Physical meets virtual
How does it work? Objects in an exhibition are tagged with RFID chips and connected to relevant online information. The ikPod functions as an RFID reader; video, images, web pages - as long as it's digital, it can be displayed on the ikPod. This places the objects on exhibit in a relevant context and makes the visitor's experience interactive and more personal.
ikPod to commemorate
The ikPod has originally been developed for the Jewish Historical Museum. The assignment was to build an application that connects the names on the “Namewall” in the Hollandse Schouwburg to the Digital Monument to the Jewish Community. The Namewall lists the family names of all men, women and children who were persecuted as Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and did not survive the Shoah. The Digital Monument is an Internet monument dedicated to preserving their memory.
By holding the ikPod in front of any of the 6,700 engraved family names, visitors discover the real people behind the names. What did they look like? What did they do for a living? To whom were they related? Where did they die? During the launch of the ikPod on September 15th 2010 there were many positive, and in some cases emotional, reactions.
A valuable asset of the Digital Monument is the possibility for online visitors to add information about the victims. Neighbours, family members, class mates, researchers and students can all enrich the pages with pictures, stories and more.
Aartjan Nooter from the Jewish Historical Museum (translated from Dutch):
"The monument provides a dignifying attribution to the growing need for individual commemoration."
Mediamatic exhibtion Sur Place
The ikPod added an extra dimension to Mediamatic's Sur Place exhibition about urban bike culture (May - August 2010). With the ikPod, visitors could view videos about fixed gear bikes, listen to audio fragmens from a spoke card-collector, and read stories behind the portraits of crashed bikers.
Awards
In April 2011, the ikPod won a SpinAward in the category Best Mobile Concept and received a Best Practice award from Virtueel Platform, who also included the ikPod in their poster campaign.
ikPod for Android
The ikPod for Android app doesn't require any additional hardware, and therefore is available to a wider audience, involving lower costs for those who would like to offer it to their visitors.The app can be purchased from the App Store by end of summer 2011. Ikpod for Android is only available to Android smartphones with NFC. See more information about ikPod for Android.
