The Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture is a partnership between the Arts Council England, Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and NESTA to support arts and cultural organisations across England who want to work with digital technologies to expand their audience reach and engagement and/or explore new business models. Dickens: London Trails is a new location-based app that links diverse organisations and destinations by curated thematic content.

1. 1. What is your project? What are you trying to achieve?
A digital tool by which London’s
cultural quarters can develop
collaborative projects based
Insert
around shared thematic content
in order to encourage the cross-
fertilisation of and to develop
new audiences. Launch April
2012 with Dickens: London
Trails, marking the author’s
bicentenary

2. 2. What will your project deliver?
Products and Knowledge Research
services and skills outputs
• Insights into consumer
• A new location-based • Build audience perceptions of cultural
app, free to knowledge around a key trail apps, including
download, that links author’s life, times & desired features and
diverse organisations and works functionality and drivers
destinations by curated
• Peer-to-peer learning and barriers to usage
thematic content
Insert through partnering • Overview of current
• A piece of software and different types of market for cultural
design that is part-owned organisations together apps, including
by the arts organisation around related content characteristics and
• Licensable product with • Support learning of evidence of successful
potential to generate cultural organisations strategies
modest ongoing revenues around digital • Analysis of app usage
• New advertising and/or technology’s use, design data providing insights
sponsorship channel and challenges into actual audience
behaviour
• Implications for wider
sector

3. 3. Who is in your R&D team? How are you working together
to make the project happen?
Arts / Cultural Organisation Technology provider
Exhibition Road Cultural Group (project Seren Partners – advised on all
direction) and Charles Dickens Museum (key elements of user experience, design
content provider). ERCG led the bid and and technological capabilities. Seren
Dickens content was chosen both to celebrate also advised on all aspects of content
the author’s 2012 bicentenary and to support generation, including editing some copy
the CDM in a year when its physical building is to keep a consistent editorial tone.
undergoing a major renovation and closed to
the public from May.
Insert
Researchers Others
The research partner for the project, MTM Members of London Cultural Quarters
London, has worked closely with the core network, plus Cityread (London
team to support the development of the app borough library project) – the app is
through desk research to provide context for being marketed off Cityread’s PR
the project, and consumer research to test and campaign, as the focus of the
refine app concepts. Following launch of the campaign is Oliver Twist. We’ve
app we will also conduct analysis of usage incorporated Artful Dodger as a ‘trail
data to generate further insights and lessons guide’ to ensure the link with the project
for the wider sector. is explicit.

4. 4. What are you learning and developing that could be of
value to the sector?
• Production of a digital tool that will be shared amongst LCQ network
members and made available for licence to our members and other
cultural organisations at low cost, encouraging the use of digital
technology for audience engagement
Insert
• Cost, time and resource implications of generating sufficient high-
quality editorial content from multiple partners and contributors
• Consumer focus groups – and their insights – will become a critical
element in devising future digital projects for the partner
organisations

5. 5. Where are you in terms of your project’s development?
Completed work Still to do Challenges
• App launched on 22 • Develop
post-app marketing • Technological limitations
April 2012 on time and on and communications strategy prevented us linking push
budget notification to GPS, forcing
• Consider additional content
us to abandon serendipitous
• Marketing/PR and (subject to funding and
mode of the app
launch event held resource constraints)
• To help visitors avoid hefty
• Consumer focus group
Insert • Seek potential sponsor
data fees, we included map
research collated and for some/all editorial content
data in the app making it
written up moving forward
relatively heavy (180Mb)
• Market technology to
• No info collected from app
potential licensees
users with data roaming off
Evaluate
Develop Develop Live to
Project launch audience
and test and test market
data