Pompidou turns to NFC, Facebook to attract teens

France's Pompidou Centre is opening a "Teen Gallery" next year, with NFC tags on every exhibit and the inevitable Facebook connection to draw in Paris youth. The idea is to put tags beside every exhibit, so punters can wave their phone nearby to get more information on the artist and work. But even the French won't have NFC …

[Graham Marsden]

And there was me thinking...

... that NFC stood for "Not For Children"...!

[Anonymous Coward]

This seems to be a recurring theme with RFID in general.

Passports, public transport passes, access passes, even key-system keys, car keys, what-have-you. As they're wireless such systems can be much easier abused or even be used unintentionally and by accident, incurring charges, identity theft damage, and all sorts of nasty side effects that you the user essentially no control over. This serves as a good vehicle to make people more afraid of technology, leaving them feeling less empowered to take advantage of these supposedly wonderful techno-advances. So why do it?

What is the compelling business case to go with more complex technology over simpler, cheaper, more user-friendly alternatives that it gets pushed through regardless every time?

[Steve X]

it ain't broke, but they still have to fix it

"What is the compelling business case to go with more complex technology over simpler, cheaper, more user-friendly alternatives that it gets pushed through regardless every time?"

Sponsorship. The museums/galleries don't have enough cash, so they look for a sponsor who offers them money if they agree to set things up so that punters have to buy the technology to get the best "user experience". Since the s**theads who run our governments are convinced that the best way to win votes is to offer solutions to non-existent problems like the "digital divide" (instead of just running the country properly and staying out of our way) there are also handouts and grants to encourage this sort of behaviour. Paid for by our taxes.

[Nimrod]

How Many

Of these rinky-dink handsets will be left by the end of the first week?

Not many if French yoof is anything like thoe here in good old Blighty.

[Anonymous Coward]

NFC?

Stubbornly not just googling it just yet, what does NFC stand for? I was always taught to define an acronym the first time I used it in a document...

...ok, it's Near Field Communications:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Field_Communication

[ratfox]

Just Googled it

Just googled teen gallery...

I have to say these french people know what they are doing. I don't know art, but i know what i like, yessir!

PH, she's into art, apparently...

[Paranoid Warming Climate Denier]

And here's me thinking..

That a simple plaque beside a work of art would tell you every thing you needed to know.. you could even take a picture of it on your mobile and send it to your mates.

FFS STOP MAKING US *NEED* DEVICES TO GET INFORMATION.

[TeeCee]

Douglas Adams knew this one.

Given that NFC is the answer, what you're seeing here is everyone trying to work out what the question was.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the question was actually: "Can you come up with something pointless to blow a load of R&D cash on as a tax loss?"

[Chief sub]

We're talking about "plaques" here, aren't we?

"What is the compelling business case to go with more complex technology over simpler, cheaper, more user-friendly alternatives that it gets pushed through regardless every time?"

Indeed. Pass the Occam's Razor.