MULTIMEDIA AND AV
TIME LINE TECHNOLOGY
Industry stalwart Kevin Murphy refl ects on the history of multimedia and AV technology in museums and pinpoints what’s needed for the future
efl ecting back to 1977, when I joined the Natural History Museum (NHM) as an enthused and relatively young engineer, we had
one major tool in the technology toolbox that we could use on so many exhibits – the Kodak carousel slide projector. High technology for its time, fl exible, robust and a strong creative medium. Now the carou- sel itself belongs in a museum, as one of the last of the larger UK installations using slides switches to video projection, with the Imperial War Museum of the North moving the Big Picture Show over to digital projection. In those days, and right through
(Below) The Kodak Carousel projector offered so many creative possibilities.
to the millennium, the slide projector ruled for the big image and while the range of equipment was somewhat limited, clever designers came up with clever tricks. In the 1970s and early 1980s we were
pioneers, using simple technology in a way that was virtually unheard of in museums, with the NHM again leading the world in new display techniques, much to the pain of some curators and the wild enthusiasm of the press and visitors. Now we face a sit- uation where without some form of 3D, 4D, 5D or interactive experience, clients and visitors alike feel short-changed, and the marketing departments have little to grasp as the next ‘thing’ in exhibition technology. I readily admit that the wow factor is
sometimes entirely acceptable, with some- thing based on technology to make a deep impression, but the substance of any exhi- bition must not induce contempt by mediocre design.
STORY FIRST As a die-hard technologist, I scan for new hardware trends and techniques on a daily basis for both home and work use, and try to stay in touch with the latest ideas. But I get increasingly frustrated by new hardware, software or apps which are badly thought through and, yet again, mediocre. A vast raft of new
technologies doesn’t 50 Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital
automatically mean good applications, and unfortunately, to a degree, the same does go for museum displays. It sounds like a chant that I and many others have been making for the last 20 years or more, but the secret to great technology-based displays isn’t just the hardware and the technology in use, although it has to work and do the job. It’s the thought, layout and ergonomic design that goes into the overall design and the content – good stories, told well. In museums the ‘told well’ is the core of the exhibit design and the technology is there to allow the story to shine. Not only the story, but simplicity, can
bring results. In the case of science muse- ums, where the stories can be harder to extract, the focus is obviously more often on the physical effects when demonstrat- ing science in action. For example, on a recent trade mission study in Singapore with a very experienced team of profes- sionals from the UK, we had an interesting visit to the world class Science Centre. It was fun to note the one exhibit that kept virtually everyone enthralled was a small case demonstrating the effect of electro- magnetism energised by sound on iron fi llings, with the aid of small magnets and iron fi ling ‘trees’ accompanied by Jimmy Somerville singing Smalltown Boy. You can’t get much simpler than dancing iron fi lings, but I bet that’s the one exhibit that sticks in everyone’s minds. That’s what a large part of what we’re doing is about – memories and inspiration. And simple, successful memories can lead to big things for our visitors in the future – lasting impressions and return visits.
AM 2 2011 ©cybertrek 2011
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