The V&A have recently published an app called Tipu's iTiger, a simulation of an object in their collection that allows a distanced psudo-interaction with it's keyboard. There's a great video the 'real' noise it makes here. I'm struggling to decide what I think about this one, perhaps it does the work of imaginative projection when handling isn't possible, but there is something odd about digital mediation and the way in which a single object is given primacy above the rest of the collection. It might be an extension of the increasing use of iPod Touches (is that the plural?!) instead of audio guides in museums and galleries, but perhaps that's another thread.
The video clip looks like its from the 1980s Open University or something?...I think the museum's engagement with and use of, social networking is rather interesting, although I'm not sure that the rather hard didacticism of the video clip quite fits the tone (pun number...oh I've lost count)...maybe they could have asked some hip and trendy (the wording there suggests I really DO NOT know what I'm talking about) musican to do the 'explaining'?...that would at least be compatible with the 'edgyness' of these technologies (at least in the context of the museum of course...I appreciate that IPod Touch is hardly subversive....)
ReplyDeletemark
It's quite possible that the video is from the OU in the eighties - it's not connected with the application, I just included it as an interesting point of comparison. It's probably not fair of me to offer a judgement as I can't bring myself to spend all of £1.79 on it. At least the Louvre app is free!
ReplyDeleteAny comments on the multiculturalism (or absence thereof) involved here? Whereas the video contextualises, the App page merely speaks of "fun", "fascinating" and "famous". Problematic, no?
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