Exhibitor had two primary aims: 1) to work with external partners in the field of innovative multi-touch displays to further enhance a new interactive software called Kiosque with the latest technology, to help support its ongoing development; 2) to engage in outreach activities using this technology, which included taking it into schools (the Exhibitor project is already actively working with schools in the region), museums, libraries etc., which might have an interest in jointly developing content packages as learning/teaching aids/tools.
Background
The Exhibitor project built upon a new interactive software technology, called Kiosque, to deliver and display information content packages for interactive, or rolling, presentational purposes. A content package can consist of any information deemed suitable for the target audience. The Kiosque software consists of a fully customisable multimedia interface and includes features to manipulate and interact with high-resolution imagery. The content packages can be structured to allow a variety of pathways through the resource to help accommodate different levels of user engagement. Therefore, information can be presented to suit the needs of particular key stages of the National Curriculum as well as for older audiences or those with special needs. The software can run on a variety of different devices including touch-screens, multi-touch interactive surfaces and desktop and tablet computers, and can be accessed over the internet as well as onsite. This feature is particularly useful in sites which lack space or which require a sensitive approach to the implementation of technology-based learning materials.
Kiosque has already been used to allow museum visitors the flexibility to explore a collection of medieval Froissart manuscripts as part of the Online Froissart project, overseen by Professor Ainsworth at the University of Sheffield. Exploration can either be narrative-driven (following a series of linear steps), or free (a visitor can traverse non-linear pathways – c.f. web browsing – and/or explore digitised objects by zooming, panning and interacting with them), depending on a visitor’s preference. The Exhibitor project was able to draw upon experienced staff who have worked on installations at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, and the Musée de l’Armée, Paris (the Froissart exhibition is currently running at the latter of these sites).
Duration: 1st May 2010 – 30th June 2011
Partners
Project Team
- Dr Michael Meredith (Principal Investigator – The Digital Humanities Institute)
- Peter Ainsworth (Project Advisor – University of Sheffield)
- Jamie McLaughlin (Developer – The Digital Humanities Institute)
- Keira Borrill (Research Associate – The Digital Humanities Institute)