The Canadian War Museum’s new mobile application, or app, is a good way to draw visitors to the museum, says exhibition planner Tony Glen.
The app is a mobile application for use on iOS, Apple’s operating system. It can be downloaded for free for the iPod, iPad, or iPhone.
Glen says the app’s aim is to give visitors different ways of accessing information, because not everyone learns or visits museums in the same way.
“Experience and study show that the more people are informed, the more likely they’re going to come and they’re going to come as motivated visitors, and they’re coming really because they want to” he says.
The app showcases exhibit maps and 28 of the museum’s artifacts. It also contains basic information about the museum like hours of operation to help users plan their visit to the museum.
Photos of some of the museum’s collection can be viewed on the app, including Gen. Isaac Brock’s tunic and pictures painted on Second World War aircraft.
The app also has audio and written information not found in exhibits on physical displays at the museum. It features a quiz function that tests visitors on their knowledge of the 28 artifacts once they’ve read or listened to the given information.
The company that helped develop the app is Ottawa-based Tristan Interactive, located on Sparks Street.
Tristan Interactive helped develop a similar app for the Canadian Museum of Civilization, says company co-founder Chris MacLaren.
The company has developed apps for the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, and other museums around the world.
John Lambadaris, a computer science professor at Carleton University, says this type of mobile application is a “big plus” for museums and their visitors.
“It is definitely something that I think (others) will be adopting in similar areas, be it museums or galleries or other organizations that offer exhibits,” he says.
Glen says the war museum’s current application is a prototype that “has the potential to be expanded.”
“We hope to … add a calendar of events, what’s upcoming, and changing things that are happening in the museum,” he says.
The idea, Glen says, is the app would be dynamic and could be updated on a regular basis.
He says the museum wants to add or feature specific content as it becomes more relevant. For example, he says the museum would like to feature content related to the War of 1812 when the war’s bicentennial happens next year.
The Canadian War Museum officially launched the app Nov. 9. So far, people are responding well to it, says Glen.
“I think it’s a matter of letting people know that we have it and letting them know they can download it for free from iTunes any time,” he says.