Museums • History

National Library audio guide

Client

Location

Completed

National Library Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa

Wellington, New Zealand

2021

The Process

We were engaged to develop an audio guide for the National Library Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa’s permanent exhibition, He Tohu and the marae ātea.

The audio guide also had to describe art works and other points of interest in the building. We love audio guides. They enhance the visitor experience for people with visual impairments. They allow us to present the content in multiple languages. And they are an opportunity to provide extra insights into an exhibition or space. They are like having experts at the visitor’s shoulder sharing secrets, and even encouraging them to touch objects that they might otherwise be hesitant to lay a hand on.

The creative side of making this audio guide was a collaborative, multi-step process in which we:

Consulted with members of staff to identify topics to be covered and potential interviewees
Walked through the space with the interviewees and recorded their off-the-cuff interviews about various aspects of the space
Worked through all the recordings, pulling them all together into a cohesive story
Transcribed the interviews and cut them down into shorter (but still verbatim) pieces, and read these aloud to make a prototype audio guide
Carried out user testing, edited and finally recorded the scripts with the original interviewees
Mixed interviewees’ words with archival excerpts, bridging pieces of narration, sound effects and music

This process worked well. The initial free-flowing conversations revealed the stories behind both the objects as well as the building itself. For example, Dean Whiting, Te Whanauā Apanui, talked about the large panel behind the reception desk and what it told us:

“The large woven panel behind the desk represents the sail, the ra, of the waka. The pattern on it is called roimata and it talks about the pain of separation. Sometimes, when you’re seeking new opportunities, like our people were doing when they journeyed here, there is a cost in terms of what you leave behind.”

On the technical side, we used New Zealand-founded MyTours (now known as STQRY), a kind of DIY platform for creating audio/multimedia guides and publishing them as apps for mobile devices to build the audio guide.

In addition, we created a sign language version for maximum visitor accessibility.

The Result

The end-product is an insightful, moving, accessible audio guide shedding new light on He Tohu and the building in which it is housed.

The 22-minute guide comprises 12 ‘stops,’ each with an image and short synopsis of the object or location being described.

In collaboration with our client, we also created a New Zealand Sign Language version of the audio guide. This was a way to improve access for deaf and hearing impaired communities to the taonga and knowledge housed at the National Library.

Learn more about how we helped create the National Library Audio Guide on our blog