Visitors to Ireland's museums might have noticed something unusual over the last year or two. Many of the displays respond as you walk into a room or touch a screen, providing texts or voice-overs that explain an artefact and video clips that provide a better view.
The changes, seen for example in the refurbished Collins Barracks and the Chester Beatty Library at its new home at Dublin Castle, are described as being "multimedia", able to deliver information as a mix of text, sound and vision.
Both these museums got a technological make-over by an Irish firm, X Communications, founded as a Trinity College Dublin (TCD) campus company in 1994 and now employing 20 people at its Nassau Street, Dublin offices.
The company's managing director, Dr Marie Redmond, is a bit unhappy with the multimedia moniker because it is so general, but it does given an impression of what the company does. "We are multimedia developers. We develop software applications that contain still images, moving images, sound and text."
X Communications has been in the news recently because of its involvement in two projects, Expo 2000 and the development of a CD-Rom version of the Book of Kells.
Expo 2000 opened in Hanover on June 1st and the company was involved in the Irish pavilion project from the start, Dr Redmond said. The company joined a design firm and two architect's practices to form Dul, one of 27 bidders for the design of the Irish pavilion. Dul was successful and X Communications was responsible for installing the technology that allowed visitors to hear, see and feel the sights of Ireland while standing in Germany.
"We installed all the computers in the pavilion," Dr Redmond said. "We made a design decision at the beginning that it would be heavily dependent on technology."
Multimedia systems installed by X Communications depended on a few essentials including computers, sensors, cabling, speakers and monitors, she said, but the technology was the simpler part of the equation. "You need ideas most of all. The technology is pretty simple, it is coming up with the ideas."
What she means by ideas can be seen in the gallery work done by the company. "We have installed intranets into pretty much all of the galleries," she said. "I was interested in that area and we have gone after that business."
The company provided a text and image multimedia system for part of the Collins Barracks display. The visitor can touch a screen and get information about any one of a collection of 380 objects. You can look at say a piece of silver, but the screen also provides a variety of viewing angles and close-ups of details such as the hallmark.
"That is a really popular system and we recently did a costume and jewellery exhibit."
X Communications also worked on the GAA museum, developing support software and a database of film clips. "You can enter a year, a county and a player and the sport," she said and the system will play a video clip of the action, say a particular goal or point from a national or county final.
The database holds films from the modern game right back to the earliest recorded footage available.
A computer usually sits at the centre of any of these multimedia systems. It is linked to sensors which are used, for example, as a way for visitors to request information. They can also be used to switch on a video clip or lighting display just as a person arrives to view an item, a technique used to good effect with the Collins Barracks costume display.
The computer also interprets sensor inputs for selecting appropriate texts or sound and visual clips. The Book of Kells project is much different. X Communications developed the software and display systems to allow all 680 pages of the manuscript to be seen via CD-Rom. It has a zoom feature that allows examination of 14 illuminated folios in detail and the history of the manuscript and its significance are narrated by journalist Ms Olivia O'Leary and actor, Mr Stephen Rea.
The original idea for the project, which was started four years ago, came from the professor of computer science at Trinity, Prof John Byrne, Dr Redmond explained.
Agreement was sought from the TCD library, which is responsible for the manuscript, and a deal was agreed.
The page images were taken from the 10-inch by eight-inch colour transparencies used in 1990 to produce the facsimile Book of Kells by Faksimile Verlag Luzern.
Both of the narrators agreed to do the voice-overs free, Dr Redmond said, given the unusual nature of the project. "We decided to do this CD-Rom for a popular audience. It is not academic, it is a non-academic version." It was jointly funded by Trinity and by X Communications and the partners share the proceeds of CD-Rom sales.
The CD-Roms were on sale at the National Gallery of Australia when one of the Kells' manuscripts went on display in Canberra and 1,000 were sold, she said. They are also sold over the Web and in the college library shop.
A numbered, limited edition of 500 copies was produced with a specially commissioned cover designed by Malcolm Garrett and these are being sold for £40 (€50.79). The regular version is available for £20. So far about 3,000 CD-Roms in total have been sold.
"We are looking at doing a scholarly version and that would be in DVD format," Dr Redmond said. The advantage was a much higher storage volume that would allow virtually all of the pages to be enlarged and examined in detail.
Copies of the Book of Kells CD-Rom are on sale on-line at http://www.bookofkells.ie or at the TCD Library bookshop and selected outlets. More information is available at the website.
