Get free Naperville history lesson on smartphone

December 25, 2012 — Source: Naperville Sun

Over the last year, the Century Walk Corporation has been creating a series of free audio tours to accompany their 40-plus piece public art collection in Naperville.

The goal with the audio tours was to capture the most important and interesting details about each sculpture, mural, mosaic and relief in a voiceover segment that was targeted at 3 minutes or less. The next step was to make the audio tours easy to access while standing in front of each piece of art.

Using new QR (Quick Response) code technology, a Century Walk visitor can scan the black-and-white code found in the corner of each artwork plaque with a smartphone to instantly listen to the Century Walk audio tours. Here’s how the tours work: a visitor opens his or her smartphone’s QR code reader and holds the phone’s camera 2 to 5 inches from the QR code found near each piece of art to allow the phone to scan the code. The audio tour loads automatically; and the visitor simply hits the “play” button to enjoy the tour.

The audio tours, which also can be accessed via the “Audio” tab on the Century Walk mobile website (m.centurywalk.org), were compiled by Naperville residents John and Carolyn Roscich from Jini Leeds Clare’s 112-page coffee table book, “Century Walk: Art Imitating History.” The Roscichs read their scripts in a recording studio, and the files were posted on the Century Walk website for all to hear.

There are now 40 audio tours available — one for each of the first 40 pieces of Century Walk art. All but three pieces in the Century Walk collection are clustered along 2 miles of sidewalk in downtown Naperville. A handy, recommended walking route has been created on Google that gets you from one end of the collection to the other using the most efficient path at: http://goo.gl/maps/66qOS.

While viewing the “Parade of the Century”, piece No. 38 in the collection along Rubins Way downtown Naperville, visitors are encouraged to check out piece No. 41, “Naperville Loves a Parade,” on the opposite wall. Anyone interested in adding their face (or company logo) to the permanent Naperville historical record, should contact Brand Bobosky to make arrangements, or download and complete the order form online at: http://centurywalk.org/parade/Century_Walk_Flyer_ForWebsite.pdf

For more information about the Naperville Century Walk, contact Brand Bobosky at 34 W. Chicago Ave., Suite B, Naperville, 630-355-5553. Or visit www.centurywalk.org or the Century Walk Facebook page: www.facebook.com/centurywalk.