Assistive technology that travels: the Hmong Museum

The Hmong Museum brings Hmong tradition to all visitors regardless of ability, language, or physical location.

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At a glance

  • Institution: Hmong Museum
  • Location: St. Paul, MN
  • Segment: Cultural center
  • Exhibitions: Changing Times
  • Audiences: Non-English or -Hmong speaking, visually-impaired, mobility-challenged, seniors, children, learning-impaired, socially-anxious, recordkeepers
  • Features: Multilingual text, location independence, visual accessibility, screenreader support, content acquisition, exhibit history

Overcoming barriers

ChallengeResolution
Traveling exhibit accessibilityTiny, cellular-friendly data payloads
Punitive non-profit technology pricingVisitor volume-aligned, grant-aligned contract
Retrofit existing exhibitionReady-to-use indicator/tag stickers
Translation costs and language selectionInstant translation into 136 languages
Unpredictable audience access needsFrictionless BYOD accessibility (no app iOS, instant download Android)

A cultural center in the cultural center

St. Paul, MN proudly hosts the largest Hmong community in the Western Hemisphere. If you've never been to Southeast Asia, the East Side's Hmong Village brings it to you. The scrolling banner on their site claims "Everything you need in one place" and they are not joking.

Inside, you'll lose yourself exploring farm stands, clothing retailers, restaurants, tax accountants, electronics repair stalls, and daily pop-up tables. Wander deeper and you'll find the Hmong Hall of Fame honoring Hmong war heroes, community leaders, and pioneers. It's there you'll find the Hmong Museum.

By preserving and sharing Hmong American history, the Hmong Museum builds vital cultural bridges across generations. Hmong Museum aspired to connect as far as possible, reaching people across ability, language, and preference—inside and beyond their walls. While accessible, multilingual content would certainly expand their stories' reach, the operational realities of their compact, weekend-only space—and an exhibit built to travel—make implementation seem like a tall tale instead of a true story.

"Uake" means together

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Changing Times is an interactive exhibit developed by Hmong Museum connecting modern visitors with Hmong practices of yesteryear through oral storytelling, communication, bamboo weaving, language and sounds, and spiritual blessings. Hmong Museum's exhibit designer, Outhouse Exhibit Services, introduced Capption as a way to expand Changing Times to new and underserved audiences. There were just a few hurdles, all of them major:

  1. Retrofit? Could we retrofit an existing, mostly fabric exhibit that doesn't have separate wall labels?
  2. Remote function? Would an accessibility tool work outside of the Hmong Museum in an unknown destination?
  3. Budget alignment? How could Hmong Museum afford a system like Capption?

We attacked each collaboratively:

  1. Fabric retrofitting. Traditional mounting was out. Instead, we created the "sticker sandwich", an NFC tag stuck to a flexible Capption indicator sticker designed to adhere to delicate fabric displays without damaging textiles.
  2. Remote function. Solved before we began. Capption was battle-tested using busy museum WiFi and slow 3G/4G cellular connectivity during primary development.
  3. Budget alignment. Limited hours, traffic, and budget required that we negotiate an affordable one-time, long-term purchase.

With each challenge overcome, Outhouse's intern created Changing Times' content in Capption's admin interface in an hour having never used it before, then tagged, encoded, installed, and tested every tag in 15 minutes, if that. Suddenly, Changing Times had total, portable, affordable accessibility.

Changing Times indeed

Across just 9 exhibits in a weekend-only space, Changing Times' delivered legendary depth.

"I can't believe we were able to help this way. Thank you!"

—Executive Director at Hmong Museum

Changing Times key stats:

  • Accessibility use: 30% over three quarters, 50% Q4 2025
  • Alternative language ratio: 40% of scans not English or Hmong
  • Top alternative languages: Cebuano, Spanish, Japanese, Hungarian, Danish
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Hmong Museum proved it's possible for a local cultural center to reach new people anywhere without massive institutional staff or budget.

Passing down knowledge

As Changing Times tours the world, let us know if you see it!

Thank you to the Hmong Museum team and Outhouse Exhibit Services for connecting visitors to Hmong heritage throughout Minnesota and beyond.

Go further

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