Tag: portable devices

The museum/academic divide, museum labels and mobile-accessible interpretation…

This post from the Smarthistory blog, Writing the Museum Label on a Wiki (and some other ideas), very neatly brings together some of the proposals and conversations from MW2009.

The authors suggest two ‘notions’ to bring about greater collaboration between museum educators (in the broadest sense) and academics, starting with the premise that:

For some time now, we have been publicly questioning the division that exists between two professional groups tasked with educating the public about art: those in museums (curators and educators) and those in the academy (art historians). These two communities share expertise that is sought by the museum visitor and the student, yet they rarely meet, too often do not attend the same conferences, and almost never collaborate.

I won’t pre-empt their notions here – go and read the article, but I just wanted to highlight this quote:

Can the tired modernist fiction that the direct experience of the object must remain unencumbered by the frame of context really still be operative?

I really hope not!

(As an aside, my inner web geek is hugely amused by the irony of the ‘403’ contained within the URL of the article – 403 is the HTTP status code for ‘access forbidden’.)

“Download costs restrict spread of mobile learning”

Report from the BCS, Download costs restrict spread of mobile learning says:

As mobile devices with internet access become more common, the rise of learning on the move is edging closer. Its uptake is, however, still hampered by the cost to download large volumes of data and the multiplicity of browsers.

Well, yes – but when will that be solved? And how?

Reduced download charges will probably be lead by the music industry, who want us to download ringtones and chart songs.

Interesting use of location-aware devices at the Tower of London.

“The new game employs HP’s iPAQ handheld devices and location sensors to trigger the appropriate digital file, which includes voices, images, music and clues.

HP said that developing the new game has helped it to explore opportunities for new products and services that will emerge around the delivery of location and other context-based experiences.”

Via the BCS.

I’ve always wanted to do something like a ‘museum outside the walls’ where hand-held devices or mobile phones deliver content based on your location. They could be used in walking tours, or signs could let people know that content is available. London has so many layers of history, and the Museum has so much content about London’s histories.