Project Title:  Cell Phone Tour

Media Category: Audio Tour

Museum/ Institution: North Carolina Museum of Art

Program Created:  

Program URL (if available):   http://ncartmuseum.org/visit/plan_your_visit/ (on right-hand side, DL: http://ncartmuseum.org/interim/tours/ncma-audio-tour.zip)

Project Image(s) and/or Video

265 Torah Case.mp3 (mislabeled in ZIP file)

Audio Stops with Individual Album Art (seen using Microsoft Zune software)

Media Source(s)/Credit(s):

mp3 from:

http://ncartmuseum.org/interim/tours/ncma-audio-tour.zip

Screenshot from: MKdL, using Zune software and NCMA files

Program Description: (150-250 words)

The North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC) Cell Phone Tour is an audio tour of eighty-seven pieces of art on display in the East Wing of NCMA.  The tour can be accessed three ways.  First, visitors can use their cell phones to dial a number listed on a plaque next to the piece and listen to the description using their own minutes.  Second, the visitor can get an audio wand from the Welcome desk, which is free to members or $3 for non-members.  Finally, visitors can download a ZIP file of the tour as individual mp3s from the NCMA Visit page.  Each file or audio stop is a recording of a curator or other individual explaining the piece or providing context for its creation.  The tour is designed to be used at the visitor’s own pace and order, and does not need to be completed, as it is not designed as a cohesive experience, but rather, as individual learning snippets.  The clips are between one and two minutes in length.  When downloaded as mp3s, the artwork shows as the album art on computer or mp3 player with video capability.

Firsthand or secondary review/critique: (150-250 words) 

This tour is a personal favorite for many reasons.  First, I like the fact that the visitor can pick and choose which pieces to learn about without needing to go through the nearly two hours it would take to listen to the tour in its entirety.  Secondly, I like that by downloading the ZIP file of mp3s you get the artwork as the album art, therefore allowing the visitor to review the tour or listen at home if he or she cannot get to the museum.  Finally, the varied speakers and way of approaching the artwork keeps the tour interesting and prevents it from feeling like a lecture.  The Cell Phone/mp3 option also makes it appealing to an increasingly tech-savvy audience of younger museum visitors, while the audio wand keeps it accessible for older or less tech-savvy visitors.

Technologies incorporated:  Telephone access to recordings, audio wand, mp3 with corresponding album art in ZIP file 

Internally or externally produced:  Internally 

Entry Contributor and Date:  Mary Kate du Laney, 14 Feb. 2011 

Related projects:  Audio guides at the Met (http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/audioguide/), National Gallery of Art Cell Phone Stops (http://www.nga.gov/cell/)