TAP CMS-old

TAP aims to provide tools to easily create and deliver mobile tour applications in a museum setting. Content creation is performed in the content management system, Drupal. TAP tours are exportable into an intermediate format, TourML, which can then be used as pluggable bundles for mobile applications.

TAP provides a way for non-technical museum staff to assemble a wide range of mobile experiences without needing to know any of the underlying technical details of the Web or mobile technology. In addition to the means for assembling content, TAP in its current state also provides user interfaces for Web-based mobile tours and simplenative applications for an iPod-based tour.

Freely available tools and standards are essential to the museum community to promote the adoption of best practices, to facilitate collaboration, and to encourage the creation of potential avenues for future content sharing. IMA’s initial work with the TAP authoring tool includes support for an early version of the TourML specificationand offers a functional, but incomplete, proof-of-concept, demonstrating how such a system might work.

Since its release, the TAP system has been successfully adopted and deployed by a few independent developers—including other major museums—and has served as a model and example code for a number of other implementations. In its current state, TAP provides a workable tool for museums with significant skills in software development and awillingness to use the system in its entirety.

As part of the IMLS grant the current version of TAP will be modified to support the TourML specifications that are recommended by the community.