A good example is the Tate Modern’s innovative use of wireless multimedia
in its gallery tour, where visitors use a handheld computer to access
information about the works on display. Audio descriptions are commonplace
as a way of enhancing visitors’ experience of museum objects, and several
galleries in the USA have built on this by incorporating multimedia elements
of still and moving pictures to complement the soundtrack on portable devices
as the visitor tours the exhibits in a determined order. The Tate’s system builds
on this by being the first in the world to sense the visitor’s exact position in the
gallery at any time and feed the appropriate information to him or her. Because
the information comes from a central server rather than having to be loaded,
like an audio track, onto a particular device, the amount of content is
potentially limitless and can be updated with ease. This distribution channel
goes beyond the gallery itself. The visitor can use the handheld device to
request further information about the work they have seen to be sent to them
by e-mail after their visit, allowing the gallery to build and nurture its
relationship with what might otherwise be a transient visitor.