User:Iladuva/sandbox

D’UVA WORKSHOP

Based in Florence,Italy, D’Uva Workshop provides interactive audio guides, video guides, radio guides, mobile tours, interactive kiosks and mobile applications to churches, museums, archeological sites, exhibitions and other cultural heritage destinations. In addition, the Company offers a full range of supportive creative and on-site services.

HISTORY

D’Uva Workshop was founded in 1959 in Florence, Italy by Giovanni D’Uva, a passionate art and electronic technician who invented the first multilingual audio guide. The Company’s first client was Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Pope Paul VI. He saw the potential of the new device and how it could make a difference in presenting the story of the Church. Cardinal Montini requested audio guides be installed in the Cathedral of Milan to narrate the story of the Cathedral. The proposal gave rise to a scandal when it was met strong opposition from the Sacred Congregation of the Rites of the Roman Curia. The Sacred Congregation supervised the liturgy and believed that only the sound of the services should be heard in church and no machines should be part of that presentation. The dispute was finally settled in 1961 and the audio guides were installed completely changing the way visitors experienced churches, and later museums. The invention of audio guides contributed to the technological progress of Italy.

In 1986, using the technology of the first computers, D’Uva Workshop designed the VG86 Video Guide. The Echo+ Audio Guides which integrated audio commentary with viewing moments and interactive functions was developed in 2003. Introduced in 2010 the Onda Radioguides featured 100 distinct channels with simultaneous access. D’Uva Workshop was one of the first companies to develop an application for use with smartphones in museums, exhibitions, archeological sites and city tours. The Smartphones app was expanded to include new features such as Augmented Reality and Computer Vision in 2012 The Lilium Multimedia Kiosk was designed and first installed in the Pantheon in 2013. The 19-inch touch screen monitor offered a menu of multimedia stories, interactive maps and applications.

In 2014, the company introduced the low-cost, low-power Apple iBeacon transmitter technology to museums to make finding a location simpler and easier.

CREATIVE SERVICES D’Uva Workshop offers a wide range of supportive creative services including •	development of multimedia tours, children and family tours and special access tours •	game development •	book publishing •	illustrated digital books •	communication graphic design projects for websites, merchandise, exhibition and signage

ON-SITE SERVICES •	managing audio, video and radio guide rental points •	organizing educational programs •	managing ticket offices •	bookshops •	information and reception services •	selecting and training personnel •	assistance and maintenance of our audio guides, video guides and multimedia totems.

OFFICES The company is located at via Nicola Pistelli n.9/3, 50058 Signa, Florence, Italy

EXTERNAL LINKS Website: http://www.duvaws.it