Later this spring,  I will be teaching a course on exhibit development for the Cultural Resource Management Program at the University of Victoria. The course will be held in Toronto at the Ontario Science Centre from April 22-24. It is a blended course, so an online component proceeds the three days, starting on April 9.  You can learn more about, Emerging Exhibits: Exploring New Models of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and register on the UVIC Website. (FYI, when I taught the course at the Museum of Vancouver last fall it sold out fast.)  Here’s a short description of the course:

Computer-based interactive exhibits are undergoing a major transformation. The lone, single-user kiosk is now being replaced by multi-touch tables and walls, motion-sensing spaces, networked installations, and RFID-based exhibits. Advances in augmented reality, speech recognition, eye tracking, and other technologies promise even more radical change for exhibits in the near future.

Collectively these new technologies represent a fundamental advance in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). This course will look at a new generation of computer-based exhibits that are more physical, more intuitive, and have more social qualities than their predecessors.

The new models for HCI provide us with opportunities to rethink how technology is used in museums and other public spaces. Computer technology is on the cusp of finally living up to its promise in the museum world, providing a platform for developing compelling and authentic experiences for the public.

We’re pleased to announce the release of the Ideum MT65 Presenter multitouch wall display. The MT65 Presenter is a huge 65” interactive display with a 3D LCD, robust multitouch sensor, ultra-clear tempered glass, a powerful integrated computer, built-in audio, and webcam housed inside a hardened aluminum case.

The Presenter is easy to install and maintain, virtually indestructible, and works in practically any ambient lighting environment. The integrated touch sensor supports up to 32 simultaneous touch points for multiple user exhibits. The 4” thin Presenter is protected by hardened 3mm tempered glass and a vandal-proof metal housing.

The Presenter features a 65” 3D LCD display with full HD resolution and flicker-free FPR 3D imaging that uses an LED backlight rated for 50,000 hours. The massive interactive display is over 2.5 times larger than the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface 2.

The powerful built-in computer features an Intel® Core™ i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, Solid State Hard Drive, and a discrete GPU, making the Presenter more than three times faster than the Surface 2.0, and likely to outperform any other touchscreen on the market.

The MT65 Presenter includes built-in WIFI, Bluetooth, and Ethernet connectivity. It also features stereo speakers, an external HD webcam with Carl Zeiss® optics and a stereo microphone. The Presenter has HDMI input/output that allows you to easily mirror the device’s display, or it can receive input from another device.

An optional locking plate secures the Presenter’s Ethernet, HDMI, 3.5mm Audio in/out, and USB 2.0 ports against unwanted access. Similar to Ideum’s MT55 Series of multitouch tables, the Presenter features single-button operation. Just plug it in and turn it on.

Every MT65 Presenter ships with a full, lifetime, licensed copy of GestureWorks 3 for ActionScript. GestureWorks® for ActionScript provides streamlined multitouch authoring for multitouch walls, tables, desktops, tablets, and embedded devices. You’ll save precious development time and have access to pre-built gestures and the world’s first markup language for multitouch: GestureML. In addition, GestureWorks®  SDK has a powerful touch point cluster analysis system, a built-in simulator, and includes access to pre-built modules.

For more information, please download and read the MT65 Presenter Press Release.

MT65 Presenter Press Release
(Updated: 01-17-12) (49kb)

You can also read about the MT65 Presenter on Engadget

Early next month, 100 Years of State & Federal Policy: The Impact on Pueblo Nations exhibition opens at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The exhibit is tied to the state of New Mexico’s Centennial which happens this year. We’ve  been working with the Cultural Center to develop two interactive exhibits for the exhibition. We’re designing the software and hardware, the Cultural Center has been been developing media including a series of videos for the exhibit.

The Document Table is a multitouch table exhibit that allows visitors to learn more about the important events that have impacted the Pueblo Nations over the last 100 years. Along with exploring the documents, visitors can view them on a large, 55″ secondary screen adjacent to the table. (The multitouch table is an MT55 Platform with custom color.)

The Interactive Timeline is a dual monitor exhibit that uses a custom-built, touch-enabled ultra-wide display to present the timeline. (The ultra-wide display has a 16:4.5 aspect ratio, 1920 x 508 pixels, you can see a photo of touch display on our Flickr site.) As visitors make selections a large 42″ display presents video, photos, and descriptive text. Both exhibits are using software components from Open Exhibits.

These two interactive exhibits will help communicate the overall message of the exhibition:

This exhibition and its public programming will reflect upon the human experience behind enacted policies and laws on Pueblo communities by other governments. It will add to a well-documented history of Pueblo resilience since the time of Emergence. Interviews with Pueblo members will provide visitors with historical and personal reflections to help them understand and appreciate these historic challenges, often imposed through policy and laws, all intended to purposefully remove Pueblo people away from their core values.

The opening is on February 4, 2012 at 1:00 PM. There are a number of events associated with the exhibition planned through the rest of the year. You can learn more on the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center website: www.indianpueblo.org/100years

Here at Ideum labs, we’ve been hard at work developing a new Linux driver for our MT Series multitouch tables and displays.

Beginning in March, Linux users and developers will be able to take full advantage of the gesture-driven, social features of MT55 Pro table, MT55 Platform table, and the new MT65 Presenter wall display with native multitouch and GestureWorks support for applications deployed in Ubuntu.

Running multitouch applications on our devices will be plug and play. Touch data from our driver will be exposed to both the TUIO protocol and by Linux’s native multitouch protocol. In the future, we plan to expand support to include the Linux X11 API’s, bringing full compatibility to both the Qt and GTK+ (Gimp toolkit) frameworks.

There is good news for Linux ActionScript developers as well. GestureWorks 3 authoring environment is compatible with several IDE’s in Linux, including Flash Builder 4. 5, FDT, and OSFlash.

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