Using MPEG-2 video at the Getty Museum

Today museums find themselves at a crossroad. The traditional approach of designing museum exhibits as static displays must be reconciled with the technology people face in the everyday world. We are bombarded by digital information, and media sources are increasingly geared to shorter attention spans. As a result, we expect more interactivity and technology even in leisure pursuits such as visiting an art museum. To hold the public's interest, museums must enhance the user experience, they must embrace the digital age. When the new J. Paul Getty museum in Los Angeles opened in December 1997, a new multimedia experience for visitors called ArtAccess debuted. The paper discusses the ArtAccess system which lets visitors find additional information about the museum's collections.