From children circling the dinosaur bones to families
captivated by military history, museum-goers expect a hearty dose of
what Susie Lepp calls the “Gee Whiz” factor.
The trend toward
entertaining and educational interactive technology, begun some
20-25 years ago with early laserdisc players, is gaining momentum in
an increasingly competitive museum market, said Lepp, senior vice
president at the Lorton, VA-based Design and Production (D and P).
“Even five years ago, using computer interactive technology was done
carefully because computers required more maintenance,” she
explained. “Now that industry is more reliable for continuous-use
operation.”
AV computer industry growth is a sign of the
times, Lepp said. “Kids are all computer-literate; they’re playing
exciting games, and they need to be engaged. That’s driving the
growth of technology within these facilities in major
ways.”
D and P’s recent projects include the “The Price of
Freedom” exhibit at the National Museum of American History, “Our
Universes” at the National Museum of the American Indian
(Smithsonian), “The Public Vaults” for the National Archives
Experience, and EdVenture in Columbia, SC, the largest children’s
museum in the South (see related sidebar).
Although 9/11
delayed many projects, there’s currently a lot of opportunity, Lepp
said, with an increase in new museums across the board. “It’s a wide
canvas of venues including history and military, science, and
children’s museums, both regional and national. Education has always
been a core mission for these facilities, but entertainment is
recognized as a necessary component to attract visitors.”
As
product becomes more affordable, clients want more, she said. “The
cost of flat screens has come down to where they are now in many
homes. Five years ago, a museum may have had a big bulky monitor in
a big enclosure. Now we can do plasma or LCD, saving on construction
costs and increasing potential for smaller spaces with the lower
weights and surface area of the new products.”
Lepp said many
of her clients are requesting MPEG 2 from DVD players to video
servers. The more sophisticated among them ask that information be
downloadable from other locations. “Of course, they want plasma
screens,” she revealed. “They ask for user-friendly, one-button
interfaces; that’s a big part of what we market. Through AMX Show
Control with the RS-232, we can set up more communication to house
devices. We can pulse equipment for information, such as how many
hours are on the projector bulb, etc. It’s easy to monitor
maintenance. And that will continue to increase especially for
larger facilities with centralized systems.”
Lepp has one
caveat: Don’t mask presentation with technology. “You want people to
be engaged and learn, not to figure out what’s behind the scenes.
You have to analyze what it is the visitor is taking away. If the
technology gets in the way or breaks down, what’s the
point?”
The marriage of IT and AV allows many smaller, niche
museums to get on the interactive bandwagon, said David Prince,
director of engineering for Design and Integration. The
Baltimore-based commercial AV company is currently involved with the
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and
Culture, which will open in June. The firm recently completed AV
work at the American Visionary Art Museum presenting the works of
self-taught artists.
“There’s a revival of museums here in
Baltimore,” Prince said, “and a lot of these venues are trying to
reach out with at least some AV elements in every exhibit. The Lewis
has media servers for video and audio files stored on their internal
network, and an in-house staff to run video production.” The next
five to 10 years, he says, will bring a greater convergence of
websites or internal networks and outside information.
“Some
clients have nonspecific ideas of what they want but lack the
personnel to run the systems,” Prince stated. “We give them a
heads-up in the design stage. They need someone who is truly
knowledgeable because the public wants everything to work perfectly
as they walk through, and they can be unforgiving.”
Museum
clients also have little tolerance for out-of-order systems, says
Bob Haroutunian, principal, PPI Consulting, a Washington, DC-based
AV media systems design firm. PPI’s projects, institutional and
corporate, include the National Museum of the American Indian and
America on the Move, both at the Smithsonian; BMW Zentrum in
Spartanburg, SC; and the Bacardi Visitors Center in San
Juan.
“Clients have to compete for visitors’ time and income,
a fairly recent phenomenon,” Haroutunian commented. “When a family
gets up on a Saturday morning, you want to be on their radar screen
with 100-percent-operating system so they’ll recommend it to others
and come back.”
Media is integral in telling the stories, he
said. “I worked on the Holocaust Museum, and Shaike Weinberg, one of
the original directors, said, ‘You can go to any museum and see
stuff. The great museums show you stuff but tell you a story.’ We
use a lot of RFID technology to personalize a story for the
visitor.”
A general story, Haroutunian said, can be adapted
for various types of visitors and interests, for international or
local audiences, and for various languages. “We can register
visitors when they enter and collect data such as age, gender and
education,” he said. “We can extend the story to the web, engage
visitors in ways never before possible, developing ongoing
relationships leading to memberships. Their visit is not a
one-off.”
Many facilities are experimenting with PDAs—the
visitors’ own or by rental or loan—to augment graphics or text with
information such as a video interview with a designer. “Audio
systems still have their place, but PDAs extend the experience to a
different level,” Haroutunian admitted. “This is part of an ongoing
evolution. Web browser icons have become part of our visual
vocabulary.”
Corporate clients tell their stories with
technology similar to that of museums. “We’re doing a lot of
immersion theaters involving audience-response systems or kiosks to
obtain feedback,” Haroutunian informed. “Those clients see visitor
centers as offering customer choices as opposed to a museum which is
a linear, planned experience. Corporate system design has to be more
flexible in its initial planning, and has to be modular to stay in
step with current marketing objectives.”
Traditional
collecting museums are part of the interactive trend as well, said
Denver Art Museum (DAM) director of design, Dan Kohl. “In the past,
you bought an art book or a coffee, a simple commercial exchange.
Now, our audience wants a unique aesthetic experience, and they are
open to tech.”
DAM, which will open its new Frederic C.
Hamilton glass and titanium building in the fall of 2006, recently
hired a director of new technologies. “We have several places in the
museum where tech is used to present didactic information, and to
give a sense of context and ambiance,” Kohl said. “We’re trying to
signal that we encourage our visitors’ response to art.”
DAM
also is looking to AV technology to create installation pieces where
patrons can leave personal data, comments and responses to art each
time they visit. “Embracing technology is a trend you will see in
traditional museums around the country,” Kohl predicted. “Art
museums are slower to respond to the call, but we’re all getting
there.”
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