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Louisiana State University Students Craft an RFID Solution for Art Museums
For the pilot, Majumdar installed three interrogators and provided 10 RFID cards. Based on the pilot's results, he says, he plans to custom-design a solution for other museums or exhibitions, to be used for several more trials of the technology. The cost of the system to the museum would be minimal, Majumdar indicates, but the exact amount would depend on the total number of exhibits, as well as the number of readers installed at each exhibit. The RFID cards would cost approximately $1.25 per card, while the reader would cost around $65.
The LSU Museum of Art was very excited about the possibilities of Majumdar's project, says Thomas Livesay, the museum's executive director. "It's perfect for the many university and college students that we have coming to the museum," he says, since it enables them to have the information e-mailed to them, to be reviewed at their leisure. "Often, you see an object or painting while at a museum, but find that there is little or no information in an accompanying catalogue or on the walls," he says. "This system could well be the wave of the future, to provide an intelligent solution for accessing collections." In addition, he notes, the system would help the museum better track its exhibits' popularity. "The system would be an invaluable aid in tracking the popularity of specific works of art, or entire exhibitions."
Other museums have also deployed RFID systems as a way of augmenting the information they provide to patrons. In 2004, for instance, the Museum of Natural History in Aarhus, Denmark, mounted an RFID tag next to each bird on exhibit, and loaned visitors a PDA equipped with an RFID reader (see Museum Puts Tags on Stuffed Birds).
Another example is The Tech Museum of Innovation, located in San Jose, Calif. In 2005, the museum launched a program whereby visitors can receive an RFID tag that they can then use to select the language of the content displayed at the exhibits they visit while at the museum, as well as gather information for later viewing on personalized Web pages (see RFID Works Like a Charm at The Tech).
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| If a museum visitor wants to learn more about an object on display, he or she can tap an RFID-enabled card against the reader of a nearby kiosk. |
The LSU Museum of Art was very excited about the possibilities of Majumdar's project, says Thomas Livesay, the museum's executive director. "It's perfect for the many university and college students that we have coming to the museum," he says, since it enables them to have the information e-mailed to them, to be reviewed at their leisure. "Often, you see an object or painting while at a museum, but find that there is little or no information in an accompanying catalogue or on the walls," he says. "This system could well be the wave of the future, to provide an intelligent solution for accessing collections." In addition, he notes, the system would help the museum better track its exhibits' popularity. "The system would be an invaluable aid in tracking the popularity of specific works of art, or entire exhibitions."
Other museums have also deployed RFID systems as a way of augmenting the information they provide to patrons. In 2004, for instance, the Museum of Natural History in Aarhus, Denmark, mounted an RFID tag next to each bird on exhibit, and loaned visitors a PDA equipped with an RFID reader (see Museum Puts Tags on Stuffed Birds).
Another example is The Tech Museum of Innovation, located in San Jose, Calif. In 2005, the museum launched a program whereby visitors can receive an RFID tag that they can then use to select the language of the content displayed at the exhibits they visit while at the museum, as well as gather information for later viewing on personalized Web pages (see RFID Works Like a Charm at The Tech).
