That Seems Like a Good Idea

I went to the Phillips Collection over the weekend to see their new exhibit of acquisitions from the last ten years. I didn't quite realize the extent to which "acquired" is museum-ese for "convinced a rich art collector to donate this in theoretical increments over a multi-year period so as to maximize their tax deductions," as opposed to "bought." I imagine running a successful museum must involve spending an awful lot of time drinking weak coffee in senior citizens' living rooms while pretending to like their small yappy dogs.

More to the point, instead of handing out audioguides to walk around with or hang on a lanyard around your neck, the exhibit just had a cell phone number where you would call and then hit a certain number plus # to hear the recording corresponding to a given painting. This seems like a remarkably obvious and good idea in the age of ubiquitous cell phone ownership. There must be some kind of edu-application, albeit one that will be subsumed by ubiquitious broadband-connected miniature computer ownership in a few years.