Are museums ready to play in the digital age? Rapid advances in technology are making the traditional audiotour increasingly redundant, and visitors are now offered sophisticated multimedia tours on PDAs, iPods and even mobile phones.
The conference was aimed at museum workers who want to know more about how the new generation of mobile devices can benefit their institutions.
The conference was preceded by a workshop for museum professionals who have in-depth experience of handhelds and related mobile interpretation systems. The outcomes of the discussion fed into the public conference - represented by mind-map drawings and the panel discussions that followed the keynote presentations. They are also included in this Wiki, along with case studies and other research material. The Wiki is publicly available through Tate Online as a lasting resource. Please add your own comments and join the debate!
You are encouraged to contribute to the Wiki by:
Adding your biography to the Contributors page;
Adding your cast studies to the Case Studies section;
Responding to the four broad conference themes by contributing your experiences, learnings, questions and ideas for discussion.
The Conference was held over two days:
Thursday 4 September, 2008 was a Workshop by invitation only that brought together museum professionals who have experience with handhelds, cellphone tours, and related mobile interpretation systems. The aim was to capture best practice on these platforms in the industry, and move the conversation and the field forward by taking it to the next stage of development and implementation. Outcomes of the workshop fed into the public conference. 10.00-18.00, East Room Tate Modern
Friday 5 September 2008 was a public conference aimed at museum workers who want to know more about how the new generation of mobile devices can benefit their institutions. Pairs of experienced professionals from the Workshop presented case studies that addressed the conference's four key themes to a broader industry public. At the public conference, two short presentations were made by the keynote speakers in relation to each of the themes. These presentations focused on actual projects. Then the other panel members talked through the tips and debate that came out of the workshop for the theme, before taking questions from the floor. 10.00-18.00, Starr Auditorium Tate Modern
The conference was co-organised by Jane Burton (Jane.Burton@Tate.org.uk), Tate and Nancy Proctor, SAAM (proctorn@si.edu), with support from Bloomberg, sponsors of multimedia tours at Tate Modern.
Additional supporters included:
Antenna Audio www.antennaaudio.com
Learning Times learningtimes.com
NousGuide NousGuide.com
HIH/Gateway Automobile Museum www.gatewaycanyons.com
Agenda: Communicating the Museum www.agendacom.com
Heritage 365 www.heritage365.com
The full audio from the conference is now available to download from the Tate Events podcast here: