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SeaWorld Orlando Partners with Scholastic to Bring Antarctica into Classrooms

Joe Kleiman
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SeaWorld Orlando Partners with Scholastic to Bring Antarctica into Classrooms

sholastic penguinOrlando, FL, USA — After four months, SeaWorld Orlando announces its collaboration with Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, to launch a new digital hub featuring science and math activities for students in grades K-5 all about penguins and Antarctica. The site also features a live “Penguin Cam,” bringing penguins right into classrooms nationwide.

The Antarctica site provides teachers and parents with free materials to use at home or in the classroom. Parents can access family worksheets including penguin games, Antarctica-themed activities for the kitchen – as well as an “everything you need to know about penguins” guide. Educators can also access custom lesson plans featuring educational activities and games about penguins to be used in classrooms kindergarten through fifth-grade classrooms.

“Scholastic is excited to work with SeaWorld Orlando to bring classroom lessons to life,” said Ann Amstutz-Hayes, SVP Scholastic National Partnerships. “Teachers will enjoy using the free materials to teach students about penguins and the frozen continent.”

In addition to the teaching guides and informational worksheets, there are innovative features on the site including a live Penguin Cam.

The exclusive Family Voyage sweepstakes provides a chance for a family of four to win a getaway to Orlando to experience the all-new attraction opening this spring, Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin®. The sweepstakes runs through April 30, 2013.

Families can access the Scholastic and SeaWorld Orlando site by visiting scholastic.com/antarctica/family/.
Teachers can visit scholastic.com/antarctica/teachers/.

Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin® combines a state-of-the-art family adventure ride and closer-than-ever encounters with hundreds of penguins – kings, gentoos, Adelies and rockhoppers – to create Orlando’s must-see 2013 new attraction. Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin® is the biggest expansion in SeaWorld’s nearly 50-year history. It’s an all-family experience that could only come from SeaWorld and can only be found at SeaWorld Orlando®.

Renovated Crayola Experience Chooses Gateway Ticketing Systems

Joe Kleiman
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Renovated Crayola Experience Chooses Gateway Ticketing Systems

534832_10150798733005025_2020852845_nEaston, PA, USA — As part of The Crayola™ Experience’s major renovation project, Gateway Ticketing Systems is playing an integral role in the overhaul of the attraction’s ticketing and access control operations. The Crayola Experience’s operational transformation began this month with Point of Sale admissions and a new eGalaxy™ Consumer Web Store, which enables Crayola Experience visitors to avoid ticket lines by purchasing tickets online and printing them at home before their trip.

With Gateway’s flagship product, Galaxy™, The Crayola Experience, will be implementing a fully integrated solution that spans a wide breadth of needs including single-day tickets and annual memberships as well as resource management for planning hosted events like birthday parties and banquets. Gateway is working hand-in-hand with Crayola during its redesign efforts to ensure that the new ticketing and access control measures create the best guest experience possible. Gateway Implementation Services Project Manager, Chase Mory, has been working alongside The Crayola Experience team: “I’m excited about the opportunities available to The Crayola Experience as they undergo a facility redesign and investment into a fully integrated Web, retail, and admissions point of sale system. Both their facility and business operations will get a fresh new look.”

The Crayola Experience involved multiple departments in reaching a decision to go with Gateway Ticketing Systems, including their Operations, Finance, Group Sales and Management Resources departments. Shawn Kramer, Manager of Revenue and Attractions at The Crayola Experience, points to the breadth of Gateway’s solutions as a key factor in choosing Galaxy: “As we began our search for upgrades to our existing software solutions, we found that Gateway Ticketing System’s ability to handle our ticketing, retail and food & beverage all under one system would be just what we needed to take our facility to the next level. The opportunity to have one solution meet all of our needs is paramount to Crayola Experience’s future success.”

The Crayola Experience’s redesign is all-inclusive and beginning February 19, The Crayola Experience will close its doors for the next phase of its major renovation and expansion. The multi-million dollar renovation project will expand the facility on Centre Square to more than 60,000 square feet and will include many new and unique experiences where children can imagine and create without limits. When completed, Crayola Experience will house almost 50% more attractions and even more excitement for our young guests and those young at heart. With 18 major activities, guests will have 3 floors of one-of-a-kind experiences that bring the magic of colors, chemistry and technology to life.

www.gatewayticketing.com

Shedd Aquarium Most Attended Aquarium in the States

Joe Kleiman
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Shedd Aquarium Most Attended Aquarium in the States

226809_10150186305692843_809166_nChicago, IL, USA — Nearly 2.17 million visitors discovered the wonders of the water world at Shedd Aquarium in 2012, earning Shedd the highest spot in attendance among all aquariums in the United States. The World’s Aquarium welcomed exactly 2,169,333 guests, which also helped the iconic Chicago institution hold its ranking as most-attended cultural attraction for the sixth year in a row.

“The entire Shedd Aquarium organization is grateful to our supporters who made us the top-attended aquarium in the country last year, which in turn, allows Shedd to provide world-class care for our 32,500 animals, educate the millions of guests who enter our doors and contribute to conservation research globally,” said Ted A. Beattie, president and CEO. “Each one of our members, guests, donors, partners and other friends of the aquarium enable us to share our passion for animals and inspire the next generation of environmental stewards.”

Last year, more than 29 percent – or 634,238 guests – entered the aquarium’s Original Galleries with free admission. In an effort to be one of Chicago’s most accessible cultural institutions, Shedd offers 52 Illinois Resident Discount Days throughout the year, daily discounts for Chicago residents, students and senior citizens as well as free admission for teachers, police and fire personnel, and active-duty military.

Shedd subsidized nearly $1.45 million for school children throughout Illinois, helping 52,961 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students learn through free field trips and both on-site and off-site educational classes. In addition, 114,370 schoolchildren throughout Illinois visited Shedd with free admission. For economically disadvantaged Chicago Public Schools, Shedd’s bus fund program sponsored by Target provided 289 buses last year.

“Swiping a finger across a screen can lead to endless information in the classroom, but zoos and aquariums like Shedd provide hands-on learning experiences and meaningful connections with the animals in their care to create moments for guests that cannot be replicated,” said Jim Maddy, president and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) – the national accreditation organization establishing excellence in the community. “Accredited institutions across the country contribute to world-class public education, local economies, entertainment that inspires, field conservation, and supportive research to ensure survival for many of our planet’s threatened and endangered species.”

Shedd celebrated incredible growth throughout the institution in 2012. The aquarium grew its global footprint, expanding its conservation research portfolio from Guyana to the Great Lakes, responded to rescue and rehabilitation needs across the nation, and celebrated the birth of Shedd’s first Pacific white-sided dolphin calf and sixth beluga whale calf, among other highlighted achievements.

“Shedd is a smart institution with a rich history in the City of Chicago. The aquarium will continue to further its mission through innovation and excellence, evolving to enhance every visitor’s experience,” said Tyrone C. Fahner, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Shedd. “I’m so proud to work alongside this organization’s strong leadership and committed staff, and congratulate them on another year of remarkable achievements.”

Home to more than 1,500 species making it the most diverse collection in the world, Shedd directly engages guests through animals, education programs and conservation initiatives. In its 83rd year, Shedd continued popular programs, extending the chance for guests to experience enchanting sea jellies in the Jellies exhibit, and opportunities to get funky with the fishes at the after-hours Jazzin’ at the Shedd summer concert series.

Shedd Aquarium is proud to be one of the 11 museums that comprise Museums In the Park (MIP), a coalition of Chicago museums located on Chicago Park District property. Visitors to Shedd Aquarium accounted for one-third of the coalition’s overall attendance in 2012.

2012 By the Numbers: 

 2.17 million annual visitors
 $112.7 million in local economic impact
 923 volunteers
 634,238 guests with free admission
 114,370 Illinois school children admitted free
 52,961 Chicago Public School students admitted free
 150 classrooms in WreathCycled Challenge
 52 Illinois Resident Discount Days
 16 of the last 22 years as Chicago’s most-attended cultural attraction

Alcorn McBride TourTraXX Technology Being Integrated Into Oceaneering’s RevOlution Trackless Vehicles

Joe Kleiman
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Alcorn McBride TourTraXX Technology Being Integrated Into Oceaneering’s RevOlution Trackless Vehicles

ANT-OIIOrlando, FL, USA — Oceaneering International Inc., Entertainment Systems Division in Orlando is launching their RevOlution™ trackless ride vehicle featuring one of Alcorn McBride’s newest products, TourTraXX, a compact multi-channel audio player with high-quality MP3 playback and built-in GPS functionality.

“It’s a Tru-Trackless™ ride vehicle capable of motion in any direction at any time,” says Bill Bunting, manager of business development at Oceaneering.  “The system has a three-axis motion base, can follow multiple ride paths, and transports eight people.”

A division of the global oilfield provider, Oceaneering is building Alcorn McBride’s TourTraXX into the trackless ride to distribute audio to the vehicle.  “We wanted to provide an onboard audio experience that will match the ride,” says project coordinator Matt Kent.  “We picked TourTraXX to give us the most flexibility, and it offers creative capabilities for 5.1 sound.”

TourTraXX plays up to 16 audio tracks in a small rugged form factor.  It stores clips in MP3 format on CompactFlash for a reliable and maintenance-free solution to playback needs on the go.  It’s lightweight (4 lbs) and sized to fit almost anywhere; with no moving parts it’s a great choice for high-vibration environments.

Kent gives kudos to the ability of TourTraXX to deploy audio recorded on flash drives.  “It’s very easy to change out, very easy to record – there are no moving parts.  Easy maintainability is the hallmark of Oceaneering products, so keeping our system as maintenance-free as possible is a key consideration for us.”

Oceaneering plans to sell its trackless ride vehicle to theme parks around the world.  Its first application will be at SeaWorld’s newest attraction, “Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin,” which opens late spring.

TourTraXX is uniquely designed for a wide variety of mobile applications.  With it’s built-in GPS functions it can also play audio files from latitude and longitude triggered points making it ideal for pre-recorded bus and boat tours, trolley’s, trams and a host of other mobile appliations.  Spot-logging capabilities add a revenue generating opportunity, logging and time stamping advertising spots along the routes.  All audio files are stored on CompactFlash cards for ultra-high reliability.  TourTraXX fits into Alcorn McBride’s line of mobile audio and video players.

www.alcorn.com

 

Lexington’s Richard Bencivengo and Five Others Join SEGD Board

Joe Kleiman
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Lexington’s Richard Bencivengo and Five Others Join SEGD Board

segd_logo (1)Washington, DC, USA — SEGD, the Society for Environmental Graphic Design, has announced the appointment of six new members to its international Board of Directors, including its first board member from Australia.

 

 

New board members include:
• Richard Bencivengo, Lexington Design + Fabrication (Pacoima, Calif.)
• Cynthia Hall, Studio SC (Seattle)
• J. Graham Hanson, Graham Hanson Design (New York)
• Alan Jacobson, ex;it (Philadelphia)
• Bryan Meszaros, OpenEye (South Amboy, N.J.)
• Stephen Minning, BrandCulture Communications (Sydney)

The 26-member board represents all facets of the multidisciplinary world of environmental graphic design, from traditional wayfinding to digital experiences, on the professional side as well as the industry side, says Clive Roux, CEO of SEGD.

“We’re fortunate to be able to attract energetic and engaged professionals internationally who are actively engaged in raising the standards of practice for design at the intersection of people and the built environment,” he adds.

Amy Lukas, Partner in Infinite Scale (Salt Lake City) and President of the SEGD Board, notes that Stephen Minning is the board’s first member from Australia. “There is an incredible amount of awardwinning environmental graphic design work coming out of Australia and New Zealand. We have active chapters there, and we’re thrilled to build our representation Down Under. We’re looking forward to Steve’s perspective and contributions.”

The terms of four veteran SEGD board members ended in 2012: Gary Anzalone, Precision Signs (New York); Teresa Cox, APCO Graphics (Atlanta); Sue Gould, Lebowitz | Gould | Design (New York); and Cybelle Jones, Gallagher & Associates (Silver Spring, Md.).

The 2013 Board also includes a returning Board member, Alan Jacobson, who served from 2000 to 2007, including a stint as Board treasurer. “We’re honored that Alan has agreed to serve again as a Board member,” notes Lukas. “He brings a wealth of strategic expertise to the board, as well as continuity through his knowledge of SEGD’s history and past initiatives.”

Lukas also acknowledged the leadership of new CEO Clive Roux. “He brings great new energy to SEGD.  As a forward-thinking designer himself, he has a keen sensibility to the desires of our long-time members as well as those of the new generation of designers. SEGD will also benefit from his knowledge of emerging technologies in the design industries.”

A complete listing of SEGD’s 2013 Board of Directors can be found on the SEGD website,
http://www.segd.org/#/about-us/5092/5093.html.

About SEGD
Founded in 1973, SEGD is the leading global organization dedicated to communication design in the built environment. Through educational programs, research, and publications, SEGD’s mission is to provide learning opportunities and resources for professionals involved in creating environmental graphics, promote the importance of the discipline in establishing place, and continue to refine standards of practice for the field.

About the New SEGD Board Members

Richard Bencivengo
Lexington Design + Fabrication
Richard has been President and CEO of Lexington Design + Fabrication for 10 years. Under his leadership, the company has broadened its rich from theme parks and museums to include high-definition television environments, casino gaming architectural elements, lighting and theming, and high-end retail. Lexington’s client list includes many of the world’s most recognizable brands, including The Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal, Coca Cola, Oakley, ESPN, and NBC.

Richard’s experience ranges from producing and directing television and radio programs and movies for both cable and broadcast outlets in the U.S. and abroad to leading corporate teams in marketing and sales. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and a graduate of Rutgers University. He resides in Santa Monica with his wife, who is a successful artist, and their two sons.

Cynthia Hall
Studio SC
Cynthia is Chair of SEGD’s Seattle/Pacific NW Chapter and the Chapter Chair Liaison to the Board of Directors. A Senior Designer at Studio SC in Seattle, she has more than 18 years experience in environmental graphic design, branding, identity, and print design. She has worked for various design firms, and for several years owned her own graphic design business.

A native of Philadelphia, Cynthia moved to Seattle in 2008 and lent her three-dimensional sensibility to the design team at Girvin. In 2011, she moved to Studio SC. A skilled project manager, Cynthia has led many large-scale EGD projects from conception through completion for clients such as Ameristar Casinos, Chozu Japanese Baths, the City of Salem, Intel, International House, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Oqyana World
First, Salem Keizer Public Schools, Pearl Acapulco, Triad Development, Seattle Children’s Hospital, the City of Tacoma, University of Washington, and Microsoft.

J. Graham Hanson
Graham Hanson Design
Graham studied at Iowa State University and the Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute in Florence, Italy. Prior to founding Graham Hanson Design in 1997, he was with Vignelli Associates, where he designed the identity and wayfinding system for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and projects for Philip Johnson at The Museum of Modern Art and Trump International Hotel in New York.

Graham’s work has been widely recognized in design competitions and publications. His recent projects include large-scale rebranding efforts for the Kuwait National Museum and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH. He has longstanding relationships with several well known corporate clients, including Google, American Express, Dun & Bradstreet, and Vornado Realty Trust. Among current ongoing projects for cultural organizations is a large-scale environmental design initiative for Carnegie Hall. He has been an Adjunct Associate Professor and thesis advisor in the Graduate Design Communications program at Pratt Institute since 1995.

Alan Jacobson
ex;it
Alan is President of ex;it, a design strategy firm focused on experience design, strategic planning, brand strategy, wayfinding, and interpretive design. He is also Co-Founder and Principal of branding, identity, and publication design firm BAJ Design. He has led recent projects for clients such as George Washington University, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Kaiser Permanente, USA250, Virtua Health, University of Maryland, SAP, Jefferson University Hospital, Novartis, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy.

In addition to his design leadership, Alan has modeled a sincere commitment to integrating career, community, and service. Since 2006, Alan has been working with genocide victims in a Rwandan village and, working with the ex;it Foundation and students at Drexel University, he initiated the Rwanda Sunflower Oil Co-operative in Rugerero survivors village. Most recently, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the co-operative start up. He is also Chair of the board for the Village of Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia.

Stephen Minning
BrandCulture Communications
Founder and Managing Director of BrandCulture Communications, Stephen is a branding and wayfinding specialist with more than 20 years’ international experience working with blue chip companies and public-sector organizations. He discovered his passion for design while working at BBDO advertising agency in Dubai. He worked as an art director for leading advertising agencies in London and the USA, creating campaigns for iconic global brands such as FedEx, Pepsi, Cadbury’s, and General Motors.

Relocating to Sydney, Stephen worked for several leading creative agencies, where he learned about, and grew to love, the Australian design industry and culture. In 2003 he founded BrandCulture, and has since collaborated on internationally recognized projects with leading architects, property developers, and interior designers, such as Geyer, Brookfield Multiplex, Built, Woodhead, HBO+EMTB, and Woods Bagot. BrandCulture’s work has been recognized by design awards and publications globally, including SEGD’s Global Design Awards.

Bryan Meszaros
OpenEye
With a passion for design and an attraction to technology, Bryan’s interpretation of both has propelled him to the forefront of an emerging industry. In 2000, while working as the Director of New Media Initiatives for MarketSource, Bryan helped lead the development of Campus Central, the first university-based, digital out-of-home network in the U.S.

In 2002, at the age of 23, Bryan formed the digital media consultancy OpenEye. From the start, OpenEye experienced global success and was awarded one of the first-ever DIGI Awards for their work with Regency Duty Free (The Nuance Group) in New Zealand. OpenEye has continued its success, working with clients including FITCH, Intel, Apple, Banco Santander, McDonald’s New Zealand, and Vodafone. In 2008, OpenEye was
instrumental in developing a digital wayfinding application for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. The project was awarded a 2008 DIGI Award and a 2009 MUSE Award from the American Association of Museums.

Giving museums license

Martin Palicki
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Giving museums license

Undertaking an effective licensing strategy for museums and science centers

by Wendy Heimann-Nunes, Esq.

Once upon a time, undertaking an effective licensing strategy from a museum/science center (MSC) perspective primarily meant licensing intellectual property (IP) from others at the lowest cost and with the least risk possible.  Now, MSCs are clearing houses of their own IP (MSC-IP) and have the growing opportunity (and responsibility) to take advantage of MSC-IP by licensing it to others to increase their bottom line and enhance their brand.  The following is a cursory overview of some important considerations when undertaking a MSC-IP licensing strategy.

The first step a MSC must take in establishing an effective licensing strategy is to identify aggressively all of its potentially licensable assets.  Virtually anything protectable by IP laws is potentially licensable, so it is incumbent upon a MSC to be creative.  An effective strategy in this regard often is to appoint an individual or group of individuals with a deep awareness of the MSC-IP to lead the identification process (e.g. a creative director, exhibit director, etc., as opposed to administrative staff or counsel).  The more intimate an understanding of the property one has, the more likely an individual will be to identify the property as a potential asset.

AdElumenatiSome assets are thought of already as typically licensable and, accordingly, are more obvious:

• Photographic images of artifacts and artworks in MSC collections

• Audio recordings and publications

• Audiovisual works

• Multimedia productions

• Publications and educational material

• Databases of information about collections

• MSC name and identifying logo(s) or graphics

• Artist or creator name or signature

• MSC building (particularly if highly recognizable)

• Title of exhibition or program

• Packaging or color of MSC-based objects (often sold in gift shops)

• Works of art (where work is inherently tied to MSC in ways that patrons are reminded of institution or artwork)

For a MSC to achieve its financial objectives fully, however, it is important to identify potentially licensable assets that are not typically thought of as licensable.  For example:

• Specialized collections management methods

• Preservation techniques

• Business methods and practices

• Database of patrons, donors and sponsors

• Organizational management structures

Once assets are identified, a MSC must understand fully the IP status of each asset it seeks to license in order to ensure the asset’s licensability.  Does the MSC own the IP outright?   Does the MSC have the right to sublicense IP it does not own? Are there underlying rights holders?  Are their moral or attribution rights with which to deal?  A MSC must be sure to obtain from third-parties all rights that are necessary to preserve its chain of title to, and hence ability to license, its IP.  So, for example, a MSC may need to obtain copyright assignments or work-for-hire agreements (for MSC-produced content).  The more thorough an analysis as to underlying rights, the greater a MSC’s ability to pre-determine with greater accuracy the overall strategy, related costs and associated risks.  And, it goes without saying, that the more proactive a MSC is in securing rights when first obtaining or developing assets, the easier it will be to undertake a robust licensing program. A MSC should seek to obtain as wide a bundle of rights as possible when dealing with third-party rights holders.  In this way, a MSC can preserve its ability to license as many of its assets as possible.

legal-scales11

Once assets are identified, a MSC must have systems in place to manage them.  Effective inventory and file management is critical in building an effective licensing program.  In this way, a MSC can be assured that it has obtained and retains all rights necessary to fully capitalize on the value of its IP and avoid infringement claims, as well as ensure that its licensees are in compliance with all financial and quality control provisions (among others) in their license agreements.

Lastly, a licensing strategy would mean nothing without a good license agreement.  When creating a license agreement, the underlying concept a MSC always should bear in mind is control – a MSC must maintain control over its licensees.  The term of a license agreement, together with any renewals, should always accommodate the MSC’s workload and financial pressures.  Financial provisions within a license agreement should always reflect the MSC’s cost structure in undertaking a licensing initiative and must ensure that the license is financially productive to the MSC.  And, of course, securing quality control through robust approval rights, among other things, is critical to protecting the integrity of the MSC, its assets, brand, reputation and legacy.

While licensing can be very lucrative and presents a revenue enhancement opportunity that every MSC should consider, MSCs must be sure to undertake these initiatives carefully.  Aggressive identification of assets coupled with mindful planning and management are great harbingers of a successful, lucrative, brand-enhancing licensing initiative.  • • •

Wendy Heimann-Nunes, founding partner of Heimann Galen LLP, offers a unique expertise in location-based entertainment and the ever-growing intersection of entertainment and technology. Her biography may be viewed at www.heimanngalen.com.

Alton Towers Hosts the Moshi Monsters

Joe Kleiman
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Alton Towers Hosts the Moshi Monsters

3acd9998c0931dc2df3bce01cd861591969efdcaAlton, UK — Escape to the Alton Towers Resort this February Half Term 2013 and meet the Moshi Monsters, along with an amazing selection of rides and attractions that will be available. From 16th-24th February, the famous Alton Towers Resort will open its gates for the first time in 2013 for guests to enjoy a selection of family attractions, along with a range of Moshi Monsters activities.

Open between 10am-4pm with a host of rides available, visitors can also take part in a FANGtastic Moshi Quest all around the theme park to help the Monsters find an Ultra Rare Moshling in-game over at MoshiMonsters.com. From collecting magic seeds, to seeking out IGGY in a giant picture, there is lots of interactive fun to be had. Guests staying in the hotel can also complete activities such as partying in the Underground Disco, Poppet Mask Making, Badge Making and Face Painting where they earn Rox to redeem in the online game. If that’s not enough, all six Monsters will be on park every day throughout half term to meet and greet their fans! Goopendous!

There will be a range of rides and attractions open for the whole family to enjoy including Ice Age the 4D Experience, Sharkbait Reef by Sea Life, The Runaway Mine Train and Old Macdonald’s Farm.

*Attractions open are: Air, Blade, Sharkabit Reef by Sea Life, Sonic Spinball, Duel Maurauder’s Mayhem, Ice Age the 4D Experience, Frog Hopper, Driving School, Tractors, Berry Bish Bash, Singing Barn, Blade, Nemesis, Runaway Mine Train, Heave Ho, Wobble World, Hex, Doodle Doo Derby, Fury Friends, Dung Heap, Squirrel Nutty, Book Worm

www.altontowers.com

Cruden Creates Lyon Street Track for I-WAY Simulator Centre

Joe Kleiman
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Cruden Creates Lyon Street Track for I-WAY Simulator Centre

article-1164493-03DC49D4000005DC-267_634x507Amsterdam, the Netherlands — Cruden, one of the world’s leading professional motion simulation company, has created a race track around the streets of Lyon in France for simulator centre attraction, I-WAY. The 7.9 km track tours famous landmarks such as Bellecour, old Lyon and Opera, plunging guests into the Croix Rousse tunnel and crossing the Saône and Rhône rivers a number of times. Drivers of I-WAY’s six Formula 1 and six endurance simulators can reach 320 km (around 200 miles) per hour; guests who choose to drive the Citroen C2 cars can drive a special rally cross track devised around the Place Bellecour.

Lyon-based I-WAY was the world’s first professional motion simulator centre when it opened in 2008 and president and general director Pierre Nicolas puts working with simulator hard- and software supplier Cruden on fresh, annual updates, at the heart of the centre’s continued success. “We devise a very innovative new experience for our customers at least once per year. Following the success of our race track on the moon, the Lyon street track is our special attraction this year. After its first three months promotion, 80 percent of our guests want to drive it and we are attracting more interest from locals who find driving around familiar streets makes the track easier to learn. We welcomed around 70,000 guests in 2012; three and a half times as many as in our first full year of operation.”

Says Frank Kalff, commercial director of Cruden: “We create all the cars, tracks and the 3D environment for our simulators in-house so that we can be as flexible, quick and cost-effective as possible for our customers without having to rely on a third party. We can make all the changes ourselves and, importantly for the attractions market, we do not charge a license fee.

“To build a virtual race track, we take data from various sources such as LIDAR/laser scans, CAD data or create the content ourselves from scratch. Then come the hours of making it look exactly right to a professional level of accuracy and image generation. It can take between a week and three to four months depending on how much content is already available. We build race tracks including ovals, courses for rally or rally cross cars as well as roads. Anything really!”

www.cruden.com

Museum Directions

Guest Contributor
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Museum Directions

Interactivity in exhibit trends / directions

by Wayne LaBar

As we start the new year, there is always the question of where might we see the field moving in the future. Interactive exhibits or interactive experiences are certainly robust and mature, so now, in the museum field, there is a constant search for different mediums, approaches and processes. The past year, both here in North America and internationally, reveals the following trends on some of the new directions for interactivity.

AdElectrosonic2As you review these trends, a key point to keep in mind is that one of the primary factors driving the role of interactivity is the economy. The scarcity of funding, the decrease in attendance in some markets, the increasing costs of what is seen as the necessary modes of interactivity (exhibits, mobile and others) needed in an exhibition, and costs for traveling exhibitions are all part of the puzzle that drive interactivity trends. If you are interested in how the economy may be changing the exhibition world, both in interactivity but also in all areas of exhibition, I urge you to subscribe and pick up a copy of the Exhibitionist, the official journal of National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME). You can do so at the following link (aam-us.org/resources/publications/exhibitionist).

 Trends/Directions

Tinkering – Making

Certainly one of the largest movements occurring in children’s museums and science centers is the creation of Tinkering or Making spaces. This is a movement that originates from the work done by Make magazine and their affiliated “Maker Faires.” (www.makerfaire.com) As museums witnessed the creativity and the direct interaction that the public has with STEM (science, technology engineering and math) content, an essential need for museums to attract audience and funding, Tinkering/Maker spaces are popping up in many places. A Tinkering space is a place where visitors are allowed to build, create and tinker with low-end technology, use real tools and explore the concept of making something. These are usually staffed spaces although some are trying to explore minimizing staff engagement. Often, special events, fairs and other programs are being held in connection with these spaces. A key aspect of this is that these spaces do not require extensive design and development schedules and costs. They are a marriage of exhibit and program, where the activity is more important than the environment. The Exploratorium with their Tinkering Studio (blogs.exploratorium.edu/tinkering/) , New York Hall of Science who hosts the NYC Maker Faire and issued a report (www.nysci.org/learn/research/maker_faire_workshop) , and the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum MAKESHOP (pittsburghkids.org/exhibits/makeshop) are some of the leaders in this endeavor.

Collaborative Exhibits & Events

In the constant search for innovative (yet budget-conscious) exhibits and interactivity, museums are increasingly looking to create ways in which people can interact by engaging with artists, groups and community organizations. Exhibitions based on this approach tend to have interactivity that may be more experimental or short-term, perhaps built around a weekend event or happening. A benefit of this type of low-impact interactivity is the opportunity to try things that are different and not necessarily built to the fabrication and durability standards that would define more traditional exhibits. Additionally, by reflecting engagement with community groups and other organizations, the exhibit becomes more social, and the social networks of these organizations, both physical and electronic, become engaged with the exhibits and potentially become part of the exhibitions themselves. One place exploring this direction is the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. Check out their event at (www.santacruzmah.org/events/) and read Nina Simon’s article in the latest NAME Exhibitionist issue.

One recent MAKESHOP event (right) encouraged kids to make a city out of found and recycled objects. Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Children’s Museum
One recent MAKESHOP event encouraged kids to make a city out of found and recycled objects. Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Children’s Museum

New Interfaces

Certainly, an area that piques everyone’s interest in the interactivity field is devising new ways for people to engage with digital content or digital displays through more physical interfaces. We have seen a move away from the idea of keyboard-and-mouse to touchscreen to touch tables and now Kinect or Kinect-like interfaces. This outlines an evolution of the interface becoming more and more physical, more fully-body engaging and with more seamless physical/virtual experience. Over the past year, we have seen interest in new and innovative ways to engage people physically but also marrying that with digital content. Examples include the “Firewall” by Aaron Sherwood created in collaboration with Michael Allison, “Water Light Graffiti” done under the Digitalarti Artlab by the artist Antonin Fourneau, or the work done by  ART+COM. In part, this is driven by the need for museums to provide experiences that cannot be duplicated at home. The interface advances also reflect the evolution of museum experiences moving into the home. These marriages of art, computer, physical world and content create interactivity and experiences that can’t be duplicated on your Xbox.

Mobile Individuality

The world of mobile computing has been transformed over the past five years with the increasing size of and sophistication of smart phones, the acceptance of tablets, and the growing ubiquity of internet access through cellular plans or freely available wifi. Museums were quick to adopt these technologies as part of the visitor experience, and now they have become almost a necessary part of interactivity strategy for an exhibition or institution. Despite this, the field still struggles with what is the best way to use these technologies and how to integrate them into the exhibition form. For some collections-based exhibitions, they may be the principle interactivity, while a device at an interactive exhibition might actually be an obstacle to visitor experience. As our field continues to explore how to best apply new technologies, some of the more exciting experiments relate to how these devices might personalize everyone’s experience. For example, work is ongoing on enhancing personal instruction as part of school trips, accessing data through NFC technology, and integrating augmented reality into an experience. This personalization will certainly be another ongoing trend in interactivity over the coming year and beyond. Check out work being done at the Minnesota Historical Society in their Education Department with their new exhibition Then Now Wow (minnesotahistorycenter.org/exhibits/then-now-wow) with school groups talked about , The Australian Museum and the work lead by Lynda Kelly (australianmuseum.net.au/staff/lynda-kelly) and the Science Museum of London and their augmented reality with James May (www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/jamesmay)

At the Then Now Wow exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society, the Grainland play area lets visitors trace the journey of soy and corn by climbing into a grain elevator and sliding through the chutes. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society
At the Then Now Wow exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society, the Grainland play area lets visitors trace the journey of soy and corn by climbing into a grain elevator and sliding through the chutes. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

These trends are just a sampling. There are, of course, other trends in interactivity. Feel free to share your observations with me at [email protected]. The one constant we can count on is change, and, as we look back a year from now, no doubt we’ll be discussing innovations we couldn’t have imagined today.

• • •

Wayne LaBar, with twenty five years of science center experience, is the founder and principal of Alchemy Studio, an experience and institutional development, design and consulting services studio located in Maplewood, NJ. Alchemy Studio works with museums, science centers, boards, civic leaders, governments, NGO’s, filmmakers and others involved in the informal learning field. He is the Vice President on the Board of the National Association for Museum Exhibition. Wayne obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a graduate of the Getty’s Museum Leadership Institute.

Issue #46 Editor’s Comments

Martin Palicki
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Issue #46 Editor’s Comments

46

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Normally, I take some time to talk about the world of museums in my column for this issue. As this issue is distributed at the American Alliance of Museums show in Baltimore, and for the first time ever at the IMERSA Summit in Denver, our primary focus is on the expanding and changing world of museums. And with our special feature story on Global Immersion and their acquisition by Electrosonic, in this issue we take a close look at the technology side of museums.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t take a few sentences to talk about our own technology here at InPark Magazine. We recently launched our brand new website at inparkmagazine.com. Previously, our article archive, editor’s blog, news feed and digital issues were all housed in separate sites and different areas. Now, we’ve brought them all together in one convenient location.

With one click you can find all the recent features and news related to waterparks, theme parks, technology, and even museums. Or you can view our latest issue, peruse special feature stories on a variety of topics (formerly the Editor’s Blog), or visit the ever-expanding archives to check out a back issue.

We are still tweaking things and working on improvements, but things are off to a running start with plenty of content tailored to exactly what you are looking for.

Finally, I have to thank our News Editor Joe Kleiman and my Co-Editor Judith Rubin for their efforts at continually updating the website and making it the best it can be. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out the NEW inparkmagazine.com

See you at IMERSA and AAM!

-Martin Palicki

[email protected]

 

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