State-of-the-Art Analysis - Group Summary

We visited the Medieval Museum of Stockholm for our interviews and state-of-the-art analysis. The aspects we have analysed are Light and Sound, Video monitors, Audio guides and Nationalmuseet@ - an audio guide app belonging to the exhibitions at Nationalmuseet.

Good tech implementations

• When having a well lit space at a museum it is easier for elderly people to read the exhibition texts. This means they can access the information which provides a better visit at the museum.
• With customized lights and sound the visitors also have a more realistic museum visit.
• Audio Guides are effective since they can guide a lot of people at different places in the museum at the same time, which a human guide obviously cannot.
• The Nationalmuseum@ audio guide app benefits the users in the regard that they can display the guide in different ways - as text, audio and sign language
• An audio guide app is beneficial its capacity to include extra information abut the exhibition, and the possibility to include interactive functionalities regarding the exhibition
• Video monitors provides a possibility to convey easy to access in-depth information

Technical implementations with room for improvement

• It is not possible to ask Audio Guide devices questions the way you can to a human guide. And it is generally more difficult to interact with an apparatus than a human being.
• An audio guide app (such as Nationalmuseum@) is not very accessible to people without phones, such as the elderly or children.
• An app targeting elderly people needs to have a larger font and utilise icons and colours in a much clearer way than Nationalmuseum@.
• Video monitors have to be height and sound adjusted to not be physically straining
• Relevance of video monitor content in relation to the exhibition was unclear at times - they did not successfully interest people in the material.