Breaking New Ground? Mobile Telepresence and the National Museum of Australia

The National Museum of Australia has been approached by CSIRO and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to partner on a project designed to break new ground in the delivery of programming at cultural institutions such as the NMA to remote audiences, and especially schools from remote locations. The Mobile Telepresence project aims to combine robot technology with a 360 degree camera to enable remote visitors to independently control their 'view' of a museum gallery space from their computer or smart board via the National Broadband Network. A museum staff member will operate the robot and interact with their remote audience. In addition to the interactive tour, the remote audience will also have access to additional information about the specific areas of the gallery they visit, including museum objects and other historical evidence through an augmented reality feature.
The Mobile Telepresence project is at the beginning stages. As with any project where the technology is new and as yet unproven, one challenge will be to ensure that the development of the technology aids rather than hinders a compelling learning experience for the audience. In this presentation we will explore in more detail how the project is proceeding and what the opportunities and potential pitfalls might be.