Exhibition, education, or interpretation-the conveyance of culture-and a
commitment to community or social welfare has grown to be important aims for
the museum in the last century."
The modern museum offers many ways for the user to interact with the museum ranging
from an online search of the collections it hosts before the visit, to touch screens and
interactive displays within the museum, to multimodal and more hands-on interactive
systems that allow users (especially children) to learn in a playful manner [3]. As the
relationship between users and communication technology has changed from simply
receiving broadcast messages(such as in the era of TV) to interactive engagement (such
as with the advent of the Internet), so too has the museum.
Mobile telephony has further developed this relationship by creating point-to-point
networked interactions. Messages, content, and interaction are calibrated for the specific
individual and transform how the individual orients in space and time [4, 5]. The
personalization of information and a sense of the individual rather than location tend to
be the defining effects of mobile communication:
"...the widespread adoption and use of mobile communication technologies mark
a new phase in the network society, chiefly characterized by heightened
personalization in the relationship between technologies and their users. With
these technologies we call to individuals and not to locations." [6]
Museums have always sought after interactive technologies to improve the visitors
experience and heighten the interaction of the collection. The technological enrichment of
museums serves as a prime area for research. How modern mobile interactive