Multimedia guide
A multimedia guide (also known as a media guide ) is a mobile, digital guidance system that uses a mobile device (e.g. PDAs , smartphones or portable media players ) to offer various media for information. It is a further development of the audio guide and can display still and moving images in addition to speech, music and tones. Multimedia guides are mostly used in large museums . Visitors can either borrow a multimedia guide for the duration of the visit or play the content on their own device.
Definition and functions
“Multimedia guide” is an artificial word made up of multimedia (Latin for “many media”) and guide (English “guide” in the sense of museum guide). With a multimedia guide, information such as text, language, images, videos, animations , sounds, music and graphics can be called up by the user in order to better understand objects, sights, facts and routes. The multimedia guide is thus the further development of the audio guide , which can only reproduce spoken text, music and sounds.
Most multimedia guides are controlled via a touchscreen . The navigation may take place via a menu structure, number entry or by means of site plans. Some multimedia guides offer the option of automatically playing information depending on the current location of the viewer. For example, a film about a painting can be shown when the museum visitor is in front of the painting with the multimedia guide. Technically, this can be done via communication with WLAN, infrared , RFID or Bluetooth . Positioning by GPS is not reliably possible indoors.
use
A multimedia guide goes further in its communication options than an audio guide. Different media can be used to convey facts more clearly. In an exhibition, the multimedia guide can show photos of objects to be compared or offer detailed views that would otherwise remain hidden. Using animations or short video sequences, facts or processes can be easily explained to the user. However, art critics see the danger of distraction from the actual, authentic object in the moving images and extensive menus in multimedia guides.
Some multimedia guides offer additional functions. Visitors can already put together their own tour via the Internet from home and save it on the web. You will automatically be given a numerical code that can be used to individually call up the guide on the PDA. Objects or information that the user liked can be digitally marked. These can then be printed out as a personal exhibition catalog or burned on CD. Visitors can take their personal catalog or CD with them for documentation, post-processing or as a souvenir.
Multimedia guides also have the advantage over pure audio guides that content in sign language for deaf people can be stored on them. When calling up a number, a video in sign language appears on the screen instead of audio content. Content can also be offered in plain language or as audio description for visually impaired people, so that media guides in the area of accessibility represent a step forward for inclusion.
Multimedia guides are used in museums and art halls, at trade fairs and in showrooms and during factory tours. But also outside the home during city tours, in zoos, etc., in order to convey information about sights clearly on the object.
technology
Visitor tracking
In addition to menu control on the device, there are various options for automatic positioning using signal transmitters, such as B. WLAN, Bluetooth, radio or infrared. With the technically quite simple use of infrared transmitters for location detection, location information is sent from an infrared transmitter to the devices within range. In this semi-automatic system, the associated content is called up via a light signal. To do this, the visitor must consciously point his device to the transmitters that are in max. mounted on walls or pillars ten meters away.
The placement of induction loops in the exhibition is another way of locating visitors. Induction loops are mainly installed in exposed areas in the floor. As soon as the visitor reaches such a loop, the associated information is activated on the mobile device. In contrast to infrared technology, this requires major interventions in the building fabric.
Existing WLAN infrastructure can also be used for localization in the museum building. This location can be accurate to within one meter, but such an accuracy cannot be technically achieved across the board.
The location of the user outside of rooms can be determined via GPS (Global Positioning System). This location system enables the multimedia guide to be used as a digital city guide or route planner for specific topics.
Data transmission / data storage
There are two ways to provide information on the PDA. Files can be stored on the memory card of the pocket computer and are therefore static. The data transfer via WLAN (wireless local network) enables a permanent update of the information. The range of these networks is between 30 and 100 meters, depending on the environment. Content can be made available via a CMS .
literature
- Götz Mackensen: xpedeo in the Überseemuseum Bremen - use of a multimedia exhibition guide . In: Bulletin . No. 69, Museum Association of Lower Saxony and Bremen eV, Hanover 2008, p. 81/82.
- Insa Lienemann u. a .: Help explorers on the jumps . In: brand eins . Business magazine . Vol. 10, No. 4, Hamburg 2008, pp. 22/23.
- Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) eV (Hrsg.): Interactive trends: Yearbook German Multimedia Award. The official documentation for the German Multimedia Award . A joint production by BVDW , MFG Baden-Württemberg and ONEtoONE, J-und-S-Dialog-Medien, Hamburg 2005/06 (2005), p. 124/125.
- Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum, the largest computer museum in the world http://www.hnf.de/besucherinfo/multimedia-guide.html
Web links
- Miriam Sandabad: Museum on site: How digital curating changes art . In: Zeitfragen. Deutschlandradio Kultur. June 24, 2015. Accessed on June 25, 2015 ("The tours in the museum are increasingly rarely led by museum guides. Often the visitors get an audio guide in their language. But now these tour audios have got alternative brothers and sisters: apps, audio walks and Network museums. ")
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anne Meyer-Gatermann: Lead me into temptation . In: Walter Grasskamp (Hrsg.): Strange museum visits: from Goethe to Gernhardt . CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3406550339 , pp. 67-68.