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Multitouch & HCI Workshop at WebWise Conference
Next month, I will be presenting at the WebWise Conference in Baltimore. Multitouch Collaborative Computing & Other HCI Delights will cover various aspects of multitouch and multiuser exhibit design. In addition, I will demonstrate some of the other emerging HCI technologies such as motion recognition. The workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, March 6th. Here is the description:
The popularity of multitouch‐enabled phones and tablets has shifted user expectations and changed the way computer installations are designed for public and semi‐public spaces such as: museums, libraries, schools and other places where people gather. More and more, visitors expect that screens found in public spaces are not only touchable, but are also capable of multitouch. This shift has helped expand interest in large‐scale multitouch tables and touch walls and is bringing to the forefront new and collaborative ways for users to interact.
While the rise in touch‐based mobile devices may be the catalyst for interest in large‐scale multitouch, the differences in the types of user interaction are significant. Unlike mobile devices, multitouch tables and touch walls encourage multiple users to interact simultaneously; software can be designed to encourage face‐to‐face collaboration and social interaction. The potential for informal learning around these types of installations is just beginning to be explored.
In this workshop, we will look at the physical and social nature of multitouch tables and touch walls; we will focus on the qualities of collaborative computing as multitouch technology and design models continue to evolve and mature. In addition, we will take a brief look at motion recognition and discuss how this technology and others are collectively forming a new wave in HCI (human computer interaction). A short introduction to the Open Exhibits project will also be presented.
on Feb 12, 2013 Open Exhibits Workshop at Museums and the Web 2013
Open Exhibits is presenting a workshop at the Museums and the Web 2013 conference in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday April 17.
The Open Exhibits workshop will explore the technology and design aspects of multitouch, multi-user exhibit development through hands-on application building using the Open Exhibits SDK. Among much else, the workshop will introduce the digital database collection viewer, an application that allows multitouch, mulituser browsing of a museum’s digital media archive.
The workshop is open to both new and veteran users. Workshop attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn about topics of interest including:
• Integrating digital media databases (including Flickr)
• Multitouch, multiuser design strategies
• Gesture Markup Language
• Creative Markup Language
• Building components and other advanced SDK topics
Workshop attendees will experience the Open Exhibits software framework through one of Ideum’s multitouch tables, the Platform.The attendees will learn how to create an application using the framework and will have the opportunity to test it on a large multitouch, multiuser computing surface.
The workshop will be led by Jim Spadaccini, Director of Ideum and Principal Investigator of Open Exhibits and Charles Veasey, Project Manager and Lead Software Developer of Open Exhibits.
The annual Museums and the Web conference is the leading international conference in the field of museums and their websites. It has been organized by Archives & Museum Informatics each Spring in North America since 1997.
Register now:
http://mw2013.museumsandtheweb.com/registration/
on Feb 5, 2013 Open Exhibits 2.5.2
Open Exhibits 2.5.2 is now available in the downloads section. This is a patch update to fix outstanding bugs and to deliver feature requests, specifically in the ScrollPane and Album elements. We also included several new GML examples to help you get starting using the Gesture Markup Language. Updates include:
* FIXED: Taps not working in the Simulator
* FIXED: ClusterBubbling error when touchsprite contains non-touchsprite child
* FIXED: CML include tag incorrectly ordering the display list
* ADDED: AlbumViewer linking to link back and front Album objects providing individual info panels for each item
* ADDED: Album loop mode to allow continuous scrolling of items
* ADDED: Album dimension settings to display more then one item at a time
* ADDED: Exposed settings to enable interaction of Album items
* CHANGED: Improved ScrollPane and ScrollBar UI elements
http://openexhi
on Jan 31, 2013 OpenExhibits 2.5.1
OpenExhibits 2.5.1 is now available in the downloads section. This is a patch update to fix a bug for users who were developing in Adobe Flash, wherein a number of Flash libraries, particularly in the MX core, were not automatically included when compiling. Users authoring in the Adobe Flash environment should be able to download this patch fix and be able to compile OpenExhibits applications as expected.
http://openexhi
on Jan 10, 2013 
Museum Accessibility Resources
CMME is collecting existing resources on museum accessibility, as well as researching new tools and approaches. Here are some of our favorites:
Cultural Access New England (CANE) was founded to advance access to cultural facilities in New England for people with disabilities of all types. CANE defines accessibility broadly, to include programmatic, architectural, physical, communication, attitudinal and other forms of access. CANE takes as a basic tenet that increasing accessibility for people with disabilities increases accessibility for everyone. Find CANE on Facebook, too.
Museum Access Consortium (MAC) consists of representatives from various museum departments throughout the New York City Metropolitan area and members and representatives of the disability community. Members of MAC exchange information, ideas and resources and provide a network of mutual support.
Smithsonian's Access American Stories is a bilingual (Spanish/English) “crowdsourced” audio experience and companion to the American Stories exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Designed to increase accessibility for visitors with low vision, the app offers everyone new ways of seeing 100 of America’s most evocative historical objects through the eyes of both visitors and museum staff. Visitors can participate by describing one of the objects on display or your experience of the exhibition.
The Multimodal Approaches to Learning International Conference took place on October 26-28, 2012 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The conference addressed inclusive and multisensory learning environments and strategies, particularly in relation to the arts and museums.
Kiosk Information Systems offers ADA guidelines for kiosk designers.
WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media, a CMME partner, has created Media Access Mobile, a mobile system to enhance the experience for visitors to cultural institutions who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, visually impaired, or who speak languages other than English. Media Access Mobile provides synchronized text (captions, subtitles or audio descriptions) in any combination of languages, all provided simultaneously, over a WiFi network and displayed on iPod Touches which are provided to visitors on-site. See it in action in this short video.
on Dec 7, 2012 
