British Museum Launches Handheld Guides
By STAN PARCHIN
December 8, 2009
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| The British Museum (interior). © The Trustees of the British Museum. |
The British Museum has introduced a set of handheld guides that are designed to teach many of its six million annual visitors about its collections.
The Multimedia Guide is available in 11 different languages: English, Korean, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and British Sign Language. It features in-depth audio-visual descriptions of more than 220 objects. Also included are three guided tours with directions for Highlights of Ancient Egypt, the Parthenon Marbles and the Korean Gallery as well as an interactive map. The British Sign Language Multimedia Guide is presently loaded with 120 signed videos. The remainder of the explanations will appear in mid-January 2010.
A Children's Multimedia Guide (for ages 5-11, in English only) provides seven micro-tours about different parts of the world (ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome, early Britain, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, Asia and the Middle East), along with suggested activities and small interactive games that involve some of the objects described.
The Audio Description Guide (in English only), designed for visually impaired people, has in-depth audio explanations of more than 220 works.
All three Guides are the result of a collaborative effort of the British Museum's digital media team, curators, education specialists and experienced audio scriptwriters. The first two Guides use the XP Vision, a portable touchscreen device designed by Antenna Audio.
Further offerings in 2010 include secondary commentaries and new guided tours in all foreign languages, among them Highlights of the British Museum, Highlights of the Classical World and the Enlightenment Gallery.
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