Last Friday I had the pleasure of catwalking through the Avedon Fashion Photographs at the DIA. Instead of the clunky handheld audio guides the museum usually supplies, it encouraged you to use your mobile phone (ringer off, of course) at specific pieces in the exhibit.

I saw this on the DIA site before I visited, so I came prepared with my headphones and an expectation to be guided through many extraordinary pieces.

Yet I left wanting more. Not by the photographs — those alone were gorgeous — but by the mobile guide.

Okay, so I know in my post on evolving audio guides last October I stated how I’d like to see more mobile guides. And maybe I would if they project more compelling content. Museum Director Graham Beal commentates on eight pieces in the collection. He did tell me some interesting things about the pieces, but I wanted to hear more about the models, the locations, the celebrities through interviews with the people Avedon worked with.

At “stop number five” (as the mobile guide references the featured pieces), Beal poses questions about what Avedon is trying to convey with his shot. “Is this a straightforward comparison?…Does it poke fun at the fashion industry? The interpretation is left to you [the viewer].” I really like how Beal encouraged me to draw my own conclusion about the photographers vision. But do I really need an an audioguide to prompt me?

I’m not saying that this mobile guide was bad. I admire that museums — the DIA included — are experimenting with educating visitors in interactive, familiar (to younger audiences) ways.

Museums, keep it up. You may not get it right every time, but I like that you’re trying to keep up with technology while preserving amazing history.

Sarah Jo Sautter