Page 256 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2015256A report compiled by GigaOM103 stated that by 2017 we could have reached the figure of 170 million devices of this kind, which could come in the form of watches, glasses, contact lenses, fabrics with embedded micro-tech- nology, small screens, rings and wristbands, headphones, smartcards, wrist computers and even intelligent tattoos. Progress in studying batteries and sensors is taking this technology to levels that were unthinkable only a few years ago. The monitoring capability makes possible precise results and knowledge in fields such as health and sport: obtaining data on physical exhaustion, glucose levels and even preventing diseases. Work is already being carried out on intelligent clothing that detects emotions and moods.The first applications in the culture sectorrange from glasses with subtitles and audio, which originate from the development of tools designed for people with hearing impairments, to sensors to be used in museums and exhibi- tions. Such is the case of a shirt that can read spectators’ reactions to a film, interpreting what a particular character feels.In the field of music, and in a not so distant future, when we attend a concert these technol- ogies will detect our mood and sensorial changes (more cheerful, sadder, etc.) on listening to a certain type of music. All this will be recorded in order to recommend new music events to us based on our previous behaviour. We will also see this in the book sector: the sensations we have on walking past a display of novelties ina bookshop, what book covers we touch, what images attract us, what texts arouse a certain type of sensation, etc. – as in an exhibition.These sensory situations provided by the latest technology are no longer science fiction – they are a reality that can offer us a great variety of new experiences while we enjoy different cultur- al attractions and events.But, as we pointed out, wearables are not a completely new technology, not even for the culture sector. Back in 2002, MIT Media Lab was already exploring the possibilities of intro- ducing this technology in museums.104 It is technology applied to museums and defined precisely as a “museum wearable” that is a “real time storytelling device: it is a museum guide which in real time evaluates the visitor’s prefer- ences by observing his/her path and length of stops along the museum’s exhibit space, and selects content from a large database of available movie clips, audio, and animations”.“The Museum Wearable”This is very similar to everything we have seen on 3D, augmented reality and geolocation, although back then the first steps in this field were rather awkward, as visitors had to wear small portable computers, sensors, and equally awkward glassesFocus 2015. Museums and New Technologies