Museums use new technology to attract visitors
D.C. Denison, Boston Globe Monday, June 30, 2003
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John Borden has just pressed a button on what he calls "the automatic bubble photograph shooting machine," and now he's sitting at a work table in his Cambridge, Mass. studio/workshop.
He's surrounded by a small forest of industrial-looking tripods and spindly tubular structures bristling with cameras, laptop computers, lights, and small machinery.
Behind Borden, the "bubble photograph shooting machine" is clicking through 28 positions as it shoots the multiple images that are stitched into a seamless photo orb.
The new photo machine, formally named the PixOrb, is one of many technologies Borden has developed at Peace Rivers Studios, which he co-founded in 1994. A 3-D object photography system is set up against one wall, multiscreen movies are edited in the next room. Borden is not surprised that much of his work ends up being admired by museum visitors and tourists.
"Museums are great incubators for new technology," he says.
New England institutions certainly appear to support Borden's view. From the animated text that flows from the fountain in the Hall of Ideas in the new Mary Baker Eddy Library to the digital audio guides that are offered on Boston's Freedom Trail, technology is playing an increasingly important role in museums, tourist destinations and public spaces.
"Museums have to be attuned to technology. They can't afford to be musty," said Howard Litwak, an independent museum planner and exhibit developer in Seattle. "With competition like theme parks and video games, museums have to deliver whiz-bang attention grabbers to cut through the clutter."
For many museums, pushing technology is the way they make their exhibits memorable.
Significantly, although Peace River Studios' PixOrb system was launched less than six months ago, images from the unit are already on display in a museum.
EXPLORING AT KIOSK
The Portland Museum of Art in Maine is using the technology in an interactive kiosk that allows visitors to explore the neighboring historic McLellan House, which was meticulously restored by the museum.
On the kiosk, these spheres allow the user to pan left or right, up or down to view any part of the room. Clicking on hot spots in the picture can show a video describing part of the restoration or a photograph with detail about a particular feature of the room.
The museum regards the rooms themselves as works of art and has taken pains to familiarize visitors with the details of their restoration.
Other tech-driven museum projects Peace River Studios has designed include a three-screen movie for the New England Aquarium, live, controllable Webcams focused on the restoration of the Sargent Murals in the Boston Public Library, and an exhibit at Harvard's Peabody Museum that allows visitors to examine a 3- D virtual image of a Mayan altar from every possible angle.
"Museums are ideal for these kinds of projects because the users are able to concentrate and explore them," Borden said. "There are not many places that encourage that today."
The Mary Baker Eddy Library, which opened on Boston's Christian Science Plaza last September, also uses technology to highlight its theme, "the power of ideas."
The centerpiece sculptural fountain in the Hall of Ideas, created by artist Howard Ben Tre in collaboration with media designer David Small, displays more than 800 quotes from thinkers on themes such as democracy, courage, equality, community, freedom, hope and spirituality.
Using high-resolution computer imagery, the installation illuminates words and letters projected into the fountain where they appear to bubble up from the center and then swirl around to formulate quotes. These quotes then spill across the floor and onto scrims hanging in the Hall of Ideas before fading away.
TELLING STORY WITH TECHNOLOGY
"Technology is very effective in helping to tell a story," said Chet Manchester, the library's artistic director. "It lifts history into the present day. You want to invite the visitor to interact with the ideas and exhibits, and technology can make that happen."
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., which reopened earlier this month after a $125 million expansion, also has a substantial technology component, including a 7,000-square-foot interactive learning center and "Acoustiguide" wands that allow visitors to punch in an exhibit number, learn more about a piece and later download information about it to a home computer.
Even the 50-year-old Freedom Trail, one of Boston's oldest tourist destinations, has recently upgraded its technology. In April, the Freedom Trail Foundation introduced an audio guide technology system that allows tourists to hear historical facts as they walk the Freedom Trail. The system, designed by Antenna Audio, is based on digital MP3 technology. The units rent for $15 for the first unit and $12 for each additional unit.
In many museum settings, the Antenna Audio units are remotely controlled by either radio signals or infrared signals, but because the units are being used in a relatively uncontrolled outdoor setting (the project is the first to use the units outside), users manually enter codes at each stop.
For the Museum of Science, pushing the boundaries of technology is central to its core mission. The museum's Current Science & Technology Center, which opened in April 2001, is a constantly updated collection of digital media technology and content, including live feeds from the museum's Gilliland Observatory telescopes and NASA satellite news sources.
The science museum is also currently displaying a "whole body computer experience," titled Virtual Maze, in which visitors play the role of the marble in a virtual version of the old mechanical maze game.
Designed by MIT researcher Ron MacNeil, the game uses an overhead camera to track the players on the maze, and a computer calculates how the surface would tilt as a result of the player's body mass in any given location. It then displays the result as a change in the projected image of the maze.
Another museum exhibit, the Virtual Fishtank, is a playful, aquatic take on the technology that simulates the complex interplay of living systems. Developed by Nearlife Inc. and the MIT Media Laboratory with funding from the National Science Foundation, the 1,700-square-foot virtual tank allows visitors to create and interact with their own virtual fish.
PDAS SHOW GREAT PROMISE
Although such large-scale techno exhibits are impressive, the most promising technology platform for museums may be the lowly personal digital assistant, according to exhibit planner Litwak.
"Museums always know a lot more about their content than they can present in a text block on the wall," he said. "PDAs give users the option to read or listen to as much content as they want as they tour the museum."
Litwak pointed to the Experience Music Project in Seattle, which is primarily funded by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, as an example of an institution that has created a significant amount of content for PDA-like devices called MEGs, or mobile exhibit guides, that visitors carry around the music museum.
The Exploratorium in San Francisco has also been developing a handheld electronic guide system.
"PDAs make perfect sense for museums," Litwak said.
Claire Loughheed, education director at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Mass., would agree. Loughheed is planning a location-sensitive wireless network to work with the DeCordova's collection, creating a range of tours for PDA-toting families and adults.
A number of companies are also working to develop technology that will enable the use of wireless PDA devices for museums. PanGo Networks in Pittsburgh already has worked on a handheld project with the Tate Modern museum in London. Boston-area companies Newbury Networks and Wivid are also pursuing museums as possible customers for their handheld technology.
Giuseppe Taibi, co-founder and CEO of SmartWorlds, a startup based in Cambridge, Mass., is also developing a mobile context and location-aware tool that is based on a PDA platform.
At this point, he said, he is focusing his efforts on a number of markets, including medical, education, manufacturing and security. Unsurprisingly, Taibi is also counting on museums to help further develop his technology. The company recently published a white paper on the use of wireless technology in museums and tourist destinations.
"The business uses of our technology may be the most promising from a financial point of view," Taibi said, "but we will probably learn the most from our museum projects. One reason is that it's not so much about return on investment, but more about the best experience."
"For technologists, museums are the best playground," Taibi said.
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