In the early 2000s Flavia Sparacino, from MIT, invented “Museum Wearable”. It was a device combining a keyboard, a camera mounted on a headset and a miniaturized computer to provide users with Augmented Reality avant-la-lettre. She introduced it at the Museum and the Web Conference in Boston in April 2002. Within the same event, Slavko Milekic, professor of cognitive sciences and digital design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia presented the multiuser interactive tables sensitive to the gestures and positioning of the visitors around it. Since then, technologies have evolved considerably.
Sparacino’s device preceded of about 10 years the Google Glass, one of the least famous features of the giant enterprise. Both were though aimed at providing the user with added value information based on algorithms interpreting his/her reactions, time spent in front of an exhibit, etc. If these early achievements may seem now obsolete, considering the rather common availability nowadays of wearable gadgets integrating technologies able to interpret most of our gestures, emotions, etc., one should bear in mind they all interpret customers’ data and are able more and more to provide the needed information in a refined variety of formats.
The data-saving patterns, as well as the storage media, have gone through transformations which were not necessarily easy or smooth. The functioning of cultural content hosting platforms such as Google Arts and Culture, Europeana, Gallica, etc. involves very well-structured updating protocols and high-quality requirements that allow the continuous accessibility of the data even years after uploading.
Apart from the operation and continuous enlargement of platforms with cultural content, many of which have been in use already two decades ago, a frequent practice in terms of digital mediation is the one of dedicated app which explains in an interactive and attractive manner the content specific to one museum or heritage site to its users. Examples are nowadays extremely numerous: Albertina Museum in Vienna, Musée de la Marine in Paris, British Museum in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris, etc.
An equally recent practice is the one of immersive experiences in various cultural spaces, be them museums, galleries, heritage sites, or even specially designed venues.
A few examples in this regard are:
- The Ipotesi metaverse exhibition in Rome at the Palazzo Cipolla (2023)
- The Bronzo e oro exhibition at the Vittoriano in Rome, with an immersive room at the end of the visit (2023)
- The exhibition Monet. Masterpieces from Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa (2022)
La Boussole | Musée national de la Marine de Paris
Smartphone Guide « ALBERTINA Museum Wien
Centre Pompidou – Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store
Ipotesi Metaverso – Fondazione Terzo Pilastro Internazionale
‘Man will prevail”: Baroque meets Metaverse in new exhibition in Rome | Euronews
Immersive room at the exhibition Bronzo e oro at the Vittoriano in Rome