Skip to main content
SIIA in Paris II
While in Paris I was able to spend the better part of a Sunday wandering around the Louvre. I paid for one of those dorky headsets with an oversized Palm Pilot-like device swinging around my neck. Some of the content on the device was quite good -- the Masterpieces of the Louvre tour took you around to three of the museums signature pieces like the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. That tour provided step by step instructions on how to maneuver around the museum and through the crowds. I was pretty impressed at this point and thought that Korean Air had scored a great coup by locking up the sponsorship of these devices for 1 million euros.


Imagine my disappointment when I found that the other tours were lacking in that level of detail. They only provided crude maps to direct you to the next piece of art. In some cases the art had been moved! It seemed that the museum had put all their effort into their A-List products and had skimped on the other less popular offerings. I'll grant the Louvre that keeping those devices updated in a whole bunch of languages must take a lot of work, but they should be consistent in the quality of their offerings. No one wants to see a bunch of tourists walking around in circles wearing those dorky headsets.

The other downside of the experience was realizing that the device offered no geospatial information. There was no "Where the hell am I" button which really comes in handy at a museum of this size. Moreover, most of the artwork had no information besides the little cards stuck to the wall - all written in French. BlueTooth enabled sets would be pretty handy that could broadcast when you get close or punch in a number on the screen.

All in all, the Louvre was a fascinating museum, however as an information provider they could do a lot more. They should also be considerate of their sponsors who pay to have their name on these products.

Comments

Nancy Davis Kho said…
One question - was Korean one of the language choices for the tour, given the sponsor?

And one observation - language-wise, the French are among the most protective of their native tongue. Seems to me there's a bit of a national mindset that would rebel against putting English language signs all over the Louvre (or Chinese, which would probably pay off better these days.)
2:14 PM
Ed Keating said…
According to the press release one of the reasons why they sponsored the device was because so many Koreans were visiting the museum.

As for signs, I'd expect them to stay in French, I'd just like technology that would beam an English, Korean or Farsi version to my airline-issuued hand held.
3:25 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You Should Never Say "What Customers Need to Understand is..." I always cringe when product people utter the words “What customers need to understand is…”.  To me it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how to serve a market.  I saw this sentiment reported in a recent  New York Times article  on the hearing aid market which explained that the pricing model is essentially a forced bundle where two thirds of the price was for service, including hearing evaluation, counseling and adjustments over the life of the product.  This approach has put a pair of hearing aids at or about $5,000. The manufacturers believe, and perhaps rightly so, that diagnosing and treating hearing loss are too complex for consumers to do using consumer devices, without the aid of a professional and therefore justifies the forced bundle.  However, in this age of self-service people will search out their own solutions. By assuming a status quo approach with forced bundles a...
26 comments
Read more
Trading Print Dollars for Digital Dimes in the Paperless Cockpit There was a fascinating article in the New York Times entitled the Paperless Cockpit . It describes the trend of airlines and private pilots to trade off 40 pounds of paper for a 1.5 pound iPad. One interviewed pilot summed the benefit up succinctly: “ When you need to a make a decision in the cockpit, three to four minutes fumbling with paper is an eternity.” There were a couple of other noteworthy points that the information industry can relate to as pilots embrace the “electronic flight bag”: Form Factor – The small, easy to carry tablet affords many benefits to pilots. As all professional publishers know, the shift to electronic offerings has been going on for decades. The Information Industry Association, the predecessor to the SIIA was founded over forty years ago for pioneering digital publishers. Early electronic products focused on news and financial data. However, accountants, consultants and ...
3 comments
Read more
Publishing Industry Contacts (Updated December 2019) As I've moved through the information industry I've collected contacts about associations, financial firms, companies, recruiters and consultants.  I've maintained it as a word document and am finally moving it online so that I can refer job seekers and industry researchers there.  I'm hoping it will be easier to update and more permanent.  Please send any additions, deletions or corrections to ed.keating@gmail.com or use the comment feature below. 1) Associations a) SIIA – Software & Information Industry Association. They cover the content and software area quite well. . i) FISD.net – Financial division of SIIA b) SIPA – Specialized Information Publishers Association (merged with SIIA) c) American Business Media – Founded in 1906, American Business Media is the association for business-to-business information providers, including producers of print publications, websites, trade shows and other medi...
Post a Comment
Read more