The timeline and augmented reading, at the Museo Nacional del Prado, means the use of artificial intelligence at the service of art, a pioneering initiative in the world of museums. For all this, it has counted on the collaboration of Telefónica.
The Timeline uses artificial intelligence for the service of art
The museum presented the Timeline to the media in early October.
It places authors and their works in their historical context. Create a file for each painting, including a description of it and adding information about its characters, the scene, anecdotes and other aspects that serve to contextualize the work.
Each file has multiple links, building a story, a narrative that helps to understand the work.
The Museo del Prado defines the Timeline as augmented reading
The Museo del Prado defines the timeline as an augmented reading tool. It is an absolutely flexible resource, which can be used both during the visit to the museum, as an interactive application, and outside it, since the tool is available on the museum’s website.
We can access the same information online as we would have during the physical visit. This allows us to use it in the classrooms, as a teaching tool.
The timeline can also be very useful when planning a visit to the museum or afterwards, to think about what has already been seen.
It allows us to provide any work with all kinds of resources, Wikipedia articles, web pages, videos, audios and anything we want to add. Or we can do without all this if we simply want to contemplate the work.
Timeline Museo Nacional del Prado
Since it is a resource that can be accessed from a mobile device, it is the user who decides how to use it. The exhibition space is not compromised, since there is no equipment that makes the transit of visitors difficult or that makes the visualization of the works complicated.
Each work has up to five levels or layers, all explained in a language understandable by everyone.
Each work has five levels or layers with an understandable language
The pictures can be viewed as a whole or zoomed in to allow us to appreciate each of its details and we can even download the image.
The system manages large volumes of information in a very agile way.
To do this, it classifies the texts by analysing their content, beyond searches using key words, through a system they call disambiguation enhancers, providing the processes with great precision in the results.
The system is included in what is called the semantic web, which allows interoperability between computer systems, without the need for human intervention.
All these advances place the Museo de Prado at the forefront of technology, providing the institution with a state-of-the-art interactive tool that is complex and costly to develop but simple and user-friendly.
Through the following link you can access the museum’s press release, about the presentation of the Timeline.
Recently, the head of the digital area of the Prado Museum gave a conference at the Museo de Bellas de Bilbao which I attended and from which I wrote an article.
The following link will take you directly to the Timeline on the Museo Nacional del Prado website.
If you want to visit the museum’s website click here.
Tickets can be bought on the museum’s website at this link.