010 |
Oct-Dec Ability to "bookmark" items from map into a "save for later"
- service + component
Oct-Dec Search service + components
Oct-April Mini grants: implementation; real exhibits powered by Engage
- templates as a deliverable from mini grants
- pair the UX and UI resources of the community up to create generalized exhibit templates
Jan-April Templates (see above)
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