RFID in Museums - Another Growing Market

Filed in archive Market Size , Ubiquitous Computing on August 22, 2005

Museums around the world are beginning to implement ubiquitous computing environments in order to enhance the visitor's experience. A recent article in CIO magazine describes the uses.

Museums are organizations that you might not have thought would have a big need for technology. (Great architecture and lighting -- yes. Information technology -- no.)

Yet they seem to be big spenders on technology these days.

Some of the ubiquitous computing environments will involve RFID. Here are a few examples of museums using or planning to use RFID:

The Museum of Siena University is using RFID to enable patrons to email themselves information about the exhibits before they leave:

With a replica of the 800 year old University Director's staff, the user can capture any piece of history throughout the five room museum. Using Radio Frequency Identifiers (RFID) we have given the user the ability to simply, wave the staff at any information present. The RFID captures the selected information in our database. After the User has experienced our museum, they arrive at the last computer. With another wave of the staff, everything the user has captured is on the screen. The User then decides what he or she wants, then with an on screen keyboard, the user enters their email and the information is sent via email.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, which is one of the top museums in the world and one my favorite places to visit, will be using RFID this fall to understand user interests and preferences:

The tags will collect detailed information about how visitors use the museum and will answer questions about what happens if someone comes in a group instead of alone and what exhibits interest visitors the most. The over arching goal is to determine how the museum should accommodate new technologies in a major renovation that is expected to begin in September and is due to finish in 2010.

Leonard Steinbach, Cleveland Art's CIO, says the museum doesn't expect to track anything personally identifiable. Rather, it wants to get a better sense of a patron's viewing habits so that the museum can deliver content in the most effective manner. For example, one visitor might look at the painting first, while another might look at the plate providing background information about the artist in question; it all depends on the visitor's personal preference.

And the Museum of Modern Art in New York is planning to use RFID to track works of art.