Alison:

   I think that the point that you made about audio tours making family
   learning difficult is quite true.  Not only do adults and children
   have different interests in looking at art, i should think, but the
   very act of putting on headphones and listening to an authority would
   make family interaction difficult as well.

   I haven't tried it, but I hear good things about the Expidition audio
   guide at the American Museum of Natural History.  It was done by
   Antenna.  Also, I have learned about a technology which provides
   multiple layers of access, so that kids and parents could stand in
   front of the same artifact and hear different audio programs.  This is
   called something like Point of Exhibit Technology (POET) and is made
   by a group called Heritage Information Technology in Lewisburg WV.  My
   contact there is the president named Robert Griffin (304)647-9900.

   The technology is quite ingenious: the audio program is
   digitally stored in little doodads (sorry for the technical
   language) that are actually mounted at the place in the exhibition
   that is being interpreted.  The doodads contain both regular old
   cheep Flash ROM and other patented technology to control the system.
   The audio program is broadcast via infra red to receivers that the
   visitor carries, which look a little like cell phones.  The cool thing
   is that several channels of audio can be broadcast from the same
   station at once, depending on what the receiver requests.  The effect
   is that a child and an adult can stand at the same exhibit stop, and
   request different audio tailored to their interests.

   This can be done in one of two ways.  Either they can key in a number
   which will request broadcast to their interests, or the actual
   receivers can be programmed at the point where they are distributed.
   So they can be: kids receivers, or school group receivers, or teacher
   receivers, or parent receivers, or spanish receivers, or Korean, and
   on and on, depending on your needs.  They also demonstrated a "key"
   operated system, where school groups, for example, get a plasticized
   paper key which is inserted into audio stations, in this case with
   speakers, and get the program specifically tailored for school groups
   at each of the stations.  These things work well outdoors (no moving
   parts), and can even be solar powered!

   I don't have any relationship with these folks, but I did see a
   demonstration and thought that their technology was a real leap in
   random access audio tours.  They also were quite reasonable in their
   price and proposed financial arrangements.

   I would be curious to see this system implemented, it seems quite
   sound in theory, and quite practical in design.

   Eric Siegel
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