Articles by Emanuela Todini

The Interactive Guide INandOUT, created as part of the project “Signs of pre-Roman cultures in land and landscape” and sponsored by the European Program “Culture 2000”, aims at experimenting new forms of comprehension by creating a direct link between site-visiting, excavations finds and archival research using the newest available technologies (notebooks, Tablet PCs, etc.). The Interactive Guide INandOUT answers the visitor’s need to contemplate the single work he is observing inside the site or museum and to observe it together with the entire site, at the same time. In short, it can place the visitor outside the site while still taking him through each single step of the excavations. Two goals have been achieved: first of all an informative net was created, covering vast open spaces (such as those found in archeological sites) and smaller indoor spaces (such as those found in museums), and using wireless technology (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, UMTS). Second, this net was filled with multi-medial contents, such as animations, movies, images, sounds and voices, in order to enhance the correspondence between inside and outside, between the single object and its original environment. The visitor’s position is identified by means of tags RFid (Radio Frequency Identification). These simple and quite “invisible” radio transmitters, spread all over the site, interact with the client-driver (the Tablet PC) given to the visitor. By receiving different specific codes the Guide recognizes where the visitor stands and sends him the most specific and contextual information. Last, but not least, the RFid system considerably reduces both operation and maintenance costs. The Tags used to activate the multi-medial information on the visitor’s Tablet PC are small, easily attached (even only using glue) and easily removed if necessary, long lasting, ideal for open and external spaces, and, most important, they need no power supply.