Interactive Mobile Assistants for Added-value Cultural Contents

Abstract

Multimedia technologies provide new opportunities for museums to enhance their visitors experience. However, its use brings new challenges for presentation preparation, among which are how to enrich the visit while not diverting the visitors attention from the actual objects in the museum, which should remain the focus of the visit; and how to provide a rich information space suitable for a wide variety of visitors. These challenges need to be addressed during planning and preparation of information presentations for mobile, multimedia museum visitors guides. This paper describes the design and implementation of the AMICo prototype to an exhibition room for visitors who are equipped with wirelessly connected handheld devices. The prototype has been implemented on an exhibition showing a set of architectural scale models from the famous Spanish architect Rafael Moneo hold in the Kubo exhibition centre of the Kutxa Foundation in Donostia-San Sebastian during September and October 2005. The architectural scale models were augmented with information in the form of multimedia content. Users were able to access those contents in a personalized way when in the proximity of the artwork.