History of the use of interactive kiosks in cultural sites
The integration of interactive kiosks in museums has gradually developed over the last few decades, transforming the visitor experience and the presentation of collections.
In the 1990s, museums began to explore the use of interactive technologies. At the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, for example, a study was conducted in 1994 to assess public reactions to interactive terminals installed in the Glass Gallery.
Over the last decade, the adoption of interactive kiosks has accelerated considerably and their functionalities have expanded. In particular, they make it possible to make the visitor experience more interactive and fun, to integrate additional visual mediation supports, but also to act in favour of the accessibility of the site (monument or museum).
Good practices review
Here we propose to carry out a review of best practices in terms of interactive terminals and the functionalities to integrate for better accessibility.
- Meet PMR accessibility standards (height and ease of use for people in wheelchairs in particular)
- Offer the possibility of virtually visiting certain spaces that are not physically accessible (360-degree views for example)
- Use an intuitive interface that is easy to use
- Enable the visit to be enriched by integrating immersive or fun content (texts, audio, videos, images, etc.)
- Offer customizable settings that are adapted to different types of disabilities: voice reading of texts, character enlargement, change of contrast, possibility of converting the text to an “easy to read” version, video in sign language for people with an hearing impairment (with and without subtitles), etc.
The aim is to design an interactive kiosk that combines several levels of accessibility and is modular.