Putting its quality on display
By: Christopher Muther, Boston Globe (Mar 10, 1999)
Winchester-Some times the best ideas are truly born out of frustration. For Michael Callahan, president of Museum Technology Source Inc., that moment came while trying to nap on the concrete floor of the Brooklyn Children's Museum in 1986. At the time, Callahan was working as a consultant for museum exhibitions, helping institutions envision and execute the necessary technology to make special displays come to life.
Callahan was in Brooklyn to help with the installation of an exhibit called "Sound Around". It was 5 a.m., the day the exhibit was scheduled to open, and Callahan was waiting for holes to be drilled to complete the final step of connecting wires to buttons so the sounds would come alive when the buttons were pressed.
"While I was trying to take a nap I started thinking, 'Well, if I came up with a different kind of system where the wires were installed in a factory setting, I wouldn't be here right now.' That was the initial idea of Museum Technology," he said.
"Instead of doing museum installations on a custom basis, we could do manufacturing. We thought that if we've built two or three of these things, there must be a market for at least a forth."
Callahan's brainstorm led to the development of specialized products now used in displays at Mount Rushmore, Sea World in San Diego, and the Smithsonian Institution. While he still does occasional custom work for museums, Callahan now focuses on providing museums the tools to put together special displays themselves. And the company's latest product is taking it into the closed-captioning business.
The majority of Museum Technology's products are controllers designed to work in collaboration with video and compact disc players. The controllers allow museum visitors to hit a button to watch a particular video image or listen to an audio sample. While the video and compact disc controllers may not sound like a huge breakthrough, it is the first time museums have been able to gain access to such technology already assembled and ready to fit into their exhibits.
"As far as a company that offers controllers off the shelf, they're unique," said Peter Martin, a principal at Zalisk Martin Associates in Cambridge. The company designs exhibits for museums nationally and uses Museum Technology's products.
Eileen Zalisk, who is also a principal at the firm, said she finds the quality as good if not better than that of a custom-designed controller.
"A number of times we're in other museums and we walk by displays with controllers hooked up to video displays that are broken," she said. "We've never had that happen with Museum Technology."
The market for these products is fairly limited. Sales at the privately held company for 1998 were $500,000. However, Callahan, who runs the seven-employee company along with his wife Adrienne, has just introduced a product he believes will allow Museum Technology to grow into new markets. He expects the company's new Captioning Board will move the company beyond the museum market and into homes, businesses, schools, airports, churches, and assisted-living facilities.
The Captioning Board is a 2-foot-by-5-inch LED box that can be used with a television or other video sources. The board takes the place of closed captioning on the television screen. It uses the same standard closed-captioning services, but sends the text to the box, which can be placed above or below the screen.
The impetus for this product came from customers at museums and other institutions looking for alternatives to standard closed-captioning. Before the Captioning Board, most museums featured a button near video displays that would activate captioning.
"Someone from the National Zoo called up," said Adrienne Callahan. "He was distressed because for the people who needed it, the captioning wasn't there. Kids would come along and turn it off. That's what really got us into it."
Other museums were looking for ways to move captioning off the screen for films that were text-heavy or featured special effects that were being blocked by the captioning. The answer: the Captioning Board, which captures closed captioning signals and keeps the text off the screen. For those who need it, the words are nearby. For those who don't, the captioning is no longer obstructing the rest of the picture.
In the two years since its introduction, the Captioning Board has been installed at the Statue of Liberty, Universal Studios in Florida, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, and Minuteman Park in Lexington, Mass. Museum Technology is now hoping the $3,000 device will catch on in other areas as well.
A consumer version, which accommodates scrolling text on newscasts, was introduced late last year. In retirement communities and for home theaters, the Captioning Board can be used not only to keep the volume under control, but also to ensure that everyone can understand all the words. There is the potential to assist the nearly 28 million Americans who have some level of hearing impairment.
In addition, because the captioning on the box is taller and brighter than that of standard closed captioning, it allows people who are both visually and hearing impaired to read text more easily.
At Syracuse Airport, the board is used to caption a behind-the-scenes video tour of the airport. Callahan also envisions the board being used in other noisy environments such as sports bars, restaurants, trade shows, and visitor centers.
Currently, the company is also looking at ways to use the Captioning Board in live settings, such as schools, lecture halls, and churches. With sign language interpreters in short supply, the board would give the hearing impaired equal footing in all situations.
The biggest challenge the company faces is getting word about its product to new markets. Museum Technology enjoys a solid reputation among museums, said Callahan, but its small staff and limited resources could make reaching businesses an uphill battle.
"Now that we've overcome the technological challenges of refining the product, we have to start looking at marketing," he said.
Callahan anticipates the market for his company's products over the next two years could potentially double, with sales reaching $1 million. While he is anxious to see his company succeed, Callahan is not expecting or hoping to make millions. He acknowledges that he comes from an unlikely background to be running a business.
He got his start in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco, working on the technical side of avant-garde music performances and readings for artists such as John Cage and Timothy Leary.
Much of his work in San Francisco, and later in New York, involved museum settings, and eventually he began a business consulting with museums to help them envision and construct exhibits. He officially founded Museum Technology Source in 1989.
This is a niche market that doesn't tend to attract anyone who's looking to make a killing," he said. The big guys aren't interested in a market this size, but it suits us nicely."
Michael Callahan, president of Museum Technology Source, and wife Adrienne, the firm's vice president, behind Captioning Board.
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