ABSTRACT

This chapter takes a socio-spatial networked learning approach to explore the use of mobile technologies in the digital enhancement of informal learning experiences in museums. It situates museums as spaces for networked learning, delving into the ways technology and social media are influencing people's experiences of cultural heritage, through co-created museum-visitor activities. The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) houses the private collection of the philanthropist and gambler David Walsh. The O is MONA's tour guide system, developed by Art Processors and deployed on an iPod Touch. The chapter explores museums as place-based spaces for networked learning, focusing on the entanglement of people and things and discussing the role of novel devices, such as the O, in reshaping museum spaces and the experiences of those who visit these spaces. Digital devices like the O generate opportunities for staff to repurpose spaces in new ways, as well as to unobtrusively collect evaluation data about visitors' activity.