“Cellular Field: While some other institutions discourage cell phone use, the Museum of Natural History embraces the technology. Is that a culture clash?
Forward thinkers at the backward-looking Field Museum have wanted to make their thick-walled building more accessible to 21st Century communicating. Infrastructure improvements were planned to make the Field, as its president put it, “the first museum in the United States completely enabled for wireless radio, voice and data services.”
The prospect of unfettered cell phone chattering in the Field struck many museum-goers as more an impertinence than a convenience. They may consider the following a reprieve.
Some of the Field’s plans subsequently were put on hold after the chief information officer left the museum. A Field spokesman said recently the position has yet to be filled.
In a statement, the Field said it “remains committed to installing a state-of-the-art information system” and its objective is “to implement portions of this new system in 2006.” But it acknowledged it must find “a telecommunications carrier to install the necessary infrastructure and information-security measures.”
So before too long the cell phone “dead zones” in the museum may be eliminated. But remember, if you call there and a dinosaur answers, hang up.
