A demo of the Latvian National Museum of Art AR app. Source: Overly.
AR as a Communication Tool
Visitor use scenarios for augmented reality can be largely utilitarian: since so many visitors now carry smartphones, these devices can be used as a communication tool, providing information in a more easily accessible way. The amount of information and level of engagement can vary, depending on how much the institution is comfortable with prompting their visitors to look down on their phones. At the most simple level, AR can help pull up object information (such as object labels), an option that comes especially helpful when spaces are crowded and visitors wait their turn at reading a small label on the wall. Different types of content could be included, such as providing contextual images or media related to the object, which help enrich a visitor’s understanding of the object.
In the same way audio guides were once considered a new technology that could enhance a visitor experience, AR can also be leveraged to engage visitors. A new term, “paratour,” has cropped up in the museum space, as defined by Margriet Schavemaker at the American American Alliance of Museums. “Para” refers to “the extra information that normally accompanies the core text of a publication,” or the “discursive elements that frame the text,” making a “paratour” somewhat like a glorified audio guide — immediate access to additional layers of interpretive content.
At the Latvian National Museum of Art, an AR app allows visitors to learn more about a work of art through additional label text as well as “hotspots,” or specific details within the work that expand into text once visitors tap on them. The level of user interaction here is minimal by design; the digital layer created by AR is mostly text.
Several AR products already exist to provide an easy template that can be adapted for various purposes. These products provide image recognition and GPS location services, as well as an off-the-shelf CMS (content management system) and a customizable frontend, so any institution can very quickly set up an AR experience for visitors by simply leveraging existing content (label text, images, media files, etc.). These platforms include Museum Solutions, GuidiGo, and Overly.
Author: Staci Hou