Army Museum Slates BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Visitor Interactives.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- aMuze Interactive has been commissioned by the Swedish Army Museum to develop new interpretive programs for the museum's exhibits and collections.

The Army Museum tells the history of Sweden from the point of view of conflicts in which the country has been engaged, from Viking times, through its Great Power period in the 17th and 18th centuries, through its long commitment to neutrality and modern role as a United Nation's peace-keeper. Stories are told by means of realistic tableaus using life-size mannequins to illustrate the effects of these conflicts on common soldiers, their families and civil society. The museum's collections are integrated into the story-telling, providing visitors with rich context in which to view the artifacts.

aMuze is producing a series of BYOD (bring your own device) audio guides built around the events and conditions that are brought to life in the museum's historical tableaus. Visitors will be able to use their MP3 players and mobile phones to gain insights into the museum's exhibits. "This is a way for us to deepen and extend our visitors' experience of the Army Museum, without having to invest in a lot of hardware with all the problems of administration and maintenance," says Museum Director, Staffan Forssell.

Visitors will be able to download audio guides from the museum's web site or use mobile phones in exhibit areas to call a special number and follow an options menu to select the topics that interest them. The guides have different styles to suit different interests and sensibilities, ranging from historical descriptions with rich soundtracks woven with music and sound effects, to provocative commentaries from well-known authors, politicians and other interesting personalities.

Among the museum's treasures is a unique collection of war trophies - flags and banners, musical instruments, and weaponry - captured by Sweden during the 30 Years War and the Great Northern War of the 17th century.

aMuze has commenced production of a multi-media "experience" that will give visitors a deeper and broader understanding of these trophies, including their function in battle, their propaganda value on the "home front", and their artistic and cultural significance as artifacts. "The presentation and interpretation of our trophies has been a real challenge for us," says Staffan Forssell. "We have thousands of them in our collection, but only have room to display a dozen or so at a time. And 300 year-old, battle-torn silk embroideries require very special environments that limit how close visitors can come. This production will put our visitors right in the midst of a 17th century battle and give them a gut feeling of what these trophies were all about."

The program will consist of a high-resolution, multi-projector presentation with surround-sound that will tell the general story of the trophies, as well as sound and light shows in the trophy rooms that will tell the stories of some of the more outstanding objects in the collection.

aMuze is also assisting the Army Museum in securing appropriate partners to fund implementation of the aMuze Interactive Knowledge Card System (Pat. Pending) throughout the facility. When fully implemented, the system will allow visitors to choose objects and topics that interest them during their visit to the museum and construct their own, personalized Army Museum web sites.