Gallery Install

OverviewGallery Install

This guide will walk you through some of AccessKit's tried and true features, provide recommendations and tips on effective Exhibition installation, and help you get the most out of your interactive museum and gallery experience, for guests and staff alike.

Where to Put QR Codes

QR Codes are an integral part of any modern gallery space. They supply a digital pathway linking to relevant information, and working to deepen relationships between viewers, artworks, artists, and institutions.

Each Work set up with AccessKit comes with its own unique QR Code so that visitors can easily find the accessible content. Below are some example of QR Code placement and orientation to create a streamlined interaction between the art on display and its detailed web presence:

• Included with main wall text, linking to Exhibition URL
• Included on wall placard corresponding to individual artwork, linking to Work URL

• Separate call-out sticker next to artwork, linking to Work URL
• Floor sticker, linking to Work URL
• QR Code linking to an index of all captioned Works, at beginning or end of Exhibition

We also recommend including some basic copy accompanying your AccessKit QR Code, such as:

• A frictionless and immersive synchronized viewing experience across a range of accessibility and language needs.

Information for Docents

AccessKit provides Captions, which transcribe the audio contents of video and multimedia artworks, to enhance the viewing experience for hearing-impaired guests. These are accessed directly via viewers' mobile devices and displayed live alongside video works.

Likewise, Audio descriptions are also available to accompany artwork audio tracks and detail on-screen action. These descriptions create a holistic experience for visually-impaired guests and may be accessed with or without headphones, for tours or individual viewing.

Additionally, AccessKit maintains a channel to Transcriptions of video and multimedia Works. This allows curators, critics, and guests to independently investigate and reference the complete, corresponding texts to these artworks.

Accessible Tours

AccessKit prioritizes an equity-driven experience for guests of all backgrounds and abilities.

The following features were designed to enhance and facilitate interactions between viewers, guides, and artworks:

• Museum-wide sensory sensitivity mode supports immediate volume adjustment for all Mediaplayers in your institution or Exhibition. Volume can be fine-tuned for Works in your Exhibition admin page as a proportion of their original volume setting. This is especially useful during group tours, neurodivergent hours, or social events:

  • default: 1 (full volume)
  • min: 0 (silent)
  • max: 2 (double volume)
  • mid: 0.5 (half volume)

• Synchronized audio descriptions allow visually-impaired guests to experience installations in real time conveniently via their mobile devices.

• Toggle on/off on-screen captions is a forthcoming innovation designed to improve the ease and accessibility of captions associated with video works.

How to Generate Captions

AccessKit integrates clean and attractive mobile captioning for video and multimedia works, which pairs with Mediaplayers to create an immersive, synchronous experience for guests.

We offer an easy content management system for multiple caption and audio tracks, with an AI-assist feature for translating captions to multiple languages.

Captions can be effortlessly synced with video via .srt files uploaded and stored with their corresponding Work.

An .srt is a simple, plain-text file that contains critical information regarding subtitles associated with a video work.

• You can generate your own .srt files in TextEdit or Notepad by following these instructions.

• Many online services, such as Rev and 3Play Media, render quick .srt creation.

• AccessKit is also pleased to provide conversion services for text files associated with video and other multimedia Works to .srt. Inquire for rates.

If a video or multimedia Work does not include any language-based audio, you can create a filler caption to ensure viewers that they're not missing out on any content. For example:

• [No audio...] or [Ambient music plays...]

Installation Timeline

AccessKit offers a tier of services related to setting up Mediaplayers to support Exhibition installs, based on subscription plan. This varies from:

• Up to 2 players for our Community Edition members
• Up to 12 for those enrolled in our Institutional plan
• Unlimited player support for Institutional Plus subscribers

We recommend finalizing your AccessKit needs and orders at least 1 month in advance of your Exhibition installation.

We offer off-site set up for players delivered at least 1 week before they are to be installed in the Exhibition.

We ensure timely remote assistance in syncing the correct firmware and player bundles on all Mediaplayers to enable media playback and captioning for video works.

If your Mediaplayer is in an inaccessible or hard-to-reach location, you can swap out media and captions remotely, rather than go through a manual update. Instructions for both processes are detailed here.

How to Integrate with Existing Mobile Guides

AccessKit makes it easy to integrate captions, transcripts, and other features with your institutional website and mobile guide apps.

The Configuration page can accessed by clicking the Gear icon on your AccessKit admin page. It includes a Home Back Link URL option, which can lead viewers directly back to your institutions website, app, or mobile guide.

We also offer a custom stylesheet, along with custom icons, allowing your museum, gallery, or other institution to match your brand identity between your mobile guide or website with AccessKit's caption user interface.

See, for instance, The Whitney's integration of our customized captioning services. with a link at the top of the page back to the museum's official mobile guide: