From Arduino to Exhibit?

Remember back in kindergarten, when your day largely consisted of playing at different centers?  I was a big fan of the block and sand centers, where I could build things and get my hands a little bit dirty.  While grad school seems far removed from my kindergarten days, it seems as though I am returning to my roots.

This semester, I am taking an Interactive Exhibit Design Class that is really like one big kindergarten learning center - just increase the complexity by 100 000 000.  In learning how to make interactive historical exhibits, we get to explore and experiment with different technologies, computer languages, and codes. So far this has mostly involved playing with something called an arduino.

What is an arduino you ask?

Basically, it is a little electronic chip that we can (or will learn to) manipulate to do really cool things.  Or if you want the technical version, it is "an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software." (For a more in depth explanation check out this blog.)

So you are probably wondering what kind of cool things this little chip of wonder can do.  So far, my partner Sushima and I have only been able to make it perform a few small functions. 

Hooking the arduino up to an LED light is the most basic function you can perform, but we have also learned to control this light with a switch and a pontentiometer (like a dimmer switch).  The highlight of the class last week was using the arduino to play a little jingle through an attached speaker.  We were so excited about this accomplishment that we spent the remainder of the class trying to make the arduino play different songs - specifically the Super Mario theme song.

An electronic chip that can turn on lights and and play jingles may seem quite unrelated to the historical discipline. I will readily admit that I don't know all of the arduinos capabilities, but I do know that it is extremely versatile.  I'll tell you how I imagine an arduino will be able to help me design an exhibit.

First of all, my exhibit will consist of a suitcase - probably from the early 1900s.  Perhaps it will look something like this:

When you open the suitcase, you will see an assortment of different items belonging to an immigrant, perhaps a letter, a musical instrument, some clothes, a few books and maybe some children's toys.  These items help to tell the story of the immigrant's journey to Canada, but are probably not too interesting just to look at.  This is where the arduino comes in.

Imagine that you open the suitcase and it literally tells you its story.  Press a button and hear the letter being read aloud.  Press another button and the musical instrument plays a song.  Turn a switch and the toys begin to move around.  You get the idea?  These are the sorts of things that an arduino can help accomplish in an interactive exhibit. 

While these are just some preliminary ideas that require further development, I am looking forward to manipulating the arduino to see if any of this can be accomplished.  If not, it is good to know that we have been given permission to make mistakes and fail in the most spectacular way possible. 

Thanks to Heather Rivet and Adriana Ayers for their great ideas about how to make the suitcase idea more interesting!