Museum Blogs

If ever there was an "unsung hero" of the interactive museum exhibit game it's Bernie Zubrowski.

If you counted up all of Bernie's books, exhibitions, educational curricula and programs, you would find a vast body of work that has had a tremendous impact on everyone (whether they realize it or not) who struggles to create interesting interactive exhibits.

But leaving all that aside, Bernie is also a wonderful artist --- a true master of the kinetic, elegant application of simple materials and phenomena.  Now Bernie has turned loose videos of his work on his new website.  It's well worth a look!


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Those Math Factory folks are great; passionate about math...that's a special breed. I looked it up on the NY Hall's site, and the Midway is only exhibiting through April? And then what? You've really piqued my interest with the "watch hands and monkey" exhibit. Wish I could see it.

The moment you see the seven-story, glass and steel building on a prime piece of Pennsylvania Avenue real-estate that is the Newseum, you know this is not your grandpa’s idea of what a museum should be. The $450 million museum was created by, for, and about newsmakers, newshounds, and newsreaders. The Newseum boasts of its 250,000-square-foot museum of news, housing: • 35,000 – Total number of historic newspaper front pages in its collection, going back nearly 500 years. • 6,214 – Number of artifacts in its collection (excluding newspapers and photographs). • 15 theaters, • 14 main exhibits, • 2 state of the art HD broadcast studios, • And much, much, much more The Newsuem’s mission is to “educate the public about the value of a free press in a free society and tells the stories of the world's important events in unique and engaging ways… blend[ing] five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits”. The Newseum does just that. It blends the up- to-the-second journalistic mentality with a hands-on, technological approach to exhibition design to presents a museum experience that blurs the line between the traditional museum and an interactive theme park experience. The Story of News exhibit displays original prints of front pages recording some of the most historic events in history. Arranged in chronological order and described as “the entire history of the printed news”, visitors can read the news stories that reported such momentous events as the outbreak of the American Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic, the assassination of President Kennedy, and even the death of Blackbeard the pirate in 1718. The exhibit furthers the discussion of how the press reports history in the making by having numerous artifacts and memorabilia used by journalist in their quest for the truth, with the door lead to the Watergate scandal as its most famous example. The Berlin Wall gallery proudly displays eight 12-foot-high sections of the Berlin Wall and a three-story East German guard tower. Impressive artifacts on there own, but the real lesson presented is how the power of a free press change the world by bring an end of the oppression in Eastern Europe. The Wall could not impede the radio broadcasts from the Allied section of Berlin, and it spreading the ideals of freedom and democracy. In the end, the exhibit is all about how the press played a leading role in the opening of the boarders between East and West, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the fall of Communism. The Newseum’s dedication to technology also plays a large part in its drive to educate its public in unique ways. The incorporation of technology as a teaching tool can best be seen in the museum’s Ethics Center. While the topic of ethics is prominent in the news gathering community, it might be in so ingrained in the minds of its visitors. That is why the Newseum developed the exhibit. The center’s focal piece is the ethic table where visitors wave their hands over the table’s infrared screen to control tiny avatars and answer questions on journalistic morals. It is one of only three such high tech motion-sensing tables in the entire world. In addition, the ethics center has interactive touch-screen kiosks loaded with engaging games that illustrate some of the hard choices journalist have to make in their line of work. The ethics center is just one example of why the Newseum claims to be “the world’s most interactive museum.” Its commitment to providing its guest with unique and engaging experiences can also be seen in its 4-D film experience called "I-Witness: A 4-D Time Travel Adventure”. Not satisfied with a basic video display, the Annenberg Theater also includes seat that shake, wind machines, and other sensory special effect to further add to the excitement of a 3-D movie recreation of “some of the most dramatic events in journalism history”. The Newseum commitment to technology is where it assaults the line between the long-established educational museum environment and the high tech world of an interactive theme park. No mater on what side of that line you stand on, the Newseum achieves it mission to educate its visitors about the history of journalism, the power of the truth, those who risk their lives for the dissemination of reliable information, and the need for freedom of speech and a free press through highly engaging, informative, and thought provoking ways. ***All figures, pictures, and quotes courtesy of the Newseum Website: http://www.newseum.org ***

GLOBE at Night is an annual March program designed to highlight the effects of global light-pollution.

As noted on the GaN website, people from all over the world record the brightness of the night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars. They submit their measurements on-line and a few weeks later, organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide. Over the last four GLOBE at Night campaigns, volunteers from over 100 nations have contributed 35,000 measurements. What a great use of the Web to engage a group of citizen-scientists in a project!

You can participate by clicking over to the GLOBE at Night website to download free materials and instructions. This year's program runs from March 3rd through the 16th.

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So how tough is the MT-50 multitouch table?  Just last week, we tried to find out. We conducted a few tests to see how the glass surface of the table in particular would hold up to some serious abuse.  First, we dropped a 12-pound bowling ball onto the table from a height of 2 feet, then we hit the table hard with a 4-pound hammer. Not only did the tempered glass surface survive, it showed no marks from these impacts.

As you can see, we had a lot of fun with this, but durability is a serious concern for tables that are deployed in public spaces. The MT-50 is not only the fastest table out there (with 60 points of simultaneous input), but now we can also safely say it is the toughest. Don’t try to drop a bowling ball on a Microsoft Surface!

This video is the second in a series exploring the MT-50 multitouch table.  You might want to check out A Look Inside the New and Improved MT-50 Multitouch Table too.

We really appreciate the comments about this exhibit. Multitouch and multiuser technology is finally at a stage where it is possible to put together interesting exhibits that have tactile qualities and encourage social interaction. This is major step forward as up to now, most computer-based exhibits are lack the physical qualities found here and they are isolating experience. As for the photographs, Chad Person did a great job shooting the terrestrial images for the exhibit. We worked with ASC to find common and iconic images to include in the exhibit. We've posted many of them on our Flickr stream. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ideum/sets/72157622938524341/

It's so great to see video tours of museums start to make their way on YouTube.

What an interesting idea to post reviews of museums on YouTube. I wonder if anyone has started created tour videos for YouTube. Just another way that technology is bringing museums alive for visitors and "non-visitors."

As an employee of the Smithsonian who visits its DC museums fairly regularly, this is also one of my favorite pieces.

Beautifully written, Paul. . .

When we have visitors to our studio, we always like to show off the inside our MT-50 multitouch table. We’re very proud of the care and workmanship that goes into each custom-built table and we pride ourselves on using the best quality components we can find. We’ve decided to extend our inside tour to the web. Below, is our one-minute video tour of the MT-50.

The MT-50 multitouch table continues to evolve and improve. In a recent test, we broke 60 points of simultaneous input, making it a true multiuser platform (six sets of hands!). Our powerful computer, screen resolution and size, and number of touch points all top Microsoft Surface. (Compare our specs to theirs and see for yourself.) Plus, you can develop multitouch software using Adobe Flash with our GestureWorks framework without Silverlight.

And don’t forget to check out our other videos and subscribe to multitouch exhibits on YouTube.

Did you ever have the need/desire to cut some gear shapes out of basic materials like wood or phenolic using basic tools like a band saw?

If so, you owe it to yourself to check out the Web-based Gear Template Generator created by Matthias Wandel.  Using simple fill-in boxes to set the parameters, you can generate paper templates to cut many types of standard gear arrangements, as well as planetary gears, and rack and pinion setups.

If you are really into such things it is also worth checking out Wandel's "Woodworking for Engineers" website.

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LOVE the Xray iPhone photo... what a decidely clever yet simple way to immediately connect to modern society. Grabbed my attention to click and read your case study! Coming from a sales perspective, has anyone asked to buy the x-ray pic as a poster? It's awesome!