The new technology allows children to become Dinosaur Curators in Leicester. © Leicester University

At a time when museums are looking at innovative ways of using new technologies to open up their collections to members of the public, museum experts have come up with a device that may revolutionise the way we experience museum exhibits.

Museum Studies experts at the University of Leicester have partnered with major national museums to develop a prototype ‘live label’ capable of transmitting the very latest knowledge about objects on display.

Called LIVE!Labels, the project is designed to optimise curator and in-house expertise by using wireless LAN technology to provide editable content direct from the curator’s desk. The result is an ever-changing label that can be updated to capture the context of the moment, which can be unique to that day, week or month.

Prototypes are already in use in three museums and galleries in Leicester including the German Expressionist Gallery at the New Walk, where curators have been using them as ‘blogging’ devices to offer fresh interpretations of certain paintings.

In time the labels may also incorporate the latest information and views beamed in from an external RSS (Really Simple Syndication) news feed provided by sources such as the 24 Hour Museum.

Why is that woman smoking a pipe? Check the LIVE!Label to find out. © Leicester University

Dr Ross Parry, of the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, led the team that researched and developed the labels in response to the challenges of placing fluid and editable digital interpretation into institutions - that for time immemorial have used fixed labels and untouchable material objects.

“For some four hundred years museums have used printed labels in their displays, labels that are fixed in terms of format and content,” said Dr Parry. “But imagine a label that at first glance may look the same, but in fact is broadcasting the very latest interpretations of its object. This is the LIVE!Label.”

Dr Parry and the partners worked closely with staff at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery and the National Space Centre in Leicester as well as the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London to develop the new innovation.

At the National Space Centre, head of Space Communication, Kevin Yates, used the active labels to give visitors a daily update on the number of Near Earth objects in space and how many were classified as hazardous.

LIVE!Labels give the latest info on asteroids at the National Space Centre. Leicester University

“The exciting thing about the trail of the system at the National Space Centre is that Kevin was able to update his label even from home,” added Dr Parry. “In fact he could have been anywhere in the world where he could have had access to the Web. It’s quite an innovative thing for a curator to have this amount of editorial control over the context of an exhibit.”

The labels have also been used in the New Walk’s Dinosaur Gallery to offer young visitors the chance to become a ‘Dinosaur Curator for a day’. Youngsters were asked to fill in postcards with suggestions of what they wanted to see on the labels and were later alerted by email if their ideas had been chosen for display.

According to Dr Parry the LIVE!Label is designed not to be an interactive kiosk or a touchscreen but rather an effective and instantly updatable means of communicating what is happening with that object, collection or exhibition on weekly, daily or even hourly basis.

Designed in a way that is sensitive to the established curatorial practices, the labels are initially intended to be used in museums, galleries, science centres and historic properties, but once the prototype has been fully tested it is expected to have uses for a wide variety of venues – from supermarkets to estate agents.

Young visitors to the New Walk’s Dinosaur Gallery are offered the chance to become a a ‘Dinosaur Curator' for a day. © Leicester University

The label has been developed with the aid of a HIRF (Higher Educational & Regional Fellowship) Innovation Fellowship that focussed on the relationship between museums and new media.

The innovation comes at a time when museums are actively investigating new technologies to increase access and understanding of its exhibits.

The V&A is using new multimedia ‘Acoustiguides’, based on hand-held gaming units, to guide people around its Leonardo and Renaissance exhibitions, whilst the NHM recently used a fully interactive and remote handheld voting system called Quizdom for gauging opinion during a student summit on climate change.