I received an email from a friend about two months ago, telling me about a project she's involved in at the moment called The Talking Walls®. Eleni, another former art historian, is now taking her masters in Marketing at Southampton and has been helping her tutor develop this new programme.
The Talking Walls® merges the disciplines of art history, museology and marketing. Designed specifically for museums, galleries, heritage sites and historical buildings the aim of the project is to create a 3D tour of the spaces. The tour will then be made available in the form of a multimedia application, which the visitor will then be able to download onto a hand-held device such as their phone. The user should then be able to personalise the content in order to suit their own interests and learning preferences. According to the project manager, the user will be able to 'visually explore and navigate where they are visiting' and to 'learn[ing] about the the history of a specific place/space/object, and how this has changed over time.'
The project is currently being trialled at Beaulieu Abbey, Hampshire and a pilot preview is available at http://www.thetalkingwalls.co.uk/ When I first checked this out about 6 weeks ago the whole thing was fairly disappointing but having a look recently, it's obvious that the project has progressed and I'm sad to say but it's slowly growing on me...that said, I'm still undecided about how I feel about this overall project....check it out and let me know what you think....
It's not clear, to me at least, whether The Talking Walls should be used as a supplementary tool when visiting Beaulieu Abbey, or whether it is a replacement for the primary experience.
ReplyDeleteWhat impact will this project have on the traditional museum experience? Will this trial encourage people to visit Beaulieu Abbey, encouraged by what they have already learnt, or will people be satisfied with the virtual experience?
Apologies for the delayed response! I think this is a really interesting project and I am strongly considering taking the research further. I'm really interested in the affect this kind of application, and applications like it will impact on the museum experience. While simultaneously, the art historian and museum lover in me wants to protest against this kind of application because of its potential impact...
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