mobile tours

In 2011, the New York Times published an article that reinforces what many museums are feeling as they scramble to keep pace with changes in technology. Entitled, “Software Progress Beats Moore’s Law”, the article cites a White House advisory report detailing the changes in hardware and software innovation in the past 15 years.

The newest AR technology on your smartphone (for example: Layar) makes it possible to take your museum collection out of the digital database and reposition it on all possible locations in the urban realm. The dialogue between the virtual artifact and the real place poses new demands on our storytelling: what kind of experiences do the small screens of the deployed mobile phones offer us?

The recent explosion of options used by museums to produce mobile experiences is undeniable.  In the last 18 months, dozens of new mobile platforms have entered the marketplace as museums are planning, producing, and launching new experiences for visitors on their mobile devices.