Page 162 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

162in Spanish with English subtitles. QR codes thus made the information more accessible and boosted its dissemination.QRio projectThe city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) also tapped into this technology’s communicative possibil- ities to promote its tours and o er visitors the chance to gain a new perspective on the city’s cultural heritage using their smartphones or tab- lets. The most interesting feature of this project was the combination of tradition and modernity in devising an original use for QR codes. The QRio project,174 the brainchild of Máquina PR group175 and the design and digital technology agency Zói,176 was implemented in 2013 and consisted in placing a series of QR code designs in certain historic areas and tourist attractions, on pavements or monuments. The striking feature was the material the codes were made of: traditional Portuguese stone in the form of mosaics similar to those typically found in Rio’s pavements. QRio was developed to make known and disseminate the city’s culture to visitors, who, by reading the QR codes with their mobile devices, could access online content with infor- mation about certain tourist attractions suchas the Corcovado and Pan de Azúcar, including photographs and curiosities.2.3 App universe: mobile heritage for dissemination and enhancementToday portable devices such as smartphones and tablets are indispensable elements for twenty- rst-century societies and are used in all aspects of our daily lives, both professional and personal. This fact has also in uenced our approach to cultural objects, giving rise to a new form of cultural leisure based on the use of mobile devices. This is why over the past few years these omnipresent gadgets have captured the attention of various culture institutions, which are adapting their interpretation anddissemination work to this new reality, basically to reach larger audiences.The possibilities of presenting content with multimedia information and o ering a higher degree of personalisation and interaction during in situ visits through these new devices haveled heritage managers to consider the need to create applications for visitors to download from digital distribution platforms (mostly free of charge) as part of their educational and enhance- ment e orts.These applications, often referred to as apps, have become an interpretive tool par excellence for visitors to heritage sites, as mobile connectiv- ity options are one of the main allies in accessing multimedia content hosted on web pages.A novel feature of these apps is virtual technol- ogies that o er users a di erent, much more exciting experience with respect to interpreting heritage objects. Apps whose content features virtual reconstructions or augmented reality are currently in highest demand in the sector and are a growing trend that looks set to continue for a long time.In short, apps emerged in response to the de- mands of an increasingly large audience with dif- ferent pro les. It is therefore essential for these apps, whose purpose is to convey knowledgeto visitors, to o er access to broader and more customised information on cultural content.2.3.1 Mobile guidesMultimedia guides have been a means of dis- seminating heritage sites for several decades and allow tours to be tailored to visitors’ interests.As mentioned previously, the recent emergence and proliferation of portable devices like smart- phones or tablets has revolutionised how we visit and interpret heritage, giving rise to a new type known as mobile guides.2. DISSEMINATION, ENHANCEMENT AND EDUCATIONThe use of digital technologies in the conservation, analysis and dissemination of cultural heritage