We were able to link the DST skills development to aspects of the course the students were undertaking. For example, in developing the stories, the students needed to have a better understanding of the information held by the local indigenous community. Stroytelling is an important part of indigenous culture, so this was an opportunity to interact with them and here what they ahd to say; this helped with the planning processes for the DST as well as improving the knowledge of the students for the Interpretation/Guiding part of the course. To give it some focus, it was decided to start with the Possum Skin cloak. In 1870, an original possum skin cloak was dicovered buried in the old Courthouse. This valuable piece of local indigenous history is now kept at the Melbourne Museum. Local Indigenous artists re-created a possum skin cloak for the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne. You can see some cloaks in this old photograph.

As well as the discussions about the cloaks, the staff and students gained DST skills by developing presentations around student artworks. Some of the students had undertaken an Art and Design course at BRIT in previous years, and were becoming highly skilled at interpreting indigenous concepts using a range of mediums. This artwork is already on display.

The students and staff have learnt a great deal from this part of the project, and look forward to increasing their skills as they develop more presentations. 

 The second part of the project explored the potential for the use of RFID technology to deliver enhance the visitors experience.

We had read about galleries that used mobile devices containing multimedia presentations that visitors could use to obtain more information about the content. As part of the project, we visited sites such as Bunjilaka, the Koorie Heritage Trust and NGV. During a visit to NGV, there was an opportunity to add a mobile device loaded with added content while viewing an exhibition (see picture to the right). It consisted of an ipod containing mainly audio presentations about some of the exhibits, with a couple of multimedia presentations that showed close ups and some added information. It worked very well, it did add to the experience.

There were some issues that RFID technology may overcome. As visitors with the mobile device went around the exhibition, they had to select the number of a presentation when they got to the correct point. However, the little icons by the exhibits were quite small, and when the gallery was busy, not that easy to see. Also, the screen on the device was was difficult to read (especially without glasses!), and there was no notification about whether it was just audio or whether there was visual content as well, so some of the value of the device was lost. (At one point, we only realised there was some visual content when inadvertantly looking at the device while it was playing the content).

In theory, RFID would work well: the tags would trigger the audio-visual presentation when the user was close enough. This would also mean that the user didn't need to make a selection, the device would automatically play the correct one at the correct time.

 Exploring RFID was a new experience for us, we have much experience with anything like this. We started by researching whether the Framework had any information, and found a RFID scoping study completed in 2006 and a 2007 report that looks at m-learning standards. These gave us a good overview, and we started looking at what hardware/software was available. While 'attending' an online event, we saw a presentation by Daniel Dacey from Learning Table, which looked like it might be something that could work. We purchased a kit and started to have a play with it.

We also found out that others were using the same technology, and were perhaps further advanced in this than we were. Rather than 're-invent the wheel', we got in touch with these projects. They include Marcus Ragout and his 'Smart tags for inclusive learning' and 'Botanical partnerships' projects in Tasmania, the Tagging an E-story project in NSW, the Hand-e-fit project in WA (both 2008 Innovations projects) and the E-standards for Training project Mobile devices: "RFID and the asynchronous student".

The projects are at different stages and have used different elements of technology and implementation. Some are also looking for a mobile solution, and it appears that at this stage the technology isn't quite available. The intent is for a hand-held device that the visitor can easily carry around the gallery, with a large enough screen and headphones, but a keyboard is not required. Currently, other projects are using Ultra Mobile PC machines such as the Eee PC, which is still too large for a gallery application. The organisation behind the Learning Table kit will be looking at how their technology might work on hand held devices in the next year or so. Each of these projects is exploring uses of RFID, and will add to the body of knowledge that exists around RFID.

The image to the right shows the RFID reader and a selection of RFID tags. They dont look very exciting here, its what they can do that is exciting!

 We briefly looked at whether QR (Quick Response) codes could be used as the trigger for a presentation. These work by having a 2 dimensional graphic that can be 'read' by the camera of suitably-equipped mobile phones, which then connects to a specific website. While it might be technically possible to present content in this way, there are several issues:

1. The technology is relatively new, and needs to have the software loaded onto a suitable device. This means that visitors may not have the right hardware/software to use their own device, and if they were provided by the gallery, there would be security issues, as they would have to be internet-enabled devices.
2. Who would pay for the data costs involved? These would likely become prohibitive on most plans currently available, so visitors wouldnt use their own devices, and the gallery would have minimal control over the costs.
3. The content would have to be on the web somewhere, and this doesn't currently fit the philosophy of the gallery. Likely, there would also be issues with maintaining copyright, etc., given the ease in which graphics from the internet can be downloaded.

Therefore, while the technology has merit, it wasnt something we spent much time looking at. If the QR code could trigger a presentation pre-loaded onto a mobile device, that would have some advantages.

The image to the right is the QR code for this project website. Embedded into the graphic is the URL for this website. There is no point in having it here (as you are already on the website!) other than to show you what a QR code looks like.