LAUNCH OF NEW TRAIL TO TAKE THE PUBLIC ON A UNIQUE TOUR OF THE VICTORIAN PUMPING STATION – WITH AUDIO DELIVERED TO YOUR HAND VIA BLUETOOTH TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR SMARTPHONE!
This *new* Trail takes you around the Pumping Station along Riverside in Cambridge and has been devised by Helen Weinstein, Creative Director of Historyworks in collaboration with Pam Halls, Curator of the Cambridge Museum of Technology.
For the launch of the trail from 11th September onwards, you will be able to tour around the pumping station using Bluetooth beacons kindly donated by Historyworks (with facilitation and technical assistance by Jonny Austin of ARM) for an astonishing new method to use your smartphone or tablet to navigate around the museum.
It will be launched in time for 'Open Cambridge' 2016 when the property will be opened from 11am to 1pm on Sunday 11th September, when facilitators will be on hand to introduce the new tour and Bluetooth beacon technology to members of the public. Those taking part in the morning’s pilot will be able to engage with prototypes using their smart phone or tablet. This tour shows that Bluetooth beacons can work even in places, such as inside historic buildings, where wi-fi often doesn't reach.
The Museum will also be open from 2pm to 5pm this Sunday and all Sundays until November, (when normal admission charges apply) and from now onwards all visitors can use the FREE trail which is accessible using a printed leaflet or your phone via Bluetooth beacon technology to deliver an audio guide, transcription, and photographs of the pumping station spaces.
Download the trail pdf leaflet here
The trail takes the visitor on 12 stops and is narrated by Pam Halls, (Curator of Cambridge Museum of Technology), with audio recorded and edited by Jon Calver of Historyworks. It features a transcription for each stop, alongside photographs, so those with a variety of disabilities can explore the site virtually.
Guidance is provided on site for using the ‘physical web’ app on your smartphone to access the Bluetooth beacons for the tour. But for those without a smartphone, the trail is also freely offered with a summary of photos and text in a printed leaflet, because 2,000 leaflets have been donated by Historyworks for this trail, which includes a *new* stop 12 for the Engineer's House.
Importantly, there will be a banner with instructions and photos to engage the public outside the Museum with Bluetooth technology, because Historyworks is going to provide the leaflets and a set of beacons from Riverside too, so that if you are walking along the River and have always wondered about what is behind the railings, you can follow the instructions pinned to the railings and take the tour, whilst looking at the impressive building from the street, opposite the bridge along Riverside.
Never before has the Bluetooth beacon technology been used in Cambridge for a permanent exhibition, inviting the public to access a Museum and take a tour, which soon you'll be able to do at the Riverside railings, even if you are wandering past at midnight!
Professor Helen Weinstein, Creative Director of Historyworks says “We aim that this trail will stimulate interest and engagement in this fascinating story of Cambridge's Victorian edifice for sewage and sanitation, because at Historyworks we are aiming that our donation of this free history trail will help support the fundraising activities at Cambridge Museum of Technology which are raising a contribution towards the Heritage Lottery Fund award, which now needs just another £75,000 to be raised in order to allow the development of the site to go ahead with the Heritage Lottery Fund award of over one million pounds.”
Pam Halls, Curator of Cambridge Museum of Technology, says “We are delighted to be adding the beacon trail to the Museum’s existing interpretation because it provides an exciting way for people to engage with the pumping station’s history 24 hours a day! As a museum which celebrates local technology it is particularly fitting that we’ve collaborated with Historyworks who are known for delivering history in engaging ways to reach a wider public and that the innovative design of the Bluetooth beacons took place on our doorstep at ARM.”
If you wish to donate, please go to:
http://www.museumoftechnology.com/donate/
Meantime, you can explore the trail online using the resources set out under the 12 stop thumbnails of the spaces at the pumping station set out adjacent by clicking on the icons on your right. Enjoy!!
