The US-based New Media Consortium (NMC) has released the 2012 Horizon Report: Museum Edition which examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in education and interpretation within the museum environment.

This year’s museum report, the third edition, identifies mobile apps and social media as technologies expected to garner mainstream adoption in the near-term horizon of one year or less. Augmented reality and open content make up the mid-term horizon of two to three years, while the Internet of Things and natural user interfaces round out the far-term horizon of four to five years.

The projects and readings under each of these technology topics provide an overview of the effectiveness each has proven to hold in the museum setting as well as specific examples of how museums across the globe are leveraging it.

The report can be downloaded here.