Open Forum

We are planning to present an interactive VR display at the upcoming Musuem Expo. I would like to know how various museums service and maintain their interactive displays. Some electronic display might require a PC running in the background do the museums have IT personnel responsible for general upkeep or do they do a service contract with the vendor providing the product in the first place.

 Thank you

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Umer Farooq
Owner/Producer
Radical VR
Toronto, ON
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Hi Umer,

Here at OMCA, I'm a full-time staff member charged with maintenance of all multimedia and interactive elements - over 200 of them throughout 93,000 sq. ft. of gallery space! Some interactives were created and installed by a media engineering company while the galleries were being completely renovated, and they must service their proprietary systems. This means that they would replace devices that they designed, and their programmer adjusts scripts controlling the devices - but I am responsible for general upkeep and maintenance of display devices, making sure environmental conditions are good for operations, etc. We don't have a service contract with them, but I get in touch as-needed to schedule work.

 We do have many additional interactives that were created by various contracted individuals or smaller media companies, and they were delivered as turnkey exhibits without any service component. That's where I fill the gap to keep things running smoothly, plan upgrades, and develop budgets for maintenance costs.

I've personally had mixed experiences with the proprietary systems requiring service by the companies. In some cases, the system unexpectedly goes haywire but we haven't budgeted to pay them the very high hourly rates - but when we have budgeted, they quickly fix the problem and everyone is on their merry way. In another case, a different company and I disagree on where the problem lies, and the system remains buggy because their period of initial service has ended but the product never worked 100% properly in the first place and implementation was poorly managed.

I have to say, since you're the owner of your company, that if you require a service contract your system should be reliable to begin with, and you must be responsive and efficient with the work performed. Otherwise you run the risk of making your clients feel ripped off and frustrated that this awesome thing they invested in doesn't work when they need it to.

 Best of luck at the Expo!

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Sasha Dobbs
Media Support Technician
Oakland Museum of California
Oakland CA
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