A growing number of museums are working mobile technology into their storytelling options.
Museums have traditionally struggled with the challenge of being able to tell the story behind the objects and exhibits within a limited amount of space, but the use of augmented reality could be providing them with the chance to accomplish this goal with greater ease and effectiveness.
The struggle has been with the limited amount of space and resources in which to provide information.
For instance, little plaques may offer the ability to identify an object or provide a line or two of background, but they don’t offer any real depth of discovery. Moreover, if too much text is provided, the majority of people who visit the exhibit will not read the entire thing, negating its value. While attempts have been made to provide audio and video, or to give actual guided tours, there is some expense involved – and museums are notoriously cash strapped – and not everybody is interested in this type of fixed experience. Augmented reality is now offering an entirely new option and museums are taking notice.
Augmented reality allows a smartphone or tablet user to aim the device at a designated point and watch a scene come to life.
This AR experience provides a type of interactive, digital storytelling, which brings together the participation of the visitor with the automatic generation and narration of a story, in order to concentrate on providing the museum guest with a more personal and mobile version of the story. It is a convenient, fun, and educational form of entertainment. It is highly adaptive and provides the user with an experience that is more enjoyable, overall, than the button-activated or handheld audio tools that are much more standard.
The British Museum has managed to use this form of augmented reality storytelling for a very effective result. The technology was used, in this case, to bring children through a form of story puzzle that was displayed through the use of a dedicated tablet app that was designed in the form of a game. The “A Gift for Athena” game provided the visitor with rewards for having found certain statues based on their outlines, and, upon each discovery, gave the child more information about that exhibit before providing him or her with guidance to move on to the next stage of the game.
If these mobile gadgets ware going to be as popular as predicted, they will soon be in the workplace.
Wearable technology is moving ahead with leaps and bounds as smartwatches and other types of devices that can be worn on the body make their way onto the market shelves and are being scooped up by consumers.
It won’t take long before workplaces will need to come up with policies to manage their use.
Whether in the form of smartwatches, wristbands, pendants, belt clips, or even glasses, wearable technology is starting to become popular and the industry is predicting that it will be mainstream sooner rather than later. At a time in which businesses are only just starting to be able to come up with the right kinds of policies to safely implement bring your own device (BYOD) programs, a whole new form of mobile tech is now making its way into the space.
Wearable technology is different because it isn’t always clear what it is or when it’s on.
Now that Google has announced its Android Wear operating system for wearables, it is likely that the number of manufacturers will start to jump into the mix and base their gadgets on this OS. These devices will be piled on top of the large number that are already in existence, including Google Glass, Samsung Gear , Pebble, and others, as well as a range of different types of jewelry such as rings and pendants, and fitness bands that also come in a spectrum of shapes and brands.
Depending on the wearable technology, the gadget could provide biometrics, internet access, or smartphone access, among other features. While workplaces will need to keep additional distractions in mind to keep employees focused on their tasks, this will be more challenging than it is with smartphones because it is difficult to recognize some forms of wearables and it is exceptionally hard to know when they are active. This means that it is possible that texts could be sent, recordings could be made, or the net could be surfed without any outward signs that it is occurring.
Next, there is also an issue of security. Mobile security is already a major concern for companies with a BYOD program, and many find it to be a considerable challenge to enforce the policies when they do have them. Connected wearables adds an entirely new layer of tech and of risk that needs to be considered and protected.
