news release

((New York) Acoustiguide was the only audio tour provider to win a MUSE award for an audio tour in 2005. The recognition went to the program for What’s Going On? California and the Vietnam Era, a kaleidoscope-like program that Acoustiguide produced with the Oakland Museum of California.

Acoustiguide helped the Museum collect hundreds of hours of oral histories from a range of Californians including: Vietnamese refugees, activist, anti-war protestors and veterans. The resulting tour offered visitors the rare opportunity to hear multiple perspectives about this controversial epoch in California history through a blend of live interviews, archival audio, and period music.

One judge commented, "Having grown up in California, I know how contentious this issue was for Californians. I hope that a lot of visitors from outside the state are able to visit the exhibit and use the Audio Tour to dispel the myth that California was entirely anti-war." From the outset, the Museum's curators wanted to make the content relevant for local audiences and to represent as many perspectives as possible. The audio tour exposed visitors to a well of conflicting emotion about the United States' participation in the war and challenged them to consider new points of view. In a competition that evaluates a range of multimedia projects, from websites to databases, the What’s Going On? California and the Vietnam Era Audio Tour was the only audio tour that received an award.