I took my children to Oxford Castle the other day where my family and I were blown away by the mobile media interpretation. Each visitor is given their very own device, a Node Explorer, packed with pre-loaded content that brings to life an otherwise static and uninspiring location, with really fantastic results!
I must confess the enthusiasm shown by my kids and my own media background prompted me to check out the company behind this product, UK based node. It seems that node have partners using their stuff all over Europe, and in Africa and the U.S. The solution is not confined to heritage being used in tourism, sport and real estate.
Speaking to the guy at Oxford and from my research it is clear the emphasis is on media relevant to location and of the highest quality or location based media. This content can be uploaded on the software side of the solution and is downloaded to the devices wirelessly. Hence the content is easily malleable and can be updated in an instant. With the increasing ubiquity of WiFi the potential is phenomenal.
What else is great is that the content can be GPS triggered!! So as soon as you enter predefined coordinates the thing knows where you are! The possibilities with such sites as youtube and user-generated content or participatory media are outstanding! I wouldn’t be surprised if this were Google’s next major acquisition…
