Holliday
Group Limited
Robert
Mcdougall Art Gallery
Media Release: 24thOctober 2001
Gallery First With Interactive Guide
Guided by your on-screen map to your favourite artwork, you listen to the Curator explain why she chose this particular
setting for the piece and how it relates to the works around it, before accessing a short film of the artist working in
the studio and a brief history of their work.
For visitors to the pARTs exhibition at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, a new handheld TechnoGuide, the first of its
kind in the country, will put this level of information at their fingertips, making art a more interactive, informative
and mobile experience.
The Gallery is launching a pilot trial of the guide this week, as part of the preparations for the new Christchurch Art
Gallery, to be opened in April 2003.
The TechnoGuide – a handheld Compaq computer with special software developed by award winning Christchurch company
Holliday Group – provides an audio guide to the works and an interactive map of the exhibition space, as well as video
and still images of the artists and their work.
The Robert McDougall Art Gallery’s Manager of Public Programmes, Ronnie Kelly, says this interactive handheld technology
adds another dimension to the audio guides, which are at best rarely available in New Zealand.
“As we prepare for the City’s new Gallery, we are looking to develop new ways people can approach art, interact with the
Gallery environment, and customise their experience. Supplementing exhibition resources is of major importance to us,”
says Ronnie Kelly.
“The guide provides a range of features, which we hope will not only make art works more accessible but also make the
overall experience more informative and entertaining.”
Visitors can choose a 20-minute guided tour of the 14 works in the exhibition or, using the touch screen map, access
information on each artwork in any order they choose.
The Gallery approached local mobile technology experts Holliday Group and discussed a trial pocket PC multimedia
presentation as part of the Gallery’s information technology programme.
“The challenge,” explained Phil Holliday, Managing Director of Holliday Group, “is that multimedia presentations usually
require a lot of computer memory to run. Video clips, audio and images all take up a lot of storage space, which is why
few have been designed for handheld computers.”
“The Gallery, however, wanted to trial a portable multimedia application for only 14 exhibits. A couple of years ago,
this would not have been considered possible – or even affordable. But modern technology has allowed us to develop a
tidy presentation for a pocket PC at minimal cost, in just one week.”
“We were able to achieve this by using special software (an HTML controller and Visual C) to create a short multimedia
presentation. The resulting TechnoGuide contains a graphical map of the Gallery plus pictures, video, audio and links
about each of the 14 pARTs works. While it is possible to fit larger presentations onto the pocket PC, some data
compression would be required.”
The exhibition’s curator, Felicity Milburn, has supplied a commentary that gives the visitor a unique insight into the
way pARTs was designed and developed. In addition to the audio component, local media personality Liz Grant has scripted
and voiced the guide’s instructions, concentrating on making the programme as easy as possible to follow and use.
“The TechnoGuide will give visitors the opportunity to customise their experience of a show, by interacting and
accessing only material that is useful to them and without having to seek out additional information sources,” says
Ronnie Kelly.
Mr Kelly says the pilot has been developed to allow the public to provide feedback on the TechnoGuide and its content,
so the guide can be refined for use in the new Gallery.
“This is another way we are seeking the views of Christchurch people and other visitors to our Gallery on how we can
provide the best possible art experience,” says Ronnie Kelly.
“The TechnoGuide is just one of the many ways the new Christchurch Art Gallery will be more interactive, educational and
entertaining for everyone.”
The Gallery will launch the TechnoGuide on Friday 26th October at a staff briefing. All media are welcome to attend.
For further Information: Keri Watts or Gerard Blank
Glass Tower Strategic Communications
03 365 1445 or 025 246 4785
Shelley Grell
Communicate IT Ltd (for Holliday Group / iTouch)
03 314 4676 or 025 260 2635
About Holliday Group and iTouch PLC
Holliday Group, an iTouch owned company, is an award winning international company that provides world-leading
innovative business mobility solutions on the handheld computing platform. We provide custom-built and packaged
solutions for all industries requiring wireless communications, electronic product design and turnkey products.
Established in 1990 as a Christchurch based electronics company, Holliday Group was sold to iTouch PLC in December 2000
- an international company that provides wireless data services to consumers, corporates and mobile networks.
The delivery of iTouch services and solutions is carried out through Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Short Message
Service (SMS), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Wireless Data technologies.
iTouch is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and currently has operations in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa and Israel. iTouch has strong relationships with mobile network operators in all these countries.
For further information about Holliday Group and iTouch PLC visit www.holliday.co.nz and www.itouchplc.com
For further information on the Robert McDougall Art Gallery visit
www.mcdougall.org.nz