From a Research Prototype to a Deployed System: the Case of the Hecht Museum Visitor's Guide

Cultural heritage (such as museums, archeological sites etc) is both an appealing and challenging research area for applying novel information technologies. It is appealing because it provides a wide range of research possibilities and involves users that are generally willing to experience novel technologies. It is challenging because it requires the research prototype to be a complete, robust and high quality system usable by regular visitors. However, once such a system is in place then a wide range of research directions can be explored. After achieving such a high quality research prototype, an interesting question arises about what it takes to make a research prototype into a working system to be used daily by visitors. This paper describes the experience gained at the PIL project, which started as a research project applying novel technologies for museum visitors and progressed into a system that is deployed at the museum and can be used by visitors on a daily basis. In the process, infrastructure, positioning and interface challenges were tackled. The result is a system that is available for the benefit of researchers and visitors alike, by being both a research platform for human computer interaction (as well as additional more specific technological aspects) and a museum visitor’s guide system.