Sorry for the Inconvenience

Sep 082006
 

Multimedia can and does go wrong. It is a well known fact that computers and associated hardware fails, but we can add it to the list of things that go wrong with an exhibition:

  • globes blow
  • mounts shift
  • paint chips
  • fuses blow
  • computers and screens fail

So what can we do about this that is better than a little sign that says “out of order: sorry for the inconvenience”?

Better sign

Anything would be better than the “out of order” sign!

How about an info graphic that covers some of the material in the interactive that can be neatly placed over the entire screen? Now there’s no apology necessary: it’s just another panel of text.

This gives ample time to fix the computer, screen or whatever that doesn’t work.

Backup hardware

Most multimedia can easily be run on cheap computers (500 – 1000 AUD) and a cheap touch screen (1000 – 2500 AUD).

Why not get two and swap out the broken one with the backup (while your nice, new text panel covers for you)?

You don’t need a spare PC for each interactive though: any competent multimedia supplier can recommend the cheapest option that will give you one spare for the whole exhibition.

We also make sure that the spare system is pre-loaded with all necessary software for each presentation and is easy to get up and running with the right interactive.

You will need a spare of each type of screen, but there shouldn’t be too many variations of that!

Fremaltle Prison used this approach for their Escape! Fremantle to Freedom travelling exhibition and it paid off. One screen needed to be replaced while the show was on the road.

Given that hardware specifications alter rapidly, monitor brands change their range, and technology in general doesn’t stand still, it’s always good to have a spare of the original hardware just in case the old presentations no longer run on new hardware without an upgrade.

Disaster management plan

This is the crucial document. You may have one, you may not; but the point here is to think about what happens when hardware fails and how you want to look to your visitors.

The plan will set out

  • where the signs are
  • how they are to be placed
  • where the spares are
  • who to call to fix the damage

With this sorted out, you can guarantee that you won’t need to apologise for anything that doesn’t work. You can just relax and take things in your stride!

Escape! Fremantle to Freedom

May 302006
 

Fremantle Prison

Samples of Fremantle Prison Installation.

The exhibition Escape! Fremantle to Freedom opened at Fremantle Prison in September 2006 and is touring Australia throughout 2007 and 2008 with Visions of Australia Federal Government funding.

The exhibition tells the extra ordinary story of the escape of six Irish Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in 1876 on the American whaler the Catalpa.

It is one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of artefacts, documents and artworks associated with the escape of the Fenians, and includes rare items that have never been publicly displayed.

Two multimedia interactive touch screens were specially designed as integral components to the interpretation strategies of the exhibition. Titled Books Alive! and Flip the Folios, they provide an in-depth opportunity to look at many of the fascinating paper records of the story that are too fragile to exhibit, some of which are 130 years old. Visitors ‘turn’ the digital pages of documents; magnify the page by running their finger over it; read transcriptions of handwritten documents; and have complete independence in their navigation of the material by using a simple navigational scroll bar and information tabs.

Books Alive! displays precise digital copies of six rare manuscripts sourced from collections around the world including the National Library of Ireland and the John J. Burns Library, Boston College, USA. None of the manuscripts had been displayed before and all are too fragile to tour, yet they are vital to the exhibition. The touch screens give unprecedented access to this important cultural material. Handwritten diaries written by Fenian convicts while being transported to Australia on the convict ship called the Hougoumont, the Wild Goose papers – a series of handwritten newsletters produced by the Fenians to entertain themselves on the Hougoumont, and a rare book of poetry written by Fenian John Boyle O’Reilly just prior to his escape from Western Australia are highlights of the exhibition which visitors can read using the touch screens.

Flip the Folios displays Fenian records and reminiscences, secret correspondence, newspaper cuttings of the time and convict records. This material is kept within a number of folios that are arranged so that they appear to be on the desk of a researcher. Visitors leaf through these files and magnify the pages to uncover Fenian secrets and more. The documents enhance the exhibition by providing another layer of primary information which visitors can access as much or as little of as they wish. As with Books Alive! some documents are transcribed word for word, and include the peculiarities of spelling and grammar in the original text.

The curator, Sandra Murray, was inspired by the software Turning the Pages that was developed by the British Library, realising it would allow greater access to exhibition material. GMG Multimedia (Tim Murray and Paul Glasson) were contracted by Fremantle Prison to design the software Books Alive! and Flip the Folios for Escape! Fremantle to Freedom. The touch screen cases were designed by Fremantle Prison to compliment the exhibition showcases.

The touch screens are proving to be a highlight of the exhibition. Visitor feedback suggests that they are one of the most popular exhibition components, being easy to use, highly informative, and visually appealing. Our feedback suggests that visitors enjoy the interactivity of the touch screens and that this element enhances their experience of the exhibition and understanding of the cultural material being exhibited. We believe that these touch screen programs are brilliant examples of ‘new generation’ interactive multimedia within museums and exhibitions – they are simple, effective and beautifully designed. They highlight the original manuscripts and documents and emulate the tactile and sensory experience of reading the original items.

Touch Screen to Begin

Feb 102006
 

You walk up to a touch screen in an exhibition. There, glowing in the mood lighting are those four little words: “touch screen to begin”.

Now you are probably assuming that

  • this is a screen saver,
  • visitors need to be lead by the nose,
  • this is just how things have always been done,
  • there are no other options…

But you are wrong!

Screen burn in

Screen savers came into vogue because of the tendency of the old CRT and plasma monitors to retain images that didn’t change much. Usually the screen saver would be a rotating set of images or a logo bouncing around the screen.

These can also be known as an attract loop. Usually you have a set of images or animations that are cycled though to get a visitor’s attention while the call to action “touch screen to begin” pulses.

Just to let people know that this monitor is used for an interactive display, the words “touch screen to begin” would fade in and out to wake the computer up and start the interactive.

After a period of inactivity by the user, the computer would go back to the screen saver.

These days LCD monitors are much more robust as far as burn in is concerned, so we can afford to look at other solutions. It’s not to say that LCDs can’t burn in: it’s just that they don’t do it as easily.

Encouraging visitors

Given that most museums have a “look but don’t touch” feel about them, you could be forgiven thinking that you need to explicitly tell people when they can touch a screen. This may well have been true 10 years ago, but not these days.

The new expectation is that monitors are there to be touched: you do it with your phone, at the real estate displays, at information kiosks, and many other locations. People will at least drag their fingers over a screen to see what it will do.

Just browsing

Some people just don’t want to interact with your multimedia no matter what instructions you give them! They just want to watch someone else use it, or (if there is no one else around) would like the information to be packaged much like you would do if you were planning a documentary.

This is not hard to include if you know ahead of time that this is required.

Status quo

Just because everyone else does it this way doesn’t mean that you have to.

Your options are:

  • have the interactive randomly show content from the multimedia
  • show highlights from the content in a specific order
  • create an attract loop
  • have a small printed label informing visitors that this is an interactive

What you choose depends on your particular circumstances.

Solutions

If you have a collection of loosely related items in the interactive, the random display of content may be appropriate. Our work with Port Arthur and the Urban Redevelopment Authority used this approach.

If the content can be curated into a narrative, it may be more useful to display content linearly so that a story may be told. In choosing this, it is important to let a viewer (who is passively enjoying the display) know how far though the presentation they are. Another option here is to let people choose to view the story when they are using the interactive. Land and People and Orbital were perfect for this.

These two options make heavy use of the material within the interactive – no point letting all that hard work go to waste! They also show the interface in action, demonstrating for the visitor how the interactive works while teasing them with the content that they can see if they choose to dive in!

An attract loop is still a good option when a punchy message about the multimedia can convey useful information to people just walking past. This will usually limit you to 10 seconds to no more than 30 seconds. Games use this well.

A small printed label (possibly containing an icon) encouraging interaction is a good final step: they don’t take up much space, they are easy to read, and the screen can always be displaying content.

Usually we find that a combination of these options will be the perfect solution to any interactive multimedia solution.

The main thing we are after is a changing display that will minimise the burn in and maximise the life of your LCD displays.

What is required?

Surprisingly: not much!

We need to know how you would like to handle this part of the interactive. What do you hope to achieve with the unattended screen?

We usually assemble systems with some sort of database driven content. This could be something internal to the presentation (that you never see), an XML file that everyone can edit, or an actual database with multimedia content in it.

Designing things this way makes for a more flexible approach to changing content requirements as a project progresses and has the added bonus that we can easily show visitors specific parts of it in the screen savers.

On the other hand, an attract loop needs video animation or Flash animation to be completed for the project.

So, with the right approach to content and interface design there should be very little reason to have that “touch screen to begin” directive ever again!

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