Cinematographic story-telling, super-zoom, x-ray, infrared (IR) ultraviolet (UV) gigapixel enriched content and cross-museum digital content licensing platform enhancing EU museums competitiveness

Project Information

scMODULES

Grant agreement ID: 778609

DOI

10.3030/778609

Project closed

EC signature date 19 July 2017

Start date 1 August 2017

End date 31 July 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 1 681 281,25

EU contribution

€ 1 176 896,88

Coordinated by

THE MAD PIXEL FACTORY, SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - scMODULES (Cinematographic story-telling, super-zoom, x-ray, infrared (IR) ultraviolet (UV) gigapixel enriched content and cross-museum digital content licensing platform enhancing EU museums competitiveness)

Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2019-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In recent years, digitisation and improving/enhancing/complementing the visitor experience has become a priority for museums. It is critical for museums to increase attendance and for increasing attendance it is critical to enhance the user experience via technology and bringing the museum to people who may never visit it. Institutions that can better implement the transition to the digital museum experience are going to survive and thrive in the 21st century.
But becoming a digital museum is not similar to only digitise artworks. Becoming a digital museum implies responding to some challenges among which the most critical ones are:
• Enhancing the user experience via technology.
• Connect the physical and the digital, the in-person and the online.
• Bringing the museum to people who may never visit it (Expanding the concept of visitor).
• Cross-museum collaboration: Increasing the collaboration that takes place between museums and turn it into more revenues.
• Focusing on the power of big data analytics to optimize museum operations.
The need for going digital has been already massively assumed by museums; the main problem is that not all the museums can assume necessary investments. It has been perceived that small and medium museums are lagging behind in this digital race. EU needs disruptive and innovative but cost-efficient solutions affordable by small and medium museums to get rid of the idea that only large institutions can implement these innovative activities.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

"From the technology point of view, during the second period the complete beta version of scMODULES has been developed and tested with +75 museums from the EU and beyond. This version includes the following functionalities:
Convert the digital images of their collection into a browsable and “zoomable” format.
Enrich those “browsable” images with multimedia content and interactive narratives.
Publish the result on multiple online mediums (internally called “projects).
Publish a selection of these enriched images on scMarketplace (aka scNetwork).
Create different user profiles.
Analyse data gathered from visitors and users interactions with content (scANALYTICS).

From the communication point of view, Madpixel has been very active in events attendance, highlighting the following events: We Are Museums (Marrakech, May 2018); WWDC, Worldwide Developers Conference (San Francisco, June 2018); MuseumNext (London June 2018); Art#Connexion (Paris, July 2018); EIC Innovators' Summit (Berlin, September 2018); ArtTech Forum (Geneva, October 2018); MCN, Museum Computer Network (Denver, November 2018);"

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Thanks to Second Canvas Modules (scMODULES from now on) Madpixel intends to change the way people visit museums while at the same time creates a new and disruptive market for inter-museum cross-licensing digital content. scMODULES allows museums to access a suite of multiple advanced services at a very low cost. Some of the services include:

- Efficient production of enriched gigapixel images out of their artworks including additional information layers such as X-Ray, Infrared and ultraviolet view and attractive capabilities such as SuperZoom (scIMAGES) or cinematographic storytelling throughout the digital object.
- Once this enriched content has been generated by scMODULES the platform allows museums to easily publish, re-use and exploit it.
o Publish it in multi-format multi-device thanks to services such as scAPPs and scMADGAZINE.
o Safely license the content to other museum allowing digital exhibitions (scMARKETPLACE).
- Analyse data gathered from visitors and users interactions with content both during physical and virtual visits to the museum and optimise strategies, routes and other added value services with scANALYTICS.

Therefore, scMODULES is designed to respond clear needs from end users (Museums). scMODULES offers an extremely cost-effective solution to become a “digital museum” and benefit from digital technologies and the new digital channels to reach the visitor and provide them a seamless enhanced experience.

Robotised automatic generation of super high definition images

Apps publicised as result from museums tests with scMODULES

scMODULES stand at EIC innovations event