2021: a museum odyssey - oelberger creative
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2021: a museum odyssey
Welcome to the future! The year is 2021 and in this day and age you can use your television to
explore 1000’s of museums and cultural institutions around the world using a simple intuitive
interface. Let’s see how two users are using the system:
Name: Robert Straugh
Age: 72
Occupation: Retired High School
Principal
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Marital Status: Married
Children/Grandchildren: 3/4
Profile: When Robert first moved to Scottsdale he thought it was Shangri-la; warm weather,
quiet gated communities, good hospitals, and proximity to a major airport to satisfy his
wanderlust. As he has aged however, his mobility has declined and he has recently been
diagnosed with MS. Still as curious as ever, Robert now does all his exploring via his new 100
inch television which he has affectionately named his “787 Dreamliner” (complete with leather
couch). Today Robert is exploring Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais located at Stanford University.
His fully interactive tour is being narrated by Liam Neeson, who happens to be one of Robert’s
favorite actors. In addition to the narration, Robert also has access to a myriad of other
interactive multimedia experiences that all focus on the work of Rodin.
Name: Ethan Todd
Age: 14
Occupation: High School Freshman
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Siblings: 2
Profile: Ethan just began his first year of high school as a Menlo-Atherton Bear. Ethan is a bit of
technology addict which is hardly surprising since both his parents work for Google. Ethan has
owned his own smart phone since the age of 5 and now can’t imagine life without it. In
general he finds school tedious and boring since most of his teachers just “talk and talk”.
Recently however, he has become intrigued by Mrs. Fenton’s Humanities class. By using the
school’s new “Smart Wall” coupled with the museum odyssey technology, Mrs. Fenton is able
make her lesson’s fully immersive. Today for example, they are also exploring The Burghers of
Calais at Stanford in preparation for a class trip to the Rodin Museum in Paris.
© 2010 Thomas Oelberger
In order to create the seemingly endless supply of wonderfully
immersive and interactive virtual museum experiences, the
backbone of the museum odyssey project is a robot with a
penchant for photography. The robot, which is outfitted with a
series of 3d cameras, lights, and an array of proximity sensors, is
able to catalog the inside of a museum with no human
oversight. Furthermore, because the robot doesn't mind working
late, museums do not lose any revenue from their daytime
visitors. Instead, the robot can create the expansive virtual
catalogs in the wee hours of the morning.
After capture, the countless photographs are stitched together
to create dense virtual environments. Intuitive, multimedia rich
user interfaces are then built around these environments in
order to create create entertaining educational experiences for
a variety of user groups.
Development:
The project, which began in 2010 utilized a series of foresight tools in order to anticipate and
exploit the opportunities for innovation. First a petal diagram/context map was created to
identify eight factors which would influence the virtual museum concept.
exploration
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© 2010 Thomas Oelberger
From the eight petals, three of the most salient factors were chosen. Progression curves were
then created in order to understand how their past development might provide perspective
for future opportunities. The three factors chosen were: humankind’s insatiable appetite for
exploration, the necessity for museums to seek alternative revenue sources in a digital age,
and the convergence of the television and personal computer technology.
2003: Mars Rovers
Launched
2010
1961: First man
in space
1996-2010:
1804: Lewis & 33%
Appetite for Clark increase in
Exploration airline travel
356 BC:
Alexander the
Great
Dawn of 1492: 2009: Smart
Man Columbus phone tours/
experiences
2010
1995-2005:
Huge growth in
audio tours
Multimedia within 1975: Audio
Museums Tours begin to 2005: RFID
wristbands
catch on
1952: Stedelijk 2000: NYTimes
Museum article about
audio guide virtualization of
museums
1969:
1950 Exploratorium
2006:
Opens
Playstation
Network
2002: Xbox 2010
Live
2010:
1998: BBC GoogleTV
TV/Computer Interactive 2006:
Interface Apple TV
1990: TV Tuner
Cards
1999: TiVo
1970:
Teletext (UK)
1993:
Mac TV
1960
© 2010 Thomas Oelberger
In order to project the needs of users in 2021, a future users chart was created to analyze how
demographic information from 2010 could project the lifestyles of future generations. Below,
the chart compares retirees of 2010 to retirees of 2021.
2000 2010 2021
Mary
Mary 72,Retired
62, Nurse, Nurse,
Chicago, IL Scottsdale, AZ
Future
User
Robert Robert Robert
52, High 62, High 73, Retired
School School Principal,
Principal, Principal, Scottsdale, AZ
Nashua, NH Nashua, NH
Similarities: Differences:
▪ Robert moved to Scottsdale based ▪ Mary is very low tech. Still prefers VHS to
on the pleasant communities set up by DVD. Hates computers, likes people.
Mary’s generation ▪ Robert is not a tech guru but he does love
▪ Both had relatively low tech jobs and sports and really loves DVR technology. He is
did not love the prevalence of very comfortable using menu based GUIs on
computers at the end of their careers. his TV (Blu-Ray/DVD, DVR, etc.)
▪ Both see computers as work/ ▪ Advances in medicine/medical
communication tools, not as technology will keep Robert and his peers
entertainment. TVs are for alive longer than previous generations.
entertainment.
© 2010 Thomas Oelberger
With a potential future user identified, a white spot 2x2 was created to find an opportunity for
a solution. By using interactive/immersive as the Y axis and inside vs. outside a museum as the
X, a large opportunity was identified in the interactive/outside museums quadrant. In
essence, the idea was to harness the explosive development of interactive technology within
museums and create a digital infrastructure to bring such growth to the virtual space.
Interactive/Immersive
iPods,
Opportunity for interactive wands
innovation (personalized exp.)
Docent led
3d/Interactive
tour
website Audio tour
Outside Inside
Museums Museums
Documentary Gallery
film experience
Basic website
Map, brochures, PR
Book material
Non-interactive/Non-immersive
With the white spot identified a change path was established in order to set goals for the
initial development. Early work included establishing partnerships with museums and software
developers, as well as creating a rough prototype using a roomba and a digital camera.
2021
Contact photo
software partner
Opportunity
(Microsoft, Google) for innovation
Develop &
“sell” idea
Roomba + digicam
2010 = quick prototype
Contact museum (and clean house)
partner (Cantor?)
Thanks to this work, by 2021 a rich diversity of museum odysseys were available for users from
around the world. Never before had it been so easy to visit and experience art, science and
history in such an enjoyable, educational, and immersive way.
© 2010 Thomas Oelberger
Additional photos of original paper prototypes:
Initial paper prototype
The museum odyssey project will bring the to the home and classroom environment.
museum experience...
Home Classroom
Prototype concept with roomba... then develop a larger more complex robot.
© 2010 Thomas Oelberger
Presentation paper prototype
Prototype built around laptop with Pop-out R2D2 to represent a highly
functional digital experiences. sophisticated robot.
Home scene with functional TV screen. Classroom scene with large “Smart Wall”.
Final Presentation:
A video of the final presentation is availible at http://www.creative.oelberger.com (click the
2021: a museum odyssey link).
© 2010 Thomas Oelberger
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