Phone Tour Pilots In The US And Europe

When In Roam: Visitor Response To Phone Tour Pilots In The US And Europe
Nancy Proctor, Head of New Product Development, Antenna Audio, France

Abstract

This paper looks at the use of cell phones for tours of cultural sites in Europe. Although several projects have experimented with IVR, SMS and even multimedia tours on standard and next-generation networks, take-up of this platform by museums has remained low in comparison to US activity, despite cell phone usage being more wide-spread and longer-developed than in North America. Through case studies of recent phone tour projects at Tate Modern and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, we examine what the key differences and similarities are between phone-based tours on the two continents, and what each can learn from the other.

Keywords: cell phone, mobile phone, audio tour, IVR, wireless, podcast, downloadable MP3 tours, exhibition

This paper was presented at Museum and the Web 2007, the international conference for culture and heritage on-line.