Why AR is the future of museums
@DocAndersen (54399)
United States
December 30, 2018 9:15am CST
I love going to the museum. I don't like the annoying reality of having to go on the museum tour the docent wants to share.
Augmented Reality lets me choose the museum experience I have. It lets me figure out what I want to see.
It gets the awful docent experience out of the way! Museums often don't move towards the interactive reality. If they did, they would be running to AR.
First, they can reduce their overall costs by a significant amount of money. They don't need as many people!
Second, they can create the optimal experience for museum-goers every time.
Would you go to a museum that had an AR (Augmented Reality) tour rather than a human-led tour?
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1 response
@topffer (42155)
• France
30 Dec 18
Frankly I would not go to a museum for that. When I went to Madrid in May, the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum was offering a VR experience from the best labs (realized with the help of HP and Xr Lab among others). Navigating in a paint from Van Gogh or Mondrian does not bring a lot to the art of Van Gogh and Mondrian, and I hope that all the people who did this VR experience went to see the real paintings in the museum... I have had many other experiences of VR in museums, I would say that at best it may be fun for children, but offers no or a low interest for an adult amateur of art.
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@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
31 Dec 18
Yes, the difference being an AR experience would be in the actual museum, not a VR presentation of the painting. In other words, the AR tag would be in the area of the painting. You would experience both!
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@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
31 Dec 18
@topffer In the short run I do agree with you, partially. The ability to produce AR content is actually something that is quick turn (easily replaced). I think the second and larger reason for this new reality is that it doesn't actually impact the poor. You can hand out AR goggles, that people wear in the museum for those without smartphones.
The reality of the problem is actually it can't be done, it hasn't worked in the past. The reality of what is possible means it is time to change!
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@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
1 Jan 19
@topffer The issue you are bringing up is interesting but wrong. First off you are throwing out the cost of production for early adoption. There are commercial companies building AR displays that are significantly less expensive.
I suspect as stated in the origin post a bit ago, the reality isn't the AR. The reality is the issue of museums (and schools often, and libraries as well) being stuck int he way things are a phase.
I would never ask the government to fun an AR system. It would cost 2, 3 or more times what it should. So while I agree there have been expensive early adoption, I wouldn't consider that proof, rather examples of why the wrong people are involved.
If you go back to my original statement - I wanted in the short run to reduce the museum cost. The easy way to do that is to make a video recording of a good docent tour. Then have an AR tag - production of which is cheap. The video doesn't have to be 4k HD.
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