ACCORD Freedom Trail Creates Cell Phone Tour Experience with OnCell Mobile Technology
Friday, 03 February 2012 21:55
This week, in honor of Black History Month, the ACCORD Freedom Trail in St. Augustine, Florida, unveiled a new cell phone tour powered by OnCell.  The cell phone tour corresponds with 31 historical Freedom Trail markers dedicated to remembering, recognizing and honoring all of those who risked their lives to attain civil rights for all and to celebrate St. Augustine’s pivotal role in the passage of the Landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Upon dialing into the cell phone tour with their own mobile phones and following the prompts, visitors will hear personal accounts given by notable activists such as Dr. Robert B. Hayling, leader of the St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement; Dr. Kathryn Fentress, who was arrested on the steps of the Monson Motor Lodge Restaurant along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Clyde Jenkins, and others trying to integrate the restaurant and Audrey Nell Edwards, one of the St. Augustine Four arrested and sent to jail for six months for ordering a hamburger and a coke from the local Woolworth's Department Store.

 "I never thought, growing up and living through it, that someday the civil rights movement could be revisited just by pressing numbers on a cell phone, but that has now come to pass in St. Augustine, Florida, the nation's oldest city: one of the great battlefields of the civil rights movement,” said Gwendolyn Duncan, President of ACCORD Freedom Trail. “Thanks to the cell phone audio tour of our permanently marked Freedom Trail of landmarks from that era, people who remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. can share their memories at the touch of a button, while the tour-taker is able to see, at the same time, the actual house where Dr. King stayed in the course of changing history.  The twentieth century comes alive, thanks to twenty-first century technology!"

The ACCORD Freedom Trail encourages visitors to stop by  the St. Augustine Visitors' Information Center, next to the Castillo de San Marcos Fort, pick up a Freedom Trail Brochure/Map and visit all 31 historic markers on the self-guided trail. The ACCORD Freedom Trail and cell phone audio tour is a self-guided outdoor museum, available to visitors 24/7 at no additional cost.

About OnCell

OnCell is the global industry-leading service provider of informational content to cell phones, smartphones and tablets for museums, cultural sites, parks, and other venues. OnCell offers a state-of-the-art technology platform that integrates all of OnCell’s mobile features into a single platform. Cell phones, smartphones and tablets become your portal for engaging, informing, and interacting with your guests. Powering interactive mobile tour experiences, OnCell’s services include cell phone tours, mobile web tours, mobile giving, mobile surveys, text messaging, & Smartphone Apps. We are mobile communication experts who are passionate about the arts and education. OnCell tours require no staff time to run and are available 24/7/365. For more information about OnCell, visit www.oncellsystems.com.

About ACCORD Freedom Trail

The 40th Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations, Inc. (40th ACCORD) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established in 2003 and incorporated in 2004. Our Mission is "Remembering, Recognizing, and Honoring all those who risked their lives to attain civil rights for all and celebrating St. Augustine's pivotal role in the Civil Rights Act of 1964." For more information, visit www.accordfreedomtrail.org.

Click here to read press release 

 

 
Joslyn Art Museum Creates Mobile Tour Experience with OnCell
Friday, 27 January 2012 20:53

Joslyn OnCell TourJoslyn OnCell TourA new interactive cell phone tour is launching in February to visitors at the Joslyn Art Museum, located in Omaha, Nebraska. This mobile interpretive program, powered by OnCell, features 30 stops posted throughout the galleries. Visitors will be able to listen to the tour content at their own time and pace, using their own mobile phones. There are multiple ways to access Joslyn's OnCell tour. Visitors can access tour content by dialing in with their cell phone, by streaming live audio using their own smartphones or one of the 20 iPod Touches available for free checkout, or by downloading the tour from home onto their MP3 players.

“We are especially pleased to offer the feedback function through our OnCell tour. We are looking forward to hearing the immediate feedback about the exhibition, the Museum, and this new mobile tour experience, from our visitors. It helps to be able to gather that information on the spot, as people are still on location and in the galleries,” says Laura Huntimer, Interpretive Media Manager of Joslyn Art Museum.


Upon dialing into the tour, visitors will hear the voice of Joslyn’s Executive Director and CEO, Jack Becker, Ph.D., as the introduction was recorded by him to personally welcome guests to Joslyn Art Museum and the exhibition at Joslyn. "Mobile technology continues to be a cost-effective way for museums to enhance the visitor experience at their venues and we look forward to collaborating with the team at Joslyn Art Museum to develop their OnCell Tour,” added OnCell's VP of Market Development, Kevin Dooley.

The cell phone audio tour will be available to the general public starting February 11, 2012. The Museum features galleries, a 1,000–seat concert hall, fountain court, education technology gallery, lecture hall, classrooms, library, café, and shop. Visiting hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 4pm and Sunday from noon to 4pm.

About OnCell
OnCell is the global industry-leading service provider of informational content to cell phones, smartphones and tablets for museums, cultural sites, parks, and other venues. OnCell offers a state-of-the-art technology platform that integrates all of OnCell’s mobile features into a single platform. Cell phones, smartphones and tablets become your portal for engaging, informing, and interacting with your guests. Powering interactive mobile tour experiences, OnCell’s services include cell phone tours, mobile web tours, mobile giving, mobile surveys, text messaging, & Smartphone Apps. We are mobile communication experts who are passionate about the arts and education. OnCell tours require no staff time to run and are available 24/7/365. For more information about OnCell, visit www.oncellsystems.com.

About Joslyn Art Museum
Joslyn Art Museum collects, preserves, and interprets the visual arts of the highest quality, fostering appreciation and enjoyment of art for the benefit of a diverse audience. The Museum was a gift to the people of Omaha from Sarah Joslyn in memory of her husband, George, who made his fortune as president of the Western Newspaper Union. The Museum’s original 1931 building is one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the nation, with 38 types of marble from seven countries. The Museum features galleries, a 1,000–seat concert hall, fountain court, education technology gallery, lecture hall, classrooms, library, café, and shop. For more information, visit www.joslyn.org.

 

Click here to read press release

 
City of Pontiac attractions given a voice
Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:11

“We’re looking to interpret our murals and museums to visitors that are here when our offices are closed or when the museums are busy and can’t necessarily give tours. We’re going to start out in English so that our English visitors will be able to take the tour. At each one of the stops there will be a sign that will have a phone number that they can call, then there will be a series of prompts,” Alexander said.

The new age of the Smartphones and the technology offered through them will also aid with the cell phone tours.

“Anybody who has a Smartphone will be able to scan a QR code which will take you to information about the particular site,” she said.

According to Alexander, Dr. Robert Rotary, assistant tourism director, has written all the scripts and Kent Casson, WJEZ news director, will be the voice heard when a person uses the cell phone tour option.

“We hope to be able to eventually use it for our international visitors. I don’t know if it will happen this year, but we hope to be able to do some translations into other languages down the road,” said Alexander.

She said that she doesn’t know of any other towns using cell phone tours and says this puts Pontiac on the map with tourism.

Alexander said that this feature should be available by April to kick off the tourism season and will be available at all the museums, murals and mainly throughout downtown Pontiac.

The Livingston County War Museum has been working on a cell phone tour for a couple of months and plans to have its up and running in the spring as well.

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