A Tour in the Palm of Your Hand....

I saw this article a few weeks ago in the NY Times. It is a reveiw of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's new exhibit called Design USA: Contemporarty Innovation. The tech part is that Apple donated 100 iPod touch devices for use in the exhibit. Visitors use the device as they walk through to get more information on the displays. On the iPod, artists talk about thier work, tell stories about how it was conceived, there are videos, pictures, etc to help you understand the exhibit. As the article points out - the exhibit becomes a "rabbit hole" of information.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/arts/design/15design.html

Normally this would get me very excited about how technology can be integrated into museums to make them more interactive, but after reading this article, I wonder if adding tech devices might also take away from the "museum" experience. Will they make the museum less of a cultural experience and turn it into just another flashy attraction? And is that a bad thing?
Last week on Project Runway, the contestants went to The Met to be inspired by iconic fashion designs from the collection. I am a big believer that a museum should act as "muse", inspire, educate! If a visitor is too busy pushing buttons and looking down how is that different than surfing the web at home?
On the other hand, the iPod & other technology have the ability to make a museum exhibit less static, more dynamic and educational so that you take away more than you could in the past. I think it will be interesting to see how these types of exhibits and new technology are used in the near future. As with everything, some will get it right and some won't. I am looking forward to visiting those who do!!