The following sessions were recorded live online June 3, 2009 as part of the Handheld Online Conference, produced by LearningTimes. They are available for free, on-demand playback.
Handhelds! Getting It Done at Museums Large & Small
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The Future of Mobile Interpretation
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No Time Like the Present: Rapid Deployment with Open Source Technologies – At What Cost?
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About the Conference Speakers:
Chris Alexander:
Chris Alexander has been the Manager of Interactive Technology at the San Jose Museum of Art, California, since 2006. He has a wide-ranging museum background, a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Visual Art and is certified in Web Design from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Since starting his position, Chris has been actively creating content, both audio and video, in-house and exploring various methods of delivery including mobile phones, video iPods and “web 2.0″ web portals. Most recently, in 2008, he developed a first of it’s kind iPod Touch tour for the SJMA which utilizes the museum’s WiFi network to deliver an audio/video tour to 30 iPod Touch units through the Mobile Safari Web Browser. Chris has spoken at several conferences including Museums and the Web, American Association of Museums and most recently the Tate Modern’s handheld conference Audiotours to iPhones. Additionally, Chris has several mobile experiences for other organizations in the works as a freelance tour designer and consultant.
The Little Engine that Could:
Mobile Tours on a Shoestring Budget In his presentation Chris Alexander will discuss several options for museums on a limited budget. There are many inexpensive solutions available to smaller museums and institutions that include Cell Phones, Video iPods, and iPhone and iPod Touch. Each of these has its pros and cons, but they allow museums with no experience in mobile technologies an easy solution for offering a mobile experience to their visitors. Additionally, Chris will talk about tools used for the creation of content to offer on these tours.
Silvia Filippini Fantoni:
Silvia Filippini Fantoni has recently completed her PhD at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) on the use of personalization technology in museums. She has presented the results of her research at international conferences and seminars and has worked on the evaluation and/or the development of technology-based projects with and for various museums around the world including the Louvre, the Centre Pompidou, the City of Science and Industry in Paris, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern and the J. Paul Getty Museum. She has recently worked a an evaluator and a product manager for multimedia guides at Antenna Audio. Silvia is currently a lecturer at Sorbonne University, where she teaches courses related to museums and technology, and a multimedia project manager at the British Museum, where she is overseeing the development of the museum’s multimedia guide.
The Challenges of Developing a Multimedia Guide for Large Museums
In her presentation Silvia Filippini Fantoni will discuss the challenges that large museums face when developing a multimedia guide, as well as some of the ways in which these challenges have been met so far. These include creating and assembling multimedia content in multiple languages, way finding, random access versus linear tours, high turnover, and distribution issues. She will also discuss the resources, skills and different steps that are necessary for the development of such projects, including the need for testing and evaluations.