A digital experience at VITM

The Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum(VITM) in Bengaluru has recently made two new additions to its repository — one real and one virtual. The real addition is a renovated multipurpose steam engine manufactured by Marshall, sons and Company, Gainsborough, UK.

It has been added to the static display at the museum. These steam engines were widely used after 1840s for various agricultural applications and also in mills and factories. They were fired using fuels like rice husk, charcoal and firewood and were popularly used in India even in the beginning of the 20th century.

As for the virtual addition, for the first time in the country, VITM, which is a constituent unit of National Council of Science Museums, will provide smartphone access to the exhibits in the Electrotechnic gallery to the visitors and make the exhibits mobile friendly thereby going digital. VITM-Exbtconnect is a wireless application developed by the museum in collaboration with Avaya .

The application provides detailed information of the gallery and has a guided tour with four different sections along with the layout plans of the exhibits. For any exhibit, visitors can listen to the content in Kannada, Hindi and English. In addition, the infographic section provides details of the exhibit for a better understanding of the concept. The visitor can also access video on the scientific principle conveyed by the exhibit.

To those with curiosity and a scientific bent of mind, the ‘Further Reading’ section gives information on reference of books/web for in-depth understanding of the scientific principle explained in the exhibit. This new digital experience through the smartphones is an enhancement to the already existing direct interaction with the museum exhibits and guided tours.