MUSEUMS TO GO

"The Museums to Go Working group is an ad hoc consortium of museums aiming to build open-source mobile browser and/or app solutions quickly and efficiently!"

http://museummobile.info/archives/229

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (26.0MB)

In the podcast above, Chris Alexander from San Jose Museum of Art and Ted Forbes of Dallas Museum of Art explain the cell phone tour which they are using in their respective museums (via wireless). The cell phone tour allows people to visit the museum on their own and get the most of the experience with their cell phone. It is convenient because visitors don’t need to wait (and pay) for a guide. However, the interview was conducted in 2009, at the time Alexander and Forbes stated that they were lending iPods (which they bought) to visitors because everyone did not have a smartphone , however today this is not true anymore (according to Nielson 19% in 2009 compare to 49% today).


Source: Smartphones to Overtake Feature Phones in U.S. by 2011

On the negative side, we are, as the theorist Marx stated, witnessing the replacement of men with machines. This means that ultimately tour guides will lose their jobs and the career will completely disappear.

Today multiple museums have joined the cohort (listed alphabetically):

· Dallas Museum of Art (Ted Forbes)

· British Museum (Silvia Filippini Fantoni)

· Indianapolis Museum of Art (Rob Stein, Charlie Moad, Daniel Incandela)

· J. Paul Getty Museum (Steven Gemmel, Susan Edwards, Molly Callender)

· Metropolitan Museum of Art (Koven Smith)

· MoMA (Allegra Burnette, Beth Harris, Sara Bodinson)

· Museum of London (Paul Clifford)

· National Air and Space Museum (Vicki Portway)

· Powerhouse Museum (Seb Chan- sebc [at] phm.gov.au): donating requirements & mobile CSS from http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/m/

· San Jose Museum of Art (Chris Alexander)

· Smithsonian American Art Museum (Nancy Proctor)

· Van Gogh Museum (Marthe de Vet)

Source: http://wiki.museummobile.info/museums-to-go