"Haus der Geschichte" in Bonn: NFC under test

On March 15th, 2018, the exhibition "German Myths since 1945" was opened at the "Haus der Geschichte" in Bonn. Barbara Weber-Dellacroce was particularly excited about the implementation of a barrier-free NFC audio guide for blind visitors.

The evening was, to say it in advance, very successful and justified the journey.

Numerous visitors filled the hall, so we were very happy to have arrived early enough. The opening words by Hans Walter Hütter (President of the Foundation "Haus der Geschichte" of the German Federal Republic) and Christoph Schwennicke (journalist and chief editor of the political magazine Cicero) were not only entertaining, exciting and dense, but also short, so that there was more time for the exhibition (and the thematically matching buffet with curried sausage, potato salad and meatballs).

The exhibition is well done in terms of content and design. At this point I would like to look at the mediation tools used. A variety of media are used in the exhibition. Many creatively designed flaps, drawers and peepholes encourage discovery. Here, questions are asked and answered, insights are granted, or longer texts are stored in a space-saving way.

Classic media stations are used in many places, some of which are also equipped with one-hand receivers for audio documents. A Selfie station with a red throne chair in front of the "Wir sind Papst" title page of the BILD newspaper invites you to take pictures.

Interestingly enough, the visitors on this evening used the analog offerings above all in a completely unbiased manner. It is certainly also due to the fact that visitors generally behave differently at an exhibition opening than during regular opening hours, but it was quite noticeable that I could hardly observe a visitor who dealt with the media stations more extensively. Personally, I did not have a volume control at the media stations that offered audio, the audios were simply too loud for me.

But we were particularly interested in the NFC-supported audio guide for blind visitors. In the following I would like to provide a critical analysis of the implementation.

The tactile floor guidance system was implemented very well. Here it was understood that digital offers for blind visitors do not yet work without tactile elements, especially not in small and curvy exhibitions like this one. On an almost black background, light grey, i.e. very contrasting, tactile lines, and fields of attention are placed. In this way, blind and visually impaired visitors are guided safely to the points of interest and the audio stations. Attractively designed pillars are positioned there, which have a tactile surface design.

The audio descriptions that are now played contain not only information about the objects, but also navigation hints through the room and room descriptions.

All this has (as far as I can judge as a seeing visitor), been implemented very well.

However, since we have been using NFC technology in various areas for years and have the corresponding know-how, we have noticed some points that are quite problematic.

1. In the entrance area of the exhibition, no reference is made to its functionality and no further details are explained. NFC technology is not yet known to a very broad public worldwide. This is not really an obstacle, as the technology is characterized by its great user-friendliness. Only a few instructions are needed to explain this technology, which may have been unknown until then, to the visitor. But since these instructions are missing, I am quite sure that a certain number of visitors will not have a positive experience.
2.   One of the big advantages of NFC is the possibility to access content without app download or other infrastructure. This is now also being tested in the "Haus der Geschichte". By touching the NFC chip, a website is called up, but the audio file offered there is not started automatically. It is questionable whether this solution is the optimal solution especially for blind people. In this case, the use of an app (on rental devices or even on the user's own device) would make completely intuitive use possible.
3. Of course, I used the NFC stations with my smartphone. Numerous visitors watched me doing so and asked me with interest what I was doing there. All those with whom I spoke found the possibility exciting but felt it a pity that the content was only offered to visually impaired and blind visitors.
4. All visitors who wanted to test with an iPhone from the generation before iPhone 7 were disappointed that they were not given the opportunity to access the content. It would have been possible without difficulty to offer this user group parallel access via QR code. There would have been enough space on the pillars.
5.  The pillars are beautiful in themselves and tactile. However, the NFC chips themselves are not tactile and are attached to the top of the stands without explanatory symbols or other design. This looks unfinished and is certainly not helpful for the visitor, who does not know what to do with the applied NFC chips.
6.  In addition, several chips were applied per pillar. I immediately understand why this was done. The NFC antennas of different smartphone types are attached at different places. The users do not necessarily know this. So here we try to get around this problem by attaching several chips. However, this is rather confusing and, depending on the device, leads to interference and errors, since in many smartphones the antenna is integrated in the middle of the upper quarter. A single tactile sticker, backed with a chip, would have been much more useful here.
7.  We were told that the Samsung S7 is offered as a rental device. These devices are quite expensive but are equipped with a weak NFC antenna. This leads to operating errors. There are cheaper devices (between 150, - and 200, - Euro) that have a much better antenna.

In conclusion, the following should be noted: The idea of testing NFC for the audio guide is obviously a good one. Also, a kind of pilot test before introducing a technology is certainly correct and recommendable. However, I see considerable difficulties here. The test setup chosen here not only fails to exploit its potential, but also puts NFC in a much worse light than it should be. It is not just the chip that has to be attached and linked to a mobile website. Used correctly, a truly inclusive system could have been created that could offer all visitors intuitive access to the exhibition and perhaps also be a digital extension of the popular analogue stations. The exhibition has only just opened; improvements to the NFC test environment would still be possible with a manageable amount of effort. We are staying tuned and are eagerly awaiting the outcome.