Bluetooth in Museums
Posted in Individualism, Technology on 24. Feb, 2009
Buzzeum.com posts about the use of Bluetooth in the Palais de Toyko for the exhibition entitled Gakona (post is in French). Video or audio content relating to what you are standing next to in the exhibition is sent to your phone via Bluetooth.
Nice to see Bluecasting being used for something other than bluespam. Although this is another one of those technologies which is a few years old but is still considered “new” because of the limited application. Connecting phones to transfer files (normally ringtones), connecting phone-to-pc, connecting some kind of game or Bluecasting and that’s about it for uses. Personally, I turn Bluetooth on my phone once every two months because of the power drain. So I may be missing the point entirely.
What makes this exhibition innovative is the introduction of choice at the start. By holding your “Bluetooth enabled device” (I’m guessing phone) near a section of wall, you can choose what language and what kind of content you want. The system will remembers your preference as you walk around the exhibition.
What would be interesting would be the choice of difficulty levels. Say, “Children”, “Teens”, “Adults” and “Experts” so that the language and the style could be tailored to allow for more inclusive distribution of information. Children don’t get lost, adults don’t get bored and teens and “experts” don’t feel patronised. Of course, you’d still need a Bluetooth phone that can play the media files, so it may not be that inclusive.
This is a great concept…sadly with the funding to museums being decreased here we will have to wait some time to try something like this out.
I struggle some times with how to “fit” a new technology into a museum or store so that it’s truly valueable immediately to people. This is a great example of how bluetooth could work well—the chocie of what type of content, what language + the localization of BT + the ubiquity of BT phones and earphones = a real winner
It means a lot when you say that, Rohn.