Maidstone Museum 2008
Maidstone Museum was established in 1858 and so celebrates its 150th birthday in 2008, making it one of the oldest museums in the UK. The museum now houses over 660,000 artefacts and specimens; it is housed in a charming Elizabethan Manor House, right in the centre of the town. Since 1963 the Museum has also hosted the independent Queens Own Royal West Kent Regimental Museum.
Bluetooth Interactive
The Museum had created a series of podcast audio guides for young people to download from their website, which they wanted to make available within the museum, through a download centre. This would enable visitors to download the tours into their mobile phones and listen to them as they walk around the museum. We suggested using a Bluetooth interactive based around a touchscreen kiosk beside the reception desk. The blackbox-av Research and Development team were given the project and in just two months created a brand new Bluetooth interactive software package on a modified touchscreen kiosk system.
So young visitors who may have missed website downloads at home can still download them into their mobile phones within the museum. All they have to do is just walk up to the kiosk and if the Bluetooth connection is enabled on their phone they can quickly and easily download as many audio tours as they wish. We have subsequently added a USB download capability so that the reception staff can download the tours onto very inexpensive MP3 players which are available for purchase from reception. If you would like to discuss something similar just call Paul Grove on 01639 767007 to have a chat.
