Blog
Open Exhibits Members on a Global Map
To better visualize the location of our community members, we created a simple Google Map Mashup that shows where Open Exhibits members come from. The map demonstrates a great deal of activity in the United States and in Europe, but it also shows that Open Exhibits appeal is global.
The map is still a work in progress, but you can try it out: /openexhibits/map. It will be interesting to see how this map progresses over time, our website turns one year old middle of next month.
on Oct 21, 2011 Objects, Containers, Gestures, and Manipulations
An interesting paper exploring new metaphors for user interaction in multitouch and multiuser environments.
Objects, Containers, Gestures, and Manipulations: Universal Foundational Metaphors of Natural User Interfaces
By Ron George, Joshua Blake
Here's the abstract:
In this paper, we propose Objects, Containers, Gestures, and Manipulations (OCGM, pronounced like Occam’s Razor) as universal foundational metaphors of Natural User Interfaces. We compare OCGM to existing paradigms using SRK behavior classification and early childhood cognitive development, and justify the “universal” and “foundational” descriptors based upon cognitive linguistics and universal grammar. If adopted, OCGM would significantly improve the conceptual understanding of NUIs by developers and designers and ultimately result in better NUI applications.
A PDF of the paper is available here.
on Oct 13, 2011 Heist! Museum Visitors Take Digital Objects
Heist is an experimental project that uses Open Exhibits and GestureWorks software and is powered by Sensus server technology to enable effortless networking. Digital museum objects can be easily shared with visitor's smart phones or tablets. All this happens without visitors having to download a mobile app.
Heist uses a WiFi captive portal; as museum visitors connect to the network they are pushed an HTML 5 application. They simply add their name, pick a color and their personal avatar appears on the table.
Once connected visitors can drag digital museum objects along with their metadata to their own device. Visitors can explore these objects on their personal devices and save them for view after their visit.
The multitouch table application—a modified Collection Viewer—was built with Open Exhibits software and the new GestureWorks 3 multitouch framework for Adobe Flash. The table used in the demo is an MT55 Platform multitouch table. The images and metadata are shared through the cloud powered by Sensus server technology.
Open Exhibits and Sensus will be offering a limited trial this winter. A test-bed involving ten museums will begin in early 2012. (Sorry, it has been delayed. 2/2/2012.) If your museum is interested in participating please contact Jim Spadaccini or Charles Veasey.
High resolution images and video can be found on Flickr, Vimeo Pro and YouTube
The Heist project is a partnership between:
on Oct 11, 2011 Complete Your Profile and Win a Free Kinect
We are giving away a free Microsoft Kinect. Just let us and the rest of the community know a little bit more about you and we will enter you in a drawing for a free Kinect.
To be eligible...
If you have already completed your profile, you are already eligible.
If your profile is incomplete, just complete it and you will be eligible.
How to complete your profile...
If you're already a member, just log in and click on the (edit) link in the top right of the Open Exhibits website. Then click on your image to add a picture and fill out the rest of the fields. Presto! It is that easy and you might win a Kinect.
We've extended this until January 31st. We'll announce the winner then.
The Kinect is compatible with our free TUIO Kinect Utility and works with our Gigapixel Viewer and Panoramic Viewer modules.
By the way...This is in no way sponsored, endorsed or associated with, Microsoft. Odds of winning are based on the number of entries. The drawing will be held at random and the winner will be notified via email. Please see our Legal page for more details about Open Exhibits privacy and other legal matters. (The Kinect is paid for and provided by Ideum.)
on Oct 10, 2011 
