The concept of the 'museum without walls' is rather broad, possibly ill-defined (but I shall fine-tune definitions below), and both predates and is independent of current innovations in 'culture and heritage informatics'.

In the simplest and possibly most well-established interpretation, we are talking about a specific form of 'cultural tourism': educational (often walking) tours of locations of historical or cultural interest replace the four walls of the traditional bricks-and-mortar museum-as-building. A guided tour of an historic city centre, for example, or a tour of ancient archaeological sites, or a tour of a battlefield or temple complex. An example of an organisation offering such tours--of Seattle’s Central District, of Nazi concentration camps, of Japanese American "War Relocation Centers", of key civil rights sites in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma, Alabama--is indeed named Museum Without Walls. In London, a fine example is Black History Walks. Such tours in themselves--though the example just cited also maintains a web site featuring video material related to the tours (under the Hear History tab)--fall outside the remit of culture and heritage informatics, yet offer opportunities for enhancement through ICTs.

A second manifestation of the 'museum without walls' is the 'open air museum' or 'living history museum' or 'folk museum', essentially a Norwegian concept, with the first examples established in Scandinavia towards the end of the nineteenth century. The world's first open air museum--King Oscar II's collection of traditional Norwegian building types since the middle ages--opened at Bygdøy, near Oslo, in 1881. Since that time more than 250 have opened worldwide, including Black Creek Pioneer Village (Toronto, Canada), Sheung Yiu Folk Museum (Hong Kong, China), and Weald and Downland Open Air Museum (Singleton, W. Sussex, UK). These too, aside from the trivial fact that many such museums offer 'virtual tours' (generally panoramic VR) from their web sites, fall outside the remit of culture and heritage informatics.

A miscellany of other museum-like locations--historic gardens, sculpture parks, living railway museums, etc--[t.b.c.]

The 'museums without walls' [t.b.c.]. The conceptual breakdown into sub-topics for this section of the course is:

• cultural cartography: mapping history and heritage with, for example, Google Maps
• ICT enhanced access to historical sites and monuments
  
• location-based systems and locative media

:: Mapping History and Heritage: cultural cartography ::

Web-based mapping--and in particular the Google Maps API--has created a great opportunity for integrating history and heritage documents with cartographic presentation. Below are a few examples:

• MapMyLondon
• Geograph British Isles
• World Explorer History Timeline Wiki
• the BBC Abolition of British Slavery Interactive Map
• the Digital History Beaver Guide to Canada
  
• Google Map of World Heritage Sites

Note that use of mapping as a technology is non-committal with respect to the nature and provenance of the content. Editorial and authorial control of the World Explorer and Abolition of Slavery maps resides with the site owners, while in contrast the very raison d'être of MapMyLondon is to elicit contributions from its non-professional visitors. In light of the emergence of the 'social web' and its supporting technologies, of the growing recognition of the value and importance of virtual communities and their enablement through such technologies, and of increasing interest in and sensitivity to popular culture and community memory, it is the support for user-generated content that makes the technology both interesting and valuable.

:: ICT-enhanced Access to Historical Sites and Monuments ::

In the examples given below I am using a somewhat broad (and therefore loose) definition of 'location-based systems' that includes any service or system that delivers information relative to a specific geographic location (i.e. without the system being able to necessarily detect the location of the user). I'll write more explanatory text here is due course. Meanwhile, some examples:

• iToors
  Not strictly (by the definition given later in this section) a LBS, this is a technologically simple yet effective initiative: downloadable mp3 audio guides to London, Paris, Glasgow, Prague, New York, and California. The downloads, though free, are seeded with "respectful relevant messaging", a discreet way of telling you that the recordings are sponsored by commercial advertising: "Listeners get the highest quality engaging travel programs with respectful relevant messaging. Sponsors communicate directly to a coveted target market proactively seeking out and paying attention on their content. Partners affordably add value to their members, increase sales of their offerings, garner press attention, and draw more visitors to their site. People and places featured in the podcasts generate increased awareness of their offerings." Rather lightweight in content (and clearly aimed primarily at American visitors), but a good starting point for the cultural tourist.

• iAudioguide
  "iAudioguide.com offers mp3 audio guides for tourists who visit major cities in the world. All our iAudioguides are mp3 files, so you can use these audio guides on every mp3 device (iPod, memory stick)." Like iToors, another advertising-supported free mp3 download site, though with the option to buy more complete advertising-free version: "The iAudioguide London currently covers 17 sights of major interest, including a track on the history of London. We offer a free version (6 tracks) with sponsor messages and a more complete premium version ('buy now')." They offer free audio guides for Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, London, Paris, and Rome, with links to audio guides for other world cities. And, like iToors, not strictly a LBS.

• ArchaeoGuide
  "The ARCHEOGUIDE project intends to provide new approaches for accessing information at cultural heritage sites in a compelling, user-friendly way through the development of a system based on advanced IT including augmented reality, 3D-visualization, mobile computing, and multi-modal interaction techniques. The system will be tried out in one major European cultural heritage site. In this site particular emphasis will be given to virtual reconstruction of the remains.
  The ARCHEOGUIDE system will address the requirements of a wide user selection that includes cultural site visitors, cultural site managers, researchers, and content creators. Cultural site visitors will be provided with a see-through Head-Mounted Display (HMD), earphone, and mobile computing equipment. A tracking system will determine the location of the visitor within the site. Based on the visitor’s profile and his position, audio and visual information will be presented to guide and allow him/her to gain more insight into relevant aspects of the site."
  » http://archeoguide.intranet.gr/project.htm
  

:: Location-Based Systems / "Locative Media" ::

The terms 'smart museums', 'smart environments', and 'smart landscapes' are also sometimes used; but can be misleading (do a Google search on 'smart landscapes' and you'll see why). As good a definition as any of Location-Based Systems is given in the DigiCult Technology Watch Report 3 (see Readings, below):

Location-Based Systems (LBS) take a user's current position into account for the purpose of providing a service, powered by the ability to determine or discover the geographical location of a mobile device and subsequently provide services based on this information.

Technologies:


See also the Tikitag video at: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qizY4Dw_VLc

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and reader
Near-field communication (NFC)
Tikitag.

Examples:

• MIT Museum Without Walls Project
  "The MIT Museum is leading an innovative location-based storytelling research project, Museum Without Walls (MWOW), to put history and science in your hand and turn the world into a museum. ...
  This is an exciting period for enthusiasts of geographic information systems and electronic devices. From MapQuest and Google Earth to the GPS system in your mobile phone, there is an extraordinary interest in the ways locative technologies can link digital information to the physical world.
  Just as a museum curator puts a label next to an artifact on display in order to help tell a story, the new technologies allow for similar sorts of tagging of the spaces outside the gallery walls. This concept—so easily expressed—is an enormous challenge."
  » http://museum.mit.edu/cmp

• Peninsula Voices
  "Peninsula Voices is a sound walk using location-aware technology to annotate the urban landscape. People’s stories and associations are triggered when the user approaches the area they are talking about. The project was made by interviewing participants while walking with them in areas that they had associations with. These interviews were then edited and placed in a software environment (the Mobile Bristol Editor—see the Software section at the bottom of this document) that runs on handheld computers (HP iPAQs) that read location from GPSs. The software triggers the recordings when the user is in the corresponding region so that the user can walk around a landscape, without being guided, exploring and discovering for themselves the stories that might be associated with different areas."
  » http://www.planbperformance.net/dan/peninsula.htm

• MemoryScape
  "Enjoy two of the most dramatic riverside walks in London and hear the voices of people whose lives have been entwined with the Thames. These sound walks take place at two of the most contrasting stretches of river in London. DRIFTING begins in the peaceful surroundings of Hampton Court Palace and DOCKERS ends up in the rarely explored industrial landscape of the Greenwich peninsula. You can listen as you walk with a CD player, ipod or MP3 player."
  » http://www.memoryscape.org.uk

• Ports of Call
  "The Ports of Call project has created walking trails, artwork and historical interpretation with communities surrounding the Royal Docks in East London. ... By creating online maps, public art and historical audio trails locals and newcomers alike can discover new ways of interpreting their surroundings, and visitors can gain a deeper understanding of this fascinating part of East London. Here you can experience our online exhibitions and try audio trails featuring local people, rare archive recordings and original music composed specifically for the area. Try the trails online, or download them to an mp3 player and come and explore."
  » http://www.portsofcall.org.uk

• The Place-Based Computing initiative at The University of Western Ontario
  "The Place-Based Computing initiative at The University of Western Ontario was established in 2005 to support interdisciplinary research on technologically-augmented experiences of place, and to develop new locative methods for teaching history, geography, and related disciplines." See also the page on Tagging Places.
  » http://digitalhistory.uwo.ca/pbc/

• Silence of the Lands
  "Silence of the Lands enables participants to map and annotate the soundscape of urban and natural environments. Participants can record and collect ambient sounds, create and share acoustic cartographies, and use them as conversation pieces of a social dialogue on the sonic environment. The result is a pervasive museum in which personal acoustic ecologies are translated into an affective geography that changes over time according to participants' perceptions and interpretations of their environmental setting."
  » http://www.thesilence.org

• Hidden Histories
  Hidden Histories uses the revolutionary new concept of Street Radio developed by Hive Networks to make the treasures of Southampton's Oral History Archive available in the public realm of the city. Street Radio is a totally new way of experiencing the city. The system utilises wireless communication technologies such as WIFI and Bluetooth in combination with FM radio to create captive ‘puddles’ -- specific places where particular stories and themes can be heard. By 'narrowcasting' audio files (broadcasting using very weak radio transmitters with a range of about 10 meters) a selection of stories from the OHU can be heard along 10 nodal points from where byte-sized stories are transmitted. These nodes link together to form a media rich walk that transports people through the changing life of the city.
  The walk begins in and around the proposed ‘Cultural Quarter’ on Above Bar Street and the Civic Centre complex. Audiences are able to experience the walk through FM radio receivers and Bluetooth enabled mobile phones.
  The Oral History Unit is an almost hidden jewel in Southampton’s culture and heritage department. While well known and highly regarded in the international Oral History expert community, it is literally unknown outside Southampton otherwise. For more than 20 years the OHU has been recording the life stories told by the people themselves. Through the voices of common people it offers a window back into time: on the "tale end of the Dickensian age" as one interviewee puts it himself, where men had to queue every day for work at a shed at the entrance to the docks, to the hard life on the passenger ships and tug boats, an oral history is told that does not conform to the clichés and stereotypes of the official versions produced by todays media industry. The unsung heroes of historical moments such as the sinking of the Titanic or famous journeys of ships such as the Queen Mary are telling their own stories from the insiders perspective. Lesser known stories such as the secret social life on ships, the achievements of women in the heavy industries during WWII, and the troubles of immigrants from Asia and the Caribbean surface in this archive. While many of these stories tell of trials and tribulations they also shine with humanity and joyful moments."
  » http://hiddenhistories.org.uk
  See also:
  » http://www.thenextlayer.org/node/378
  » http://www.thenextlayer.org/node/332
  » http://hivenetworks.net

• Cinespace
  An EU-funded Sixth Framework Project.
  "Recognition of the importance that films play in cultural heritage inspired the conception of CINeSPACE. Films are rich with architectural and historical reference, providing people with a window to events and places around the world.
  A system which enables users to access film footage on the move, CINeSPACE brings together material in various formats, currently stored on distributed sources. Presently there is no centralised or standardized system allowing mobile users to access and such share information, an issue being addressed by CINeSPACE.
  The lightweight, handheld binocular device will be available from pick up points within the city centre. Using the integrated PDA component, users follow one of several tours related to a specific user group profile. When in the vicinity of an interest point, the device alerts users to look through the binoculars, using a menu, access multimedia clips and other resources, and record content to be uploaded and accessed by other CINeSPACE users."
  » http://www.cinespace.eu
  
  

• eMapps ( Motivating Active Participation of Primary Schoolchildren in Digital Online Technologies for Creative Opportunities through Multimedia)
  Among the main objectives of eMapps.com are:
  • to build communities of creative, networking children in the NMS, generating their own cultural content and communicating with peer groups in other countries;
  • to create a child’s living map of Europe, based on geography, history and heritage, accessible through mobile devices, which can be continuously expanded as an important and rich content resource for schools in NMS and elsewhere
  » http://www.emapps.com

Readings

European Commission / DigiCult Consortium (2004). 'Mobile Access to Cultural Information', in DigiCult Technology Watch Report 2: Emerging Technologies for the Cultural and Scientific Heritage Sector. Pp.91-118. [Web]

European Commission / DigiCult Consortium (2005). 'Location-Based Systems', in DigiCult Technology Watch Report 3: Core Technologies for the Cultural and Scientific Heritage Sector. ISBN: 9289452773. Pp.153-182. [PDF]

Rudametkin, W., Touseau, L., Perisanidi, M., Gómez, A., & Donsez, D. (2008). 'NFCMuseum: an Open-Source Middleware for Augmenting Museum Exhibits'. International Conference on Computational Science. June 23–25, Kraków, Poland. [PDF]

Toyama, S. (2006). 'Mapping memories onto the community space: The case of the walking navigation system by the city of Nishinomiya'. Constructing and sharing memory: community informatics, identity and empowerment, 3rd Prato International Community Informatics Conference, Prato, 9-11 October 2006. [Web]

Resources

[1] Google Maps

The Official Google Maps API Blog
» http://googlemapsapi.blogspot.com

Mike Williams, Google Maps API Tutorial
» http://econym.googlepages.com

Introductory tutorial on creating personalised Google Maps