The document discusses technology in museums of the future. It notes that the future is unpredictable and changing, and even within institutions it is not evenly distributed. When predicting future technologies, it recommends looking to past advances, what people want to be easier, and pop culture to a degree, though pop culture can also miss things. New technologies are likely to intersect, such as GPS, WiFi and iBeacon location services. While some may be worried, the future is not set and can be shaped by decisions. The best way to predict the future is to create it.
The document discusses conditions that can result in disruptive innovation, including the need for survival, movement, immortality, competition, accumulated wealth, and lack of spiritual fulfillment. It also discusses qualities of disruptive innovators, such as being young, having active listening skills, embracing risk, seeing transfer potential, and projecting from the past. Finally, it lists some mini-trends of note, such as cognitive computing, remote sensing, synthetic biology, 3D printing, and augmented reality.
Teachmeet 2018 - Using Socrative to Engage Large GroupsARLGSW
Socrative is an online tool that allows instructors to engage large groups of students, assess their learning through questions, and easily view and download results while maintaining student anonymity. The document discusses how Socrative can be used in lectures to start discussions, check student understanding, and make sessions more fun. It provides examples of questions asked in a lecture about the film Jaws, showing the variety of student responses received, from brief answers to longer analyses. The document concludes by asking students to consider what Jaws is really about according to different scholarly interpretations, demonstrating how Socrative can prompt higher-level thinking.
The document discusses technology and software development in 2024 and beyond. It considers what new programming languages, paradigms and frameworks may exist, and whether the goals of developers will have changed from a focus on innovation and changing the world to more trivial goals like success and profit. The document advocates that as developers, we should acknowledge societal problems and use our skills to help create a better society for all, rather than just seeing what new technologies we can create without considering if we should. We are encouraged to look to the future and ask "why", not just "what" or "how".
The document discusses conditions that can result in disruptive innovation, including the need for survival, movement, immortality, competition, accumulated wealth, and lack of spiritual fulfillment. It also discusses qualities of disruptive innovators, such as being young, having active listening skills, embracing risk, seeing transfer potential, and projecting from the past. Finally, it lists some mini-trends of note, such as cognitive computing, remote sensing, synthetic biology, 3D printing, and augmented reality.
Teachmeet 2018 - Using Socrative to Engage Large GroupsARLGSW
Socrative is an online tool that allows instructors to engage large groups of students, assess their learning through questions, and easily view and download results while maintaining student anonymity. The document discusses how Socrative can be used in lectures to start discussions, check student understanding, and make sessions more fun. It provides examples of questions asked in a lecture about the film Jaws, showing the variety of student responses received, from brief answers to longer analyses. The document concludes by asking students to consider what Jaws is really about according to different scholarly interpretations, demonstrating how Socrative can prompt higher-level thinking.
The document discusses technology and software development in 2024 and beyond. It considers what new programming languages, paradigms and frameworks may exist, and whether the goals of developers will have changed from a focus on innovation and changing the world to more trivial goals like success and profit. The document advocates that as developers, we should acknowledge societal problems and use our skills to help create a better society for all, rather than just seeing what new technologies we can create without considering if we should. We are encouraged to look to the future and ask "why", not just "what" or "how".
Museums have the power to educate and inspire people of all ages. They bring communities together through shared experiences and provide interactive learning opportunities outside the classroom. When designed well with community input, museums can foster creativity, critical thinking, and civic engagement.
This document provides information about a support group for developing a balanced relationship with technology. The support group aims to help people work through the various emotional states experienced in one's journey with technology, from initial excitement and confusion to understanding, contentment, and pride. It lists the contact information for the three organizers of the support group.
As a sequel to last year, this town hall session will explore the lessons learned, triumphs and defeats, of deploying technology in our institutions. We’ll share real examples, the pros and cons of implementation, audience engagement results, and ongoing maintenance.
This document discusses emerging technologies that are relevant for museums over the next 5 years. It describes a process used by the New Media Consortium to identify 6 key technologies through literature reviews and stakeholder voting. These include Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), crowdsourcing, electronic publishing, location-based services, natural user interfaces, and preservation/conservation technologies. Each technology is briefly described, highlighting opportunities they provide museums and implications for their use.
This is my portion of the panel for Museums and Mobile Online Conference 7. The topic was sustaining mobile programs and I specifically spoke on sustaining mobile checkout devices.
Given at the Arkansas Museums Association annual meeting in March 2014. This presentation looks at the technologies covered in the Horizon Report: Museum Edition 2013.
Presented at the Arkansas Museums Association annual meeting March 2013. This presentation covers a number of aspects to consider when choosing mobile platforms and devices. Presented with Kelly Miller, Mill Creek Software.
An examination of the emerging technologies that are expected to have a large impact in the museum world during the coming five years. Looking at the 2010 and 2011 Museum Edition of the Horizon Report. I give insights into which of these technologies I think are best suited to Arkansas museums given key trends and significant challenges.
This document provides guidance on producing in-house audio content. It discusses the key steps of pre-production, production, and post-production. In pre-production, the document recommends planning goals, content, equipment needs, copyright considerations, and selecting voices. For production, it covers recording equipment, microphones, and making the recording process fun. Post-production tips include editing in Audacity, common effects, and learning from mistakes. The overall document aims to demystify the audio production process.
Museums need to stay relevant to the next generation of taxpayers, potential donors, and possible volunteers. By addressing needs of the typically underserved teen population, museums can build relationships for the future. This presentation aims to give insights into involving a generation of digital natives. Attendees will share experiences with managing a teen project, learn strategies for communication with this age group using affordable technology, explore ways to stretch resources through collaboration, and delve into techniques for project evaluation. Presented at AMA 2011.
Participants will learn about listservs, discussion groups, and wikis, including Google groups and Yahoo groups. This session covers the basics of using these resources to stay in touch with your museum's audience, including their differences/strengths/weaknesses. Presented at the Arkansas Museums Association annual meeting 2010.
A general discussion of Social Media including how it can benefit museums, agruments against and for access, and an examination of two popular platforms - Twitter and Facebook. Presented at the Arkansas Museums Association annual meeting in 2010.
Inexpensive Doesn’t Mean Cheap: Museum Applications for Low-Cost TechnologyHeather Marie Wells
A presentation on creative uses of low-cost technology for museums presented at AMA 2008 and SEMC 2008. Handouts that include links to all these technologies can be found on my website at http://hmbwells.googlepages.com/home.
The workshop contains three major points:
1. How to plan a podcast.
2. How to record a podcast.
3. How to post and advertise your podcast.
It also contains hands on experience with:
1. Writing policy for your podcast.
2. Writing a draft for an introduction episode.
3. Recording audio with the equipment discussed.
4. Editing the audio recorded in the workshop.
Presented by Heather Marie Wells for AMA 2008
The presentation contains three major points:
1. How to plan a podcast.
2. How to record a podcast.
3. How to post and advertise your podcast.
Presented by Heather Marie Wells at SEMC 2007 and AMA 2008.
GraphSummit Singapore | The Future of Agility: Supercharging Digital Transfor...Neo4j
Leonard Jayamohan, Partner & Generative AI Lead, Deloitte
This keynote will reveal how Deloitte leverages Neo4j’s graph power for groundbreaking digital twin solutions, achieving a staggering 100x performance boost. Discover the essential role knowledge graphs play in successful generative AI implementations. Plus, get an exclusive look at an innovative Neo4j + Generative AI solution Deloitte is developing in-house.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
TrustArc Webinar - 2024 Global Privacy SurveyTrustArc
How does your privacy program stack up against your peers? What challenges are privacy teams tackling and prioritizing in 2024?
In the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey, we asked over 1,800 global privacy professionals and business executives to share their perspectives on the current state of privacy inside and outside of their organizations. This year’s report focused on emerging areas of importance for privacy and compliance professionals, including considerations and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, building brand trust, and different approaches for achieving higher privacy competence scores.
See how organizational priorities and strategic approaches to data security and privacy are evolving around the globe.
This webinar will review:
- The top 10 privacy insights from the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey
- The top challenges for privacy leaders, practitioners, and organizations in 2024
- Key themes to consider in developing and maintaining your privacy program
Museums have the power to educate and inspire people of all ages. They bring communities together through shared experiences and provide interactive learning opportunities outside the classroom. When designed well with community input, museums can foster creativity, critical thinking, and civic engagement.
This document provides information about a support group for developing a balanced relationship with technology. The support group aims to help people work through the various emotional states experienced in one's journey with technology, from initial excitement and confusion to understanding, contentment, and pride. It lists the contact information for the three organizers of the support group.
As a sequel to last year, this town hall session will explore the lessons learned, triumphs and defeats, of deploying technology in our institutions. We’ll share real examples, the pros and cons of implementation, audience engagement results, and ongoing maintenance.
This document discusses emerging technologies that are relevant for museums over the next 5 years. It describes a process used by the New Media Consortium to identify 6 key technologies through literature reviews and stakeholder voting. These include Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), crowdsourcing, electronic publishing, location-based services, natural user interfaces, and preservation/conservation technologies. Each technology is briefly described, highlighting opportunities they provide museums and implications for their use.
This is my portion of the panel for Museums and Mobile Online Conference 7. The topic was sustaining mobile programs and I specifically spoke on sustaining mobile checkout devices.
Given at the Arkansas Museums Association annual meeting in March 2014. This presentation looks at the technologies covered in the Horizon Report: Museum Edition 2013.
Presented at the Arkansas Museums Association annual meeting March 2013. This presentation covers a number of aspects to consider when choosing mobile platforms and devices. Presented with Kelly Miller, Mill Creek Software.
An examination of the emerging technologies that are expected to have a large impact in the museum world during the coming five years. Looking at the 2010 and 2011 Museum Edition of the Horizon Report. I give insights into which of these technologies I think are best suited to Arkansas museums given key trends and significant challenges.
This document provides guidance on producing in-house audio content. It discusses the key steps of pre-production, production, and post-production. In pre-production, the document recommends planning goals, content, equipment needs, copyright considerations, and selecting voices. For production, it covers recording equipment, microphones, and making the recording process fun. Post-production tips include editing in Audacity, common effects, and learning from mistakes. The overall document aims to demystify the audio production process.
Museums need to stay relevant to the next generation of taxpayers, potential donors, and possible volunteers. By addressing needs of the typically underserved teen population, museums can build relationships for the future. This presentation aims to give insights into involving a generation of digital natives. Attendees will share experiences with managing a teen project, learn strategies for communication with this age group using affordable technology, explore ways to stretch resources through collaboration, and delve into techniques for project evaluation. Presented at AMA 2011.
Participants will learn about listservs, discussion groups, and wikis, including Google groups and Yahoo groups. This session covers the basics of using these resources to stay in touch with your museum's audience, including their differences/strengths/weaknesses. Presented at the Arkansas Museums Association annual meeting 2010.
A general discussion of Social Media including how it can benefit museums, agruments against and for access, and an examination of two popular platforms - Twitter and Facebook. Presented at the Arkansas Museums Association annual meeting in 2010.
Inexpensive Doesn’t Mean Cheap: Museum Applications for Low-Cost TechnologyHeather Marie Wells
A presentation on creative uses of low-cost technology for museums presented at AMA 2008 and SEMC 2008. Handouts that include links to all these technologies can be found on my website at http://hmbwells.googlepages.com/home.
The workshop contains three major points:
1. How to plan a podcast.
2. How to record a podcast.
3. How to post and advertise your podcast.
It also contains hands on experience with:
1. Writing policy for your podcast.
2. Writing a draft for an introduction episode.
3. Recording audio with the equipment discussed.
4. Editing the audio recorded in the workshop.
Presented by Heather Marie Wells for AMA 2008
The presentation contains three major points:
1. How to plan a podcast.
2. How to record a podcast.
3. How to post and advertise your podcast.
Presented by Heather Marie Wells at SEMC 2007 and AMA 2008.
GraphSummit Singapore | The Future of Agility: Supercharging Digital Transfor...Neo4j
Leonard Jayamohan, Partner & Generative AI Lead, Deloitte
This keynote will reveal how Deloitte leverages Neo4j’s graph power for groundbreaking digital twin solutions, achieving a staggering 100x performance boost. Discover the essential role knowledge graphs play in successful generative AI implementations. Plus, get an exclusive look at an innovative Neo4j + Generative AI solution Deloitte is developing in-house.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
TrustArc Webinar - 2024 Global Privacy SurveyTrustArc
How does your privacy program stack up against your peers? What challenges are privacy teams tackling and prioritizing in 2024?
In the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey, we asked over 1,800 global privacy professionals and business executives to share their perspectives on the current state of privacy inside and outside of their organizations. This year’s report focused on emerging areas of importance for privacy and compliance professionals, including considerations and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, building brand trust, and different approaches for achieving higher privacy competence scores.
See how organizational priorities and strategic approaches to data security and privacy are evolving around the globe.
This webinar will review:
- The top 10 privacy insights from the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey
- The top challenges for privacy leaders, practitioners, and organizations in 2024
- Key themes to consider in developing and maintaining your privacy program
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of technologies, XML continues to play a vital role in structuring, storing, and transporting data across diverse systems. The recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present new methodologies for enhancing XML development workflows, introducing efficiency, automation, and intelligent capabilities. This presentation will outline the scope and perspective of utilizing AI in XML development. The potential benefits and the possible pitfalls will be highlighted, providing a balanced view of the subject.
We will explore the capabilities of AI in understanding XML markup languages and autonomously creating structured XML content. Additionally, we will examine the capacity of AI to enrich plain text with appropriate XML markup. Practical examples and methodological guidelines will be provided to elucidate how AI can be effectively prompted to interpret and generate accurate XML markup.
Further emphasis will be placed on the role of AI in developing XSLT, or schemas such as XSD and Schematron. We will address the techniques and strategies adopted to create prompts for generating code, explaining code, or refactoring the code, and the results achieved.
The discussion will extend to how AI can be used to transform XML content. In particular, the focus will be on the use of AI XPath extension functions in XSLT, Schematron, Schematron Quick Fixes, or for XML content refactoring.
The presentation aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of AI usage in XML development, providing attendees with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions. Whether you’re at the early stages of adopting AI or considering integrating it in advanced XML development, this presentation will cover all levels of expertise.
By highlighting the potential advantages and challenges of integrating AI with XML development tools and languages, the presentation seeks to inspire thoughtful conversation around the future of XML development. We’ll not only delve into the technical aspects of AI-powered XML development but also discuss practical implications and possible future directions.
Cosa hanno in comune un mattoncino Lego e la backdoor XZ?Speck&Tech
ABSTRACT: A prima vista, un mattoncino Lego e la backdoor XZ potrebbero avere in comune il fatto di essere entrambi blocchi di costruzione, o dipendenze di progetti creativi e software. La realtà è che un mattoncino Lego e il caso della backdoor XZ hanno molto di più di tutto ciò in comune.
Partecipate alla presentazione per immergervi in una storia di interoperabilità, standard e formati aperti, per poi discutere del ruolo importante che i contributori hanno in una comunità open source sostenibile.
BIO: Sostenitrice del software libero e dei formati standard e aperti. È stata un membro attivo dei progetti Fedora e openSUSE e ha co-fondato l'Associazione LibreItalia dove è stata coinvolta in diversi eventi, migrazioni e formazione relativi a LibreOffice. In precedenza ha lavorato a migrazioni e corsi di formazione su LibreOffice per diverse amministrazioni pubbliche e privati. Da gennaio 2020 lavora in SUSE come Software Release Engineer per Uyuni e SUSE Manager e quando non segue la sua passione per i computer e per Geeko coltiva la sua curiosità per l'astronomia (da cui deriva il suo nickname deneb_alpha).
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
Pushing the limits of ePRTC: 100ns holdover for 100 daysAdtran
At WSTS 2024, Alon Stern explored the topic of parametric holdover and explained how recent research findings can be implemented in real-world PNT networks to achieve 100 nanoseconds of accuracy for up to 100 days.
Communications Mining Series - Zero to Hero - Session 1DianaGray10
This session provides introduction to UiPath Communication Mining, importance and platform overview. You will acquire a good understand of the phases in Communication Mining as we go over the platform with you. Topics covered:
• Communication Mining Overview
• Why is it important?
• How can it help today’s business and the benefits
• Phases in Communication Mining
• Demo on Platform overview
• Q/A
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 6DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 6. In this session, we will cover Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI webinar offers an in-depth exploration of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for test automation within the UiPath platform. Attendees will delve into the integration of generative AI, a test automation solution, with Open AI advanced natural language processing capabilities.
Throughout the session, participants will discover how this synergy empowers testers to automate repetitive tasks, enhance testing accuracy, and expedite the software testing life cycle. Topics covered include the seamless integration process, practical use cases, and the benefits of harnessing AI-driven automation for UiPath testing initiatives. By attending this webinar, testers, and automation professionals can gain valuable insights into harnessing the power of AI to optimize their test automation workflows within the UiPath ecosystem, ultimately driving efficiency and quality in software development processes.
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into integrating generative AI.
2. Understanding how this integration enhances test automation within the UiPath platform
3. Practical demonstrations
4. Exploration of real-world use cases illustrating the benefits of AI-driven test automation for UiPath
Topics covered:
What is generative AI
Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath integration with generative AI
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 5DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 5. In this session, we will cover CI/CD with devops.
Topics covered:
CI/CD with in UiPath
End-to-end overview of CI/CD pipeline with Azure devops
Speaker:
Lyndsey Byblow, Test Suite Sales Engineer @ UiPath, Inc.
Introducing Milvus Lite: Easy-to-Install, Easy-to-Use vector database for you...Zilliz
Join us to introduce Milvus Lite, a vector database that can run on notebooks and laptops, share the same API with Milvus, and integrate with every popular GenAI framework. This webinar is perfect for developers seeking easy-to-use, well-integrated vector databases for their GenAI apps.
Removing Uninteresting Bytes in Software FuzzingAftab Hussain
Imagine a world where software fuzzing, the process of mutating bytes in test seeds to uncover hidden and erroneous program behaviors, becomes faster and more effective. A lot depends on the initial seeds, which can significantly dictate the trajectory of a fuzzing campaign, particularly in terms of how long it takes to uncover interesting behaviour in your code. We introduce DIAR, a technique designed to speedup fuzzing campaigns by pinpointing and eliminating those uninteresting bytes in the seeds. Picture this: instead of wasting valuable resources on meaningless mutations in large, bloated seeds, DIAR removes the unnecessary bytes, streamlining the entire process.
In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
Enchancing adoption of Open Source Libraries. A case study on Albumentations.AIVladimir Iglovikov, Ph.D.
Presented by Vladimir Iglovikov:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/iglovikov/
- https://x.com/viglovikov
- https://www.instagram.com/ternaus/
This presentation delves into the journey of Albumentations.ai, a highly successful open-source library for data augmentation.
Created out of a necessity for superior performance in Kaggle competitions, Albumentations has grown to become a widely used tool among data scientists and machine learning practitioners.
This case study covers various aspects, including:
People: The contributors and community that have supported Albumentations.
Metrics: The success indicators such as downloads, daily active users, GitHub stars, and financial contributions.
Challenges: The hurdles in monetizing open-source projects and measuring user engagement.
Development Practices: Best practices for creating, maintaining, and scaling open-source libraries, including code hygiene, CI/CD, and fast iteration.
Community Building: Strategies for making adoption easy, iterating quickly, and fostering a vibrant, engaged community.
Marketing: Both online and offline marketing tactics, focusing on real, impactful interactions and collaborations.
Mental Health: Maintaining balance and not feeling pressured by user demands.
Key insights include the importance of automation, making the adoption process seamless, and leveraging offline interactions for marketing. The presentation also emphasizes the need for continuous small improvements and building a friendly, inclusive community that contributes to the project's growth.
Vladimir Iglovikov brings his extensive experience as a Kaggle Grandmaster, ex-Staff ML Engineer at Lyft, sharing valuable lessons and practical advice for anyone looking to enhance the adoption of their open-source projects.
Explore more about Albumentations and join the community at:
GitHub: https://github.com/albumentations-team/albumentations
Website: https://albumentations.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100504475
Twitter: https://x.com/albumentations
21. The future is not laid out on a track.
It is something that we can decide,
and to the extent that we do not
violate any known laws of the
universe, we can probably make it
work the way that we want to.
– Alan Kay
22. The best way to predict
the future is to create it.
– uncertain
Trying to imagine the future is enticing, but we often seem to gravitate toward extremes: Either the future is amazing and great, or it’s a dystopian disaster. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle, but it’s always a good idea to dream for the best even if your planning for the worst. And the next twenty years for museums will no doubt be filled with challenges, but we think there are some great things coming too.
So we’ve put together a panel to examine what tomorrow may hold for museums, and, hopefully, to try to look on the bright side some and dream of a better future!
Left: Disney’s original Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow concept
Right: Kowloon City, outside Hong Kong
So it will be irresponsible of me to stand in front of you and say museums in the future will be using these technologies, so start investing now. Because the future is now, it’s just not evenly distributed. I can’t even think of a current technology that every museum should be using right now, because all museums are so diverse, we all have our own stories, our own audiences, our own goals, mission and needs. And the idea that there’s a “one ring to rule them all” is really arrogant, not to mention evil.
So you need to think about Where are you in the distribution of the future? So you should think about your museum and what year you are in and what year you want to be in. 1885, 1955, 1985, 2015 (and yes that’s a Back to the Future reference).
Colonial Williamsburg doesn’t need a lot of touch screens, but the computer museum doesn’t need a blacksmith.
The future can also be unevenly distributed at your institution. This can manifest its self in differences between your back of house staff experience and your front of house guest experience. Or perhaps it’s a difference between your on site guest experience and a possible virtual or long-distance guest experience.
So rather than telling you what technology you should be using I want to help you learn how to identify what technological direction might be best for your museum.
A good place to start is actually by looking at the past. Most emerging technologies get the most traction when they help people do the things they’ve always done.
Communication – pony express, telegraph, telephone, cell phones, emails, texting
So look at what are things that are people want to do but that can be done easier and better.
Some examples of this might be:
Why is it still so hard to connect a computer to a projector? Think about how many times you’ve seen this issue at your own institution or at conferences and projecting presentations is a pretty important part of business. When boiled down the basic problem is connecting a computer to a video output which for museums can relate directly to in-gallery displays. So if you are evaluating a new video connection technology its worth asking is it going to make these things easier. If so, then it might be worth investing in. If Not, then there’s a good chance they won’t become widespread enough to take off.
Now that we’ve looked at the concrete past; let’s look at the fiction of pop culture, because even though most of it is produced to be impressive and not predictive it can be inspiring.
Amazingly, there are a number of things that futuristic stories get right to a certain extent.
Examples –
Tablet computing; AI - 2001: Space Odyssey
Video calls; Digital billboards - Blade Runner
Wearable tech –Back to the Future II
Driverless car and airport body scanners– Total Recall
Smartwatches - Jetsons
These are all good examples of the things people want to do, want to try to do, and dream about doing. And that’s a good indicator of the types of technology that someone will try to develop.
Pop cultures doesn’t always get it completely right, but they are often correct by degrees. For instance, think about how smart homes have been depicted. The Jetsons talked to Rosie the Robot or had computer terminals throughout the house to interact with; Back to the Future and Star Trek had people talking to the house or computer at large.
None of those stories had us talking to a small cylinder next to the TV, but they did still indicate where we’re dreaming about getting to. So what if you’re museum was using an Amazon Echo in your gallery could someone say “Alex-a play Beyoncé and start a dance party in your exhibit hall?”
However, pop culture often misses things, too. The use of cash money, fax machines, payphones, and newspapers are still depicted in stories like the Jetsons and Back to the Future.
And although these things have not completely gone away they are far less prevalent in our society today. For instance, I’m not sure of the last time I saw a payphone outside of a museum exhibition. I don’t even pay back money my friend who spotted me for lunch with cash, I use square or Apple Pay Cash.
And the newspaper in Arkansas recently announced they were going to give iPads to large part of the state rather than disturb paper editions.
All of this is just to caution you and further illustrate that the future is not completely predictive. Although it is worth pointing out that these things are being supplanted by new ways of doing these things that are often easier and cheaper.
One of the things that causes hits and misses in predictions is the way new technologies emerge from the intersection of existing technologies. But looking at these intersections is a good way to try to anticipate changes.
Let’s go back to my example of cash, so what’s happening is the intersection of the credit/debit system, smaller/less complicated processing hardware in the form of square devices or our phones, and ubiquitous network connectivity.
Another example would be phone cameras. This popularity is being driven by improvements in digital sensors and image processing in our phones, network connectivity, and photo sharing services. All of these together combine into the most attractive/easy way for people to take pictures. You have a compact device that takes a really good quality picture that makes it easy for you to do what you want to do with that picture – which is probably share it with people.
To bring it back to museums – another example is location services. For most of us it did not occur to us to use personal location-based interactives at our museums until the majority of the public adopted the use of GPS on their smartphones for various daily life navigational activities.
Granted those museums that have adopted the use of location-based services are more than likely not using GPS but rather they are using infrastructures that they already had or could easily implement in the form of their WiFi networks and iBeacon technology. Nonetheless it was the convergence of smartphones and GPS that inspired these uses and proves that consumer available technology can impact what you may have in your gallery.
With so much technology emerging and so many predictions of what it will be like the question often comes up should I be scared of this technology or worried about that technology. We have to remember technology is a tool that as I said in the beginning people will use to do what they’ve always done. Unfortunately, some people choose to do nefarious things. So it does mean that we may have to step outside our own nature and think like a bad guy so we can protect our institutions, our data, and our guests. But it is also important that we spend the time trying to think of good things to do with these tools.
There’s a modern parable: Two wolves are fighting. One is evil, full of anger, sorrow, regret, greed, self-pity and false pride. The other is good, full of joy, peace, love, humility, kindness and faith. The question is which wolf will win? The answer is The one you feed.
What does the museum of the tomorrow look like? Well as long as we don’t break any universal laws it can probably look like anything we want it to look like. So we must ask ourselves what do we want museums in the future to be? Which wolf do we want to feed?
Because what we must realize is that we all have a hand in creating tomorrow with every second that happens today. Are we brave enough to create to them?