Ignite@ASU - AudioExcursions
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At Ignite@ASU, Benson explained to audience members the wonderful benefits of multimedia learning to students, tourists, and curious learners. He also spoke about the issues of usability and accessibility to content already arranged in multimedia formats, and what his company is doing to solve it. Check out his Ignite@ASU presentation and view his solution on 10,000 Solutions to learn more about what Benson is doing to bring increased historical and cultural awareness and learning to tourists, students, and the entire world. To get involved, contact him directly at benson.garner@asu.edu.
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Ignite@ASU - AudioExcursions
- 1. © Sarah Garner Photography @bensongarner
- 2. © Sarah Garner Photography @bensongarner @bensongarner
- 3. © Sarah Garner Photography @bensongarner @bensongarner
- 4. © Sarah Garner Photography @bensongarner @bensongarner
- 5. (cc) James.mcd.nz on @bensongarner @bensongarner Wikimedia Commons
- 6. Washington Crossing the Delaware - Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze - Oil on canvas painted in 1851 – Commemorates the crossing of the Delaware River by George Washington in December of 1776, during the Revolutionary War which led the troops to the battle of Trenton, where US forces successfully overtook the Hessians stationed there. Historical figures James Madison and James Monore are also depicted in the painting; James Monroe holding the American Flag. The flag depicted is inaccurate as the Betsy Ross version shown was not created until six months later according to historical records. (cc) The Metropolitan Museum @bensongarner @bensongarner of Art on Wikimedia Commons
- 7. (cc) The Metropolitan Museum @bensongarner @bensongarner of Art on Wikimedia Commons
- 8. (cc) The Metropolitan Museum @bensongarner @bensongarner of Art on Wikimedia Commons
- 9. (cc) Canon Screwdriver on Flickr @bensongarner @bensongarner
- 10. (cc) Naturehead on @bensongarner @bensongarner Wikimedia Commons
- 11. (cc) StubbyFingers on Flickr @bensongarner @bensongarner (cc) Thevoges on Flickr
- 12. (cc) By owner on source @bensongarner @bensongarner
- 13. (cc) Andy Stafford on Flickr @bensongarner @bensongarner
- 14. (cc) Collin on Flickr @bensongarner @bensongarner
- 15. (cc) Service2media on Flickr (cc) TheIdeaDesk on Flickr @bensongarner @bensongarner (cc) DavidKVilar on Flickr
- 17. (cc)Richard Symonds on (cc) Roger on Wikimedia Wikimedia @bensongarner @bensongarner (cc) ZXING on Wikimedia (cc) APA-OTS on Flickr
- 18. (cc) maury.mccown on Flickr @bensongarner @bensongarner
- 19. (cc) Hetty 51 on Flickr (cc) Percev@l on Flickr @bensongarner @bensongarner (cc) Momoyama on Flickr (cc) Charlie 81 on Flickr
- 20. © Audio Excursions @bensongarner @bensongarner
Editor's Notes
- I’d like to start by telling you a short story about my wife and I. We have a great passion for history and traveling. Two summers ago my wife and I had the opportunity to travel back East for a couple of weeks to tour the sites.
- We had a lot of fun. I starred as knife thrower with a street performer, played piano on a street corner in New York, my wife stole a kiss from me at LOVE Park, I dropped the rental car keys into the gated pit that houses Plymouth Rock and we met Paul Giamati.
- But the coolest experiences we had were to visit the famous historical sites. We saw the estates of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. We went to Arlington Cemetery, Washington DC, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and to Gettysburg, and Valley Forge.
- While we were at Gettysburg and Valley Forge, we purchased driving tours on CD that guided us around the parks and provided fantastic historical information about key areas. This made the trip more meaningful as we were able to really connect with the sites we were visiting.
- Richard Mayer, a Professor of Psychology, explained the great benefits to multimedia learning. The stimulation of both the audio and visual centers of our brains creates more meaningful connections and allows for deeper understanding when experienced together than when experienced individually.
- For example, if you are shown a picture at a museum, as well as some text explaining the picture, it may take you some time to really connect what is happening in the picture with what is being described in the text as both are stimulating the visual center of your brain.
- However, if you can process the image visually, while being told audibly that the picture entitled Washington Crossing the Delaware was painted by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (LOIT suh) in 1851. That the original painting was done on a 12x21 foot canvas and includes other historical figures, James Madison and James Monroe.
- James Monroe is seen holding the Betsy Ross version of the flag, which is inaccurate since it wasn’t actually created until six months after this event took place. This multimedia format allows you to form a quicker, more sound connection between the visual of the picture and the audio information.
- The ability to form connections to our surroundings is beneficial to students, tourists, and curious learners. But, while the benefits of multimedia learning are fairly obvious, there are considerable issues with widespread usability and accessibility to content already arranged in this format.
- There are currently thousands of historical societies, museums, and tour agencies, across the globe producing a great variety of multimedia tours. These tours range from simple MP3 files to full scale packages complete with sound files, maps, text, video, and images.
- While there is a vast amount of existing content, for the most part, a person must be at a tour site, know that a tour is available, and then rent some type of hardware in order to experience the multimedia tour.
- Additionally, tours are rarely marketed in such a way that visitors to a site, and especially non-visitors, would know how to obtain them. Had we not been in the right area of the visitor’s centers, we wouldn’t have known to rent the driving tours of Valley Forge and Gettysburg, let alone that the tours even existed.
- Now, should a person know that a specific tour exists and where to get it, they wouldn’t have the opportunity to preview the tour before purchasing it. This leads individuals to purchase tours that they might consider boring, age inappropriate, or that don’t correlate to their specific learning style.
- The last problem we faced was synchronizing timing and navigation. We had to be at the correct location and have the correlating audio track playing at the same time. This problem got worse when we had to stop the car several times along the way to look at a map.
- It’s amazing to me that in today’s society these problems even exist. Modern technology coupled with rising trends in mobile internet devices like smart phones and tablet PCs make a more accessible, efficient delivery method for audio-visual content a realistic possibility.
- What if one website existed to collect all audio-visual tours available, allowing tourists, educators, and curious learners alike to search out and download the widest range of multimedia tours in the world, and for content to be validated through user rankings, reviews, and social networks.
- Additionally, internet and mobile apps would be the vehicle for experiencing content and would include modern features such as GPS automation, QR code readers, and NFC chips for easier, quicker downloading of content while traveling, in the classroom, or from the comfort of your home.
- iTunes brought music listeners easy, widespread access to a broad base of music genres, along with quality, individualistic, and culturally rich sounds. Like iTunes, the system I am proposing would create accessibility to valuable, educational, and exciting tour content.
- With the help of consumers, businesses, historical societies, museums, and government agencies, my mission is to utilize modern technologies and mobile devices to bring increased historical and cultural awareness and learning to tourists, students, and the entire world.
- To fulfill this mission, I started AudioExcursions, a recent winner of the Edson competition, and a company that has received validation from industry mentors, customers, and investors. To get involved, leave a comment at 10,000 solutions, email me directly, or come talk to me during the intermission and networking portions.