PRAIRIE | FRANKIE SANCHEZ
Web Editor’s Note: For more PPHM photos, click here.
The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) has made a name for itself as being the largest history museum in Texas, but now they’re making history by being one of the first institutions to use the latest technology to let visitors guide themselves through the exhibits.
On January 5, 2010, PPHM implemented smartphone guided tours into three of their exhibits.
“There was no rhyme or reason to [the exhibits we picked]. There’s just more stuff to ‘em, I guess,” said Honnah Taylor, Asst. Communications Coordinator for PPHM.
The three exhibits chosen to begin this project are Stones and Bones from the Collection, The Great Search for Energy and A Running Fight: The Red River War in Art. All three exhibits are relatively new and built with the guided tour technology in mind.
“We wanted to try the tour in an exhibit we built from the ground up,” said Taylor.
PRAIRIE | FRANKIE SANCHEZ
The smartphone-guided tour lets the visitor scan a QRE barcode next to one of the first kiosks in the exhibit. Upon reading the barcode, the smartphone takes the visitor to the PPHM website where the link containing the exhibit’s name needs to be “clicked.” That link leads to a YouTube video that will last about eight minutes and visually guides the viewer through the exhibit from start to finish.
The videos, featuring either Buster Ratliff or Honnah Taylor’s voice, will describe the exhibit and add extra tidbits that the curator of the exhibit didn’t feel were right for the placards next to the kiosks. These videos were pulled straight from PPHM’s website archive after the exhibit had been chosen for the guided tour.
Of course every model of smartphone is different, but the app that needs to be installed for the iPhone to scan the QRE barcode can be downloaded for free and is called “i-nigma,” and the app that works best for the Google Droid is the Barcode Scanner by ZXing Team, which is also free.
“One thing we were worried about was the cell phone tours getting reception,” said Taylor. “We figured we would have signal troubles, but turns out we didn’t have to improve anything to get things working.”
Smartphone users aren’t the only ones that are able to enjoy a guided tour through the museum, though.
Regular “text and call only” phones can access a guided audio tour through the exhibits. According to PPHM’s website, www.panhandleplains.org, when the visitor sees a posted sign that explains that “this exhibit has an audio tour” he or she can call (806) 318-9056. There will be a “stop number” next to certain kiosks that the visitor can enter on their keypad to hear parts of the audio tour.
“This is a huge deal. The possibilities are endless with it,” said Taylor. “Like, for instance, we want a billboard for PPHM with just a QRE barcode and our logo, that’s it. People will be curious and it will reach the generation we need.”
Don’t forget that it’s free for students to get into the museum, so next time you’re stuck between classes, go to the museum and try the QRE reader out for yourself.