So, as John said, the question at hand is: how do you wow the un-wow-able without alienating the familiar? It's a tough question, and here at Cogapp it's our job to try and answer just that question. We understand better than most the phrase "appropriate technology" - when to hide technology, and when to show it; how technology can be used to enhance an exhibition without overwhelming it. Ever since we developed the first museum interactive almost twenty years ago (in the form of the National Gallery's Microgallery) we've been creating new technology and developing new ways of implementing it; advanced hardware and software deployed behind an intuitive user experience is what we do. We're constantly trying to find new and exciting ways to do it. From creating award-winning vivid and instinctive installations for the Great North Museum, to bringing Prudential's corporate archive and stories to life with expansive sheets of Holopro glass, pushing the envelope is never off our radar.

Lately the most exciting hardware and user interface developments have been happening in the world of mobile phones and media players. A raft of new technology has become affordable enough to seem mainstream whilst being small enough to fit in your pocket. Multi-touch screens, accelerometers, high quality digital cameras, and GPS receivers are all expected feature of the latest mobile phones. Museums can take advantage of this technology as it appears ever more frequently in the hands of its visitors.

The world of audio guides can be enhanced immeasurably without the need to rent increasingly outdated hardware; just let the visitor install an application to their own device. Interactives that traditionally left the user tethered to a computer in the corner of the exhibition space can now move freely throughout the exhibits, allowing curators to engage visitors like never before. We can (and indeed have) let users carry around an application that reveals to them not only information about what they're looking at, but also what, who, where and when it's related to, and then in an instant get information about those things too. People who could never physically make it to the museum also benefit from this approach as they can take a virtual tour. If the exhibition is for a finite period of time, it can live on afterwards, making the hard work involved in curating the exhibition more cost effective.

These concepts along with more exotic technology such as Augmented Reality will no doubt become commonplace in the museums of the not-too-distant future, and soon after, newer opportunities will arise.

After all, what better reason to create the technology of the future than to shed light on the stories of the past?

Image courtesy of amycox000: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amycox000/