A guest blog by Nathan Neil, Purple Deck Media
Part 3 of a series. Read part 1 and part 2.
Step into a more interactive world with Near Field Communication (NFC). In my last posts, we looked into a few business verticals and what interaction with NFC could look like. NFC is now a part of the majority of smart devices that are on the market. Our younger generations are being brought up in a world where information can be consumed very rapidly within a few keystrokes, but what if information could be served up by placing a smart device on an interactive region of a product. NFC is critical to the forward movement of providing quicker access to information and user-object interaction. For museums, aquariums, zoos, and historical sites, NFC looks to be a perfect catalyst to facilitate access to additional resources, while providing an engaging experience.
I have an adorable 3-year-old nephew, and when I was his age, the vast array of electronic interaction that we have now did not exist. New generations are being raised with technology, and they understand how to interact with it very early in life. My nephew loves playing games, watching movies, and doing other things on smart devices, which is a pretty huge concept for educational facilities to consider.
Through the years, we have taken him to zoos, aquariums, and other places. Many places of education and information are already catching on and doing a fantastic job by building interactive exhibits, utilizing tablets, creating games, and finding other ways to reinforce the information that they have on the exhibits. With NFC, these facilities can take learning to a whole additional level. Parents like educating their children, and they want to know additional ways to educate them. With NFC, parents could gather additional fun facts about an exhibit, as well as have their children play interactive games or engage in other content. The elegant thing about NFC is that it is not like an annoying QR code – erasing the embarrassment of standing in front of a display, trying to get the lighting perfect, waiting for the phone to launch the link from the code.
With NFC, you just place your phone up to a display and launch the content. Aquariums that are dimly lit in particular areas would not have to worry about visitors using lights or trying to scan a pesky QR code. Young children could also enjoy small interactive games, videos, and images that could be served up onto their parent’s phone in an almost magical experience.
NFC on exhibits is an obvious application, but what about taking the learning experience home? Aquariums, zoos, and other places of education could sell a variety of NFC-enabled products. Imagine if I got my nephew a stuffed dolphin enabled with NFC. Every day he could touch his mom’s phone to it and see a live stream of the dolphin tank. Imagine sponsoring an animal or exhibit and getting a bracelet that you could tap to see video from at any time, or a key fob that provides a new fact everyday about ecosystems. The possibilities are truly endless. With some tailored NFC content management solutions, the facility managing the educational experience can see the level of engagement their guests are having and also update and change content whenever they would like. It is a breath of fresh air that keeps education moving forward by tailoring it to an up-and-coming market of students and educators who have been raised in this new world of mobile engagement.
About our guest blogger:
Nathan Neil is a graduate of Shippensburg University with a BSBA in Management Information Systems. Neil and the team at Purple Deck Media have been working with NFC technology for the last three years, specializing in unique ways to implement the technology to better businesses and provide information to consumers. Neil is a three time winner of the Grace Murray Hopper Prize and Intel Excellence in Computer Science award. Every Thursday morning, Neil speaks on NewsTalkFM 103.7 about the importance of cyber security and NFC. More recently, Neil cofounded the Scotland Summit, a business collaboration organization that is bringing businesses together to come up with new and creative ideas. Follow Nathan on Twitter: @nathanneil