14 Large Touch Screen
As part of the Humanhood in the Organ Mountains: Prehistory temporary exhibit, Craig was asked to develop a large (~40”) touch screen interface for the volume 15 of the SpiralOrb poetry website.
Large conventional touch screens are expensive (generally ≥ $2000). Craig evaluated various kinds of lower cost IR based touch frames that can convert a conventional LCD monitor into a touch screen Figure 14.1. However, after extensive reading and asking around Craig determined that these IR frames can be difficult to configure and are not particularly response. Therefore, Craig opted for a smaller touch screen that was < $1000.
A resurrected surplus computer was used to run the touch screen interface. Craig attached a USB WiFi card, used Firefox as the browser, whitelisted the spiralorb.net domain, and exploited the Firefox’s kiosk mode. Craig and Johnson built a container to house and conceal the computer in the exhibit gallery.
14.1 Lessons Learned
Unfortunately, several weeks after installing the touch screen interface in the gallery the power supply failed on the used computer. The box to conceal the machine makes working on the computer difficult. A small machines like an Arduino or Raspberry Pi might be a good solution for gallery exhibits. These computers are inexpensive and suitably powerful to run most interactive interfaces—and frequently used in museum contexts. However, these machines can be difficult to configure. Small laptop computers with limited specifications should be suitable for most applications. Small computers are easier to conceal than large legacy machines.
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