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Interactivity for All: Universal Design for Museum Exhibits and Public Information Systems
ITP Catalog No. H79.2682
Note: blue text indicates the latest postings
Syllabus |
Syllabus Link | |
Announcements |
26 Jan. 2008 |
Please prepare a brief (3 - 4 minute) web presentation describing your prior experience in areas relevant to this class. |
| 5 Feb. 2008 | Please be prepared to present your proposals for an interactive exhibit component for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum at next class on Feb. 11. For more information, click here. | |
| 15 Feb. 2008 | Class session no. 4 will be held at the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York. We will meet at the Main Information Desk at 10:00 AM. The easiest way to get there is take the 7 train, and get off at 111 Street. For a map showing the Hall of Science, click here. For people who are interested, we are going to a great lunch place in Flushing after the museum. | |
| Links | Here are some interesting online projects done by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum: ExhibitFiles.org is a website where designers discuss and critique one another's work. There are lots of interesting projects here, and it is very worthwhile spending some time browsing the various postings. The Exporatorium presents some interesting audio illusions that demonstrate principles of psychoacoustics. Ed Steinfeld's article about the Florida butterfly ballots that were at the center of the controversy that led to George W. Bush's being declared the winner of the presidential race in 2000. Class 2 Instructor Presentation: User-centered design and museum evalutation Case Study No. 1 Presentation: Lower East Side Tenement Museum Class 3 Instructor Presentation: Universal Design and Voting Class 5 Instructor Presentation: Practical Matters Information for Session 5 (March 3, 2008) Class 6 Instructor Presentation: Cell Phones for Exhibits and Kiosks Class 7 Instructor Presentation: GPS in the Exhibit Context Class 8 Instructor Presentation: Non-Standard Pointing Strategies Class 9 Instructor Presentation: Psychoacoustics and Spatial Audio Class 10 Instructor Presentation: Psychoacoustics in practice, and expanding audiences at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Class 11 Instructor Presentation: Proprioception and balance: body sense in interactive museum exhibits Class 12 Instructor Presentation: Final Project Reviews | |
| Upcoming guests | We will be joined by two staff members from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum at class on Monday, Feb. 11: Jeff Tancil is the technology manager, and Danielle Linzer is their Educational programs director. Jeff and Danielle will be describing their work at LETM, with particular emphasis on their work developing mateials for a new visitor center. They will also be reviewing and commenting about your proposals for new interactive exhibit elements. Edward Steinfeld, the Director of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Universal Design will be available to answer questions about his podcasts at the end of the session on Monday, Feb. 11. Alan Friedman, Emeritus Director of New York Hall of Science, will be our guest on Monday, March 3. He will be discussing strategies for building audiences in hands-on science museums through Universal Design. In preparation for his visit, pllease read a short article by Dr. Friedman. Denise Bressler of Liberty Science Center will be visiting the class on Monday, March 10. Denise in charge of LSC's Science Now, Science Everywhere project, that includes a very interesting use of cell phones in the exhibit context. Denise will talk about her work on that project, and will also discuss several other interesting cell phone-based projects, including one at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and another one at the Eksperimentarium on Copenhagen. Zach Eveland, who is co-teaching the Wearables Studio at ITP, will sit in on our discussions of your projects and their early conceptions. March 31, 6:00 - 7:30 PM. Josh Miele, Research Scientist at Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco will join the class via conference call to discuss basic principles of psychoacoustics. April 7, 7:00 - 8:00 PM Rebecca McGinnis, Access Coordinator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will visit the class on April 14 to discuss programs she has pioneered that aim to expand audiences by inviting people with mild dimentia and hearing loss to come to the museum for special events. Dustyn Roberts, Mechanical Engineer at Honeybee Robotics and current ITP instructor for, "" will join the class on April 28 to explain the bio mechanical processes at work in the proprioception (body position sense) and balance. |
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Assignments |
5 Feb., 2008 |
For Feb. 11: please review the three podcasts listed on the syllabus. The podcasts mostly deal with architectural implications of UD, but they also provide a good beginning point for thinking about issues that are central to our subject. |
| 11 Feb. 2008 | Please visit the Talking Kiosk at the St. George Terminal of the Staten Island Ferry, and be prepared to discuss your experience at class on 3 March. To get to the Ferry, take the 1 train to the end of the line at South Ferry. Go upstairs and board the ferry. When you arrive at Staten Island, find the Kiosk, which is next to the stairs down to the Staten Island Rapid Transit platform. Try out the kiosk, and consider how it would be, or wound not be, usable for people with diverse preferences and abilities. | |
| 10 March . 2008 | Please look at the following materials in preparation for class no. 6. These have to do with the use of cell phones in museums. Our speaker Denise Bressler's article on SCIENCE NOW, SCIENCE EVERYWHERE: Liberty Science Center’s Mobile Learning Companion Jim Fruchterman's excellent article in Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, In the palm of your hand: A vision of the future of technology for people with visual impairments. My article called, Creating Accessible Science Museums with User-Activated Audio Beacons (Ping!), in Assistive Technology, Journal of the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America. Fall, 2005, and the patent for Ping. |
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