Re-Thinking Technology in Museums

1Re-Thinking Technology in Museums

May 2011 www.elios.dibe.unige.it

LodeStar: a mobile device to enhance visually impaired people experience of cultural and naturalistic places

ELIOS Lab

F. Bellotti, R. Berta, A. De Gloria, M. MargaroneDIBE – Department of Electronics and Biophysical Engineering

University of Genoa

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MADE

We have developed a toolkit MADE: Mobile Application Development Environment designed ad-hoc to support the creative approach of

multimedia applications on mobile devices

MADE is composed of:a visual development tool through which developers (also not programming experts) can develop their own applications for mobile devicesA scripting language for the description of MADE appsA set of modules to support localization and proximityGPS, RFID

A set of player to run MADE apps on mobile devices until now Windows Mobile and PCs

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Location-Awareness in museum

User

RFID sw

GUI controls

Museum Map

MADE Player

MADE script

Proximity Module(RFID reader)

Environment with active low-power

RFID Tags

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MADE RFID

The MADE RFID module implements a proximity algorithm based on scanning of tags in the area

it support the iCARD Identec reader

Why RFID?Availability of long-range (up to 100 meters) long-range

communication with long-life (up tp 5 years) battery life– Bluetooth: no long-battery life

Why Windows Mobile?Simple to add hw modules with Compact

Flash interfaceWe plan also to port MADE on Android

and iOS

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Main outcomes

Through MADE developers can combine the multimedia content, GUI controls and proximity awareness components

images, videos, buttons, maps, position, nearest objects etc.)

to easily build multimedia applicationsnot as flexible as the manual coding

easy to use

hides language-specific complex aspects

speed-up the most routinely parts of the work

rapid prototyping

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Example of applications

Examples of applications developed with MADETour guides Genoa AquariumPalazzo del Principe Museum

Territorial gamingVeGame: a treasure-hunt game

which challenges players at the field discovery of the Venetian heritage

ScienceGame for “Festival della Scienza”

Visual impaired support: LodeStarEuroFlora 2006Villa Serra (a naturalistic park in Genoa) 2008Museo del Mare (a museum in Genoa) 2010

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Visually impaired support

Using sensors (RFID), we provide visually impaired people with location-related added value information on objects and spaces

The guide supports usersby identifying important object-to-self and object-to-object spatial relations

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«Villa Serra» (naturalistic park)

Spatial distribution on “Villa Serra” natural park. Red spot represent the RFID tags (66 tags)

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«Museo del Mare» (Museum)

Spatial distribution on “Museo del Mare” museum (80 tags, picture shows only 2nd floor)

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Design goals

not an assistive technology to allow visually impaired people independent navigation

a support to better appreciate in an independent way cultural and natural contents

an exhibition in a museum, a walk in a natural park

not a tool “only” for visually impaired people, but a tool for all

an event-driven operational mode

only alerts, information on demand

contents written for visually impaired people highlighting olfactory and tactile sensorial information

DEMO

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DEMO (from «Museo del Mare»)

An initial two minute tutorial stage users could experiment the tool interface by pressing freely the controls

The event-driven UI provides information when users are in the proximity of tags.

a pop-up window and an audio alert

just-in-time: alerts are offered to the visitor in the exact moment of the requirement

If the user wishes listen to the description, he can press the touch screen

low intrusiveness: the user is asked about his willingness to accept the contents

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Experimental results

Experiments with real users in a real context of use

LodeStar can contribute to improve visually impaired people’s ability

to learn a route through an unfamiliar area

recall important features in the environment, like tagged points-of-interest

As an example:A sketch of the natural park map draw by a subject

The user have correctly identifiedthe entrance (I), bar ( R), the lake center (X) and his initial path (V)

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Conclusion

Support for Rapid prototype of mobile guide

proximity awareness

Different application typesTuorist guides

Territorial gaming

Visually impaired tools

A set of real-world applications deployed

User-test results gives good fedback from end-users

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References

F. Bellotti, R. Berta and A. Gloria. "Widely usable user interfaces on Mobile Devices with RFID", in Handbook of Research on User Interface Design and Evaluation for Mobile Technology. J. Lumsden (Ed.). Idea Group Inc. 2008

F. Bellotti, R. Berta, M. Margarone and A. Gloria. "oDect: an RFID-based object detection API to support applications development on mobile devices",Software: Practice and Experience, Vol. 38, January, 2008

F. Bellotti, R. Berta, A. Gloria and M. Margarone. "Implementing tour guides for travelers", Human Factors in Ergonomics & Manufacturing, Vol. 15, September, 2005 

F. Bellotti, R. Berta, A. De Gloria, E. Ferretti, M. Margarone, VeGame: Field Exploration of Art and History in Venice , IEEE Computer, Vol. 36, No.9, pp. 48-55, September 2003

F. Bellotti, R. Berta, A. De Gloria, M. Margarone, MADE: developing edutainment applications on mobile computers, Computers & Graphics, Volume 27, Issue 4, April 2003

F. Bellotti, R. Berta, A. De Gloria, M. Margarone, User Testing a Hypermedia Tour Guide, IEEE Pervasive Computing, Volume 1, Issue 2, pp. 33-41, April-June 2002

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Thank you!

Questions?

Riccardo Berta

berta@elios.unige.it

www.elios.unige.it