Better information displays in museums
The advent of personalised and contextual multimedia content (in the form of mobile and audio guides) has improved the visitor experience at cultural heritage sites. However, these often result in the isolation of individuals in small groups and decreased group cohesion. Funded by the EU, the 'Large displays in museums' (DISPLAYS IN MUSEUMS) project aimed to develop ways for individuals and small groups to effectively interact with large visual displays in museums and other public spaces. Researchers designed a museum planning prototype system to support small group activity. The system uses a large display at the entrance in combination with users' smartphones to interactively plan a museum visit. It also provides multimedia content to the group through their smartphones for the duration of the visit. The system was tested in a museum context through a user study. Project work also focused on testing a prototype system on real-life users at a museum. The system has been finalised as a framework for the use of situated displays.