Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog » Play Art Loud

What next for ArtBabble?

Daniel Incandela — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:35:09 +0000

It’s amazing how time flies. It seems like yesterday that ArtBabble officially launched, all the way back in April. I remember many of the IMA staff, and even our friends at Art:21 working into the early hours of the night to make sure everything was ready for the launch. I might have even enjoyed a glass of scotch to celebrate when I finally went to bed around 3am. It was a proud accomplishment for many of us at the IMA who had poured a tremendous amount of effort into creating the site. On top of that, we were beyond thrilled to partner with organizations like Art:21, LACMA, SFMoMA, MoMA, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and NYPL.

But, you might be quick to point out, that’s yesterdays news. And you’re right.

Goodies on ArtBabble

On Tuesday Kate wrote a brief news story on ArtBabble’s front page, so I thought I would expand on that.

What have we been doing since April? A lot. After the launch, we received a tremendous amount of requests on how to become an ArtBabble partner. It was slightly overwhelming, but also inspiring. We went through the process of assessing all of the requests, working closely with our original partners as advisers (actually setting up an Advisory Group), to identify the next steps and next batch of video content. Since IMA staff run ArtBabble (kind of like a second job) we had to figure out the balance of growing ArtBabble and keeping up with all the other projects at IMA – the blog, exhibition(s) planning, video production, Flickr, an iPod Touch tour, grant writing, Bird cams, office pranks, meetings, you get the picture…This meant instead of adding 40 new partners at once, we had to consider adding in stages. Somewhere in the middle of this, we added a new Goodies page on the site, and started a Play Art Loud Flickr group featuring AB bumper stickers.

So, the next step is a Phase Two launch of ArtBabble on Tuesday, July 28. Mark your calendars! We’re talking lots of new partners, lots of new videos, and a more diverse selection of art content. This Phase Two launch will be followed with more rolling launches as we’re able to manage the new partner relationships and content preparation for AB. It’s all leading to what we hope will be the premier destination for viewing art videos online.

So, please feel free to help spread the word about July 28. I would love to hear any comments, theories or suggestions for next ArtBabble steps. And we still have lots of bumper stickers.

More ArtBabble Goodies

In the midst of writing this post, I announced it on Twitter, soliciting questions about ArtBabble. Below, you’ll find the list of some of those questions, with my responses.

Why create something new instead of just using a channel on YouTube? Long list of reasons – improved art search results, the prospect of creating an art-focused video community, the ability to create a space managed by museum professionals, incredible video quality, transcriptions, the Notes that appear to the right of each video, a chance to seize a real opportunity online….

How did ArtBabble get championed in-house and how did it get funded? We already had a successful in-house video team, and were already developing Web sites in-house. Max Anderson, Rob Stein and I had been talking about some version of IMA TV for a couple of years – ArtBabble seemed like the best approach (something more relavant than just IMA content). Since video and web development were already a big part of IMA efforts, it was a pretty straight project forward to initiate. The site was developed entirely in-house by IMA staff, with support from the top down, and was funded by a grant from the Ball Brothers Foundation.

If y’all got any do-overs w/ respect to ArtBabble, what would you change? Such a tough question. More videos, and more partners, but this will take time. And, I would love some Robot Art content (but that’s me).

How will the site evolve? In terms of content and partners, it will evolve through these rolling launches as quickly as IMA staff can handle this process. The actual site will evolve with new features…but that’s further down the line.

Could a visitor contribute? Not right now (except for comments), but it’s something we’re thinking about. So, who knows in the future…

Babble On!

Stick it

Kate — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:39:25 +0000

It’s awful quiet around the Nugget Factory today. ‘The Dans’ (Dan, Danny, and Daniel) are in Spain shooting footage for the upcoming Sacred Spain exhibit.

So here I am: kinda lonely, still nursing an ArtBabble hangover, and jamming to the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, when Phil stops by with a huge stack of robin’s egg blue ArtBabble stickers. What’s a girl to do?

Why, take pictures of said stickers! Of course!

Play Art Loud... on my desk.

What’s next? We want pictures from YOU- snap a shot of yourself with a Play Art Loud sticker or of your sticker in a really cool place. Submit them to the Flickr Group or add them to our Facebook page. I’ll feature the good ones here on the blog.

Here’s a few examples from IMA Staff members:

From Noelle

From Danny

From Daniel

From Jenny

Don’t have a sticker? Comment below or stop by the IMA or Bloggers Anonymous (more to come on that) and we’ll get you one! Play Art Loud.

May I present to you – The Davis LAB & ArtBabble

Daniel Incandela — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:25:23 +0000

Drum roll please. After months of planning, coding, designing, critiquing, laughter, inappropriate laughter, sweat, blood, encoding, decisions, indecisions, mistakes, moments of ctrl-alt-del, late nights, early mornings, epiphanies, and many other things, I am pleased to announce both The Davis LAB, and officially ArtBabble. To quote the artist, Willis ‘Bing’ Davis – It’s been a whole journey of love.

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about plans for The Davis LAB, and shared some early design concepts. Well, on Saturday it opens and you can see it for yourself. Phil & Noelle in marketing, just sent out a Facebook invite to all of the IMA Fans. If you’re free on Saturday, stop by our new space to meet staff, check out the final designs, maybe get some free stuff and…that’s about it.

Computer interface for The Davis LAB -We have some amazing designers on staff.

Actually that isn’t it. The opening of The Davis LAB is also your first chance to experience ArtBabble — our new online, HD, art video station/website – really, much more – a new way of experiencing video. It’s currently in its Beta version with many of us (Marketing, Education, New Media, Application Developers and more) still tweaking, writing content, adding videos, finalizing design, etc. In recent posts, I’ve preached a little about releasing sites or projects in a less than perfect state. We’re doing the same thing with ArtBabble, but with a twist.

ArtBabble sneak peak - we've got great designers here

The twist is this. If you visit artbabble.org – you get a sign in screen. We’re being slightly protective about the site for the time being. We are still making changes by the hour and importantly monitoring the quality of video delivery. If you’re going to take the time to watch our brand new documentary on Maya Lin, a conversation with Robert Irwin (featuring our very own Richard), or relive some of the highlights from our Roman Art from the Louvre webis, we want you to experience this in 720p! So, we’re releasing AB in its Beta state, where membership has its privileges. Sign up for an account and we’ll gradually release access to ArtBabble with your own set of invites. You can spread the love – kind of like you did when you got your Gmail account.

Or – if you can’t wait for one of the AB admins to release your account, you have (2) options. The first, is visit The Davis LAB starting Saturday and beyond. We will have the unrestricted version of ArtBabble running in the space on a projector or our computer stations. You can Play Art Loud, select any of our videos, find the official defintion of ArtBabble – and send invites to your friends, families and fans – directly from the LAB. Option (2) – If you live outside of Indy, have other plans or just want it now, leave me a comment. I’ll look up your e-mail through WordPress and send you an invite. I have plenty. Babble On.

Don't you want to send some invites?