http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/uguideme/id343925069?mt=8

or, by simplying going to http://uguideme.com

Regarding the time commitment needed to build a tour in the app, the time commitment is in creating the content, be it text, audio, video etc. However, as I think I mentioned in a previous post, this is time that museums, zoo, etc. are likely to spend regardless of what platform they choose as their host. Once this content is done, it literally takes less than an afternoon to place this content into the guide. After that, your guide is ready for your patrons and editing the Guide is even easier and less time consuming. I understand that there is work involved in determining what Guides you want to create, and what the content is you want to place in the Guides, but the actual process of creation and maintenance is completely manageable. If an art piece changes locations, you can simply drop and drag it onto the new location the map. If you’d like to update the audio for an exhibit, simply delete the old one and upload the new one. As soon as it’s saved, the Guide is available to the public and the public is alerted to the fact that there’s a new Guide available. We understand that time consuming maintenance is one of the major drawbacks of a proprietary solution. So in response, we’ve really tried to make the interface as simple and time efficient as possible for our users.

I like the idea of a museum advisory board very much. Even better, I’d like for museum developers to be able to have very direct input into the development of the product. This would both give us a stake in its success and quality, and reassure us that we have some ability to ensure that it will meet our needs. Although you do not charge museums for use of the platform through an up-front license fee or other, there is still a not insignificant time investment required to build a tour in the app and manage content there. I think we’re all looking for ways of minimizing the risk that all that work will have to be redone on yet another platform should uGuideMe cease to meet our needs. We barely have the time and resources to get our work done once, let alone redo it periodically because new platforms aren’t maintained or developed. This, to me, is the great attraction of opensource: that museums can to a greater degree be masters of their destiny using products developed collaboratively by the community. Also, more heads are usually better than one. Is there room to make the ‘opensource mentality’ you have mentioned more tangible, by having a developers’ forum or similar where museums can create optional functions or plug-ins on the uGuideMe platform and share them at no additional charge with their museum colleagues? Can’t this be a win-win: the product is enhanced at no additional cost to Mobile Excursions, the museums have more control over their destiny, and a greater stake in sticking with your platform?

Regarding assurances, as you all know, there’s no guarantee with any product, even open source, that it will always be supported. In fact, when I worked in industry, we were very concerned about putting our eggs into the open source basket because there was no single person, or company, accountable for its support and maintenance. However, in the case of Mobile Excursions, there are several aspects of our business model which should make our clients more comfortable. (1) We are a company and have people dedicated to the success of this venture. (2) The uGuideMe infrastructure doesn’t cost much to maintain. Our overall operating expenses are very low so continued operation of the program is very achievable even with rapid growth. (3) The amount of time and effort to create a Guide on uGuideMe is minimal. There is no “major investment” by our partners in uGuideMe proprietary software. Our partners own their own content, and they control their own content. uGuideMe simply packages all of this content up and provides it to the user in a great handheld package. Once the content is assembled, the actual time necessary to create the Guide is less than 2 hours. And, if desired, all of this content can be easily repurposed…it’s not wasted effort. (4) Finally, and very importantly, we actively seek user and partner feedback to make our products and services better. This is part of ensuring that partner needs will be incorporated into the design. In fact, we’ve recently toyed with the idea of assembling a committee of museum experts to provide design advice and suggestions regarding future enhancements to the uGuideMe platform. I’d be interested to see what this community thought of that plan and whether or not there would be interest in being a member.