A Challenge for the Museums

Museums understand or should understand the potential threat that the previously mentioned unauthorized podcasts carry. They can threaten the image of the museum or turn potential visitors away from the museum.

That is why museums like SFMOMA and other bigwig museums are paying much detail to what image they are creating through their podcasts. People of all ages are experiencing and taking advantage of these new technological opportunities. However, keeping image in mind, the above-mentioned museums are targeting a younger audience through their podcasts.

According to a Denver Post article written by Steven Rosen and published on July 4, 2006 “more than 20 million Americans 18 and older have Apple iPods or other digital music players. And because the iPod revolution has been youth-driven, the challenge for museums is to make podcasts less didactic and one-dimensional than traditional on-site audio tours.”

Understanding these statistics, the SFMOMA’s Peter Samis (associate curator of interpretation) chose to not use formal voice-over professional- it sounded “too professional.” Instead, another more informal voice was chosen. However, Samis says, “It’s still a little bit more than what we want. We’re not looking for Mr. Museum Voice. Not Charlton Heston.”




For those of you like me who don’t know who Charlton Heston is, click!

Anyways, back to “The Voice.”

Click here to listen to this month's SFMOMA artcast.

This goes to show that it’s always important to keep in mind who your audience is. In my next entry I will talk about another case of “The Voice.” This one however, puts statistics aside and sticks to tradition. Which one is better? Well, you can be the judge of that.