The Museu Marítim of Barcelona has launched "signoguías": PDA devices which, through videos in sign language make it easier to deaf and hearing impaired visitors to enjoy the contents of this museum.

The Museu Marítim of Barcelona and the Vodafone Spain Foundation, in collaboration with Foundation CNSE (State Confederation of Deaf People) and the FESOCA (Federació de Sords de Catalonia) have just launched the signoguía for deaf and hearing impaired people who visit the Museum. This PDA device establishes, enables and activates new ways of communication and relationship with the visitors of the Museum, providing them with a system of additional contents that can be updated at any time.

Several museums and art venues have incorporated this PDA service at no extra cost, committed to make their works and exhibitions more accessible to the deaf and hearing impaired: by means of signoguías these people have the same chances of receiving information as all other visitors. Signoguía, a PDA device, enables deaf people to reach the contents, concepts and explanation of works by means of the visualization of the information in sign language subtitles and/or written texts.

The interface consists of a tactile screen, with several menus which will guided visitors through temporary exhibitis as well as the most important works in the Museum. Contents are displayed through video and the explanation of works is realised in Spanish and Catalonian sign language (providing subtitles too).

The Museu Marítim of Barcelona, located in the Drassanes Reials of Barcelona, is one of the most remarkable buildings of the Catalan civilian, gothic. Accessible facilities are featured for people with reduced mobility, including elevators, ramps, platforms and adapted toilets in the Museum and in the bar-restaurant.

The collections of the Museu Marítim de Barcelona comprise tangible testimonies to a long-standing cultural tradition linked to the sea and which have survived throughout Catalonian history. The museum's collections have been built up over the course of the institution's existence, a period that began in 1929 with the establishment of a small museum that was part of the Institut Nàutic de la Mediterrània (Mediterranean Nautical Institute). The collections have grown as a result of the acquisitions made by the museum and thanks to the generosity of the many organisations and people who have made donations to the institution.

Highlights of the museum's resources include its collections of model ships, nautical instruments, ex-votos, maritime paintings, figureheads, cartography (an extraordinary feature in many respects), the replica of the royal galley of Juan de Austria, and the schooner Santa Eulàlia, a historical vessel from 1918.

Museo Marítimo de Barcelona
Av. de les Drassanes s/n
08001 Barcelona
Tel: 34 933 429 920
Fax: 34 933 187 876
e-mail: m.maritim@diba.cat
www.mmb.cat

Rebecca Arce

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