news release

The Peabody Essex Museum’s ARTscape, a unique multimedia web interface servicing Acoustiguide’s bookmarking application, received an honorable mention at the 2004 MUSE Awards ceremony during the annual American Association of Museums conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Acoustiguide partnered with the Peabody Essex Museum to develop ARTscape’s bookmarking feature. Using Acoustiguide 2000 technology, visitors can log (bookmark) favorite objects into their audio players while they are listening to Acoustiguide’s permanent collection tour at the Museum. Visitors dock their Acoustiguide 2000 players into one of the many computer kiosks located throughout the museum to download their selections into ARTscape.

ARTscape is a dynamic, multimedia encyclopedia that allows visitors to use the Museum’s objects as a launching point for a self-guided journey through art and culture. ARTscape’s resources include photos and descriptions of objects in the collection, definitions, book excerpts, quotations, video and audio clips, as well as related retail opportunities. The award-winning web interface went live when the museum re-opened to the public in June 2003.

One MUSE judge commented, “I can tell that much time went into the information architecture plan, as I easily navigated through the site. The collection material was well presented and rich in scope….I really enjoyed my visit, and I will return! The bookmark feature is a great addition, and this personalization of the visit will surely generate return visits.”