2004 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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University of Limerick
Luigina Ciolfi, Kieran Ferris & Liam Bannon
Designing novel interactive spaces through ubiquitous technologies
'Ubiquitous Computing' technologies allow designers to seamlessly embed sensors and computer processors into elements of our surroundings, such as furniture, objects, floors, walls and so on. Researchers at the Interaction Design Centre, University of Limerick, are applying ubiquitous technologies, focusing on the design and development of interactive environments, where users can interact with a computer system through their physical movements within the space, or through the manipulation of everyday objects.

'Re-Tracing the Past' was an interactive museum exhibition developed thanks to these technologies by IDC researchers, in collaboration with a team of European partners within the EU SHAPE Project. The exhibition was held at the Hunt Museum in June 2003 and its goal was to implement novel, 'invisible' technologies to support the exhibits without interfering with the Museum's existing fittings.


Visitors exploring the interactives at the 'Re-Tracing the Past' Exhibition in the Hunt Museum Limerick

The visitors experienced being, in a sense, museum curators for a period, and their task was attempting to clarify mysterious objects from the Hunt collection. The technology was seamlessly embedded in the furniture and instruments around a study room environment, and the visitors were able to discover information about the objects by simply interacting with these familiar objects, without having to use a computer keyboard or a mouse

The exhibition was a fully interactive environment: exploring the space and its elements allowed visitors to discover the secrets of some of the mysterious objects in the Hunt collection�.but also gave them a chance to contribute to the exhibition: visitors could, in fact, record their opinions on the objects and leave a trace of their visit.

The exhibition was extremely successful, featuring nearly a thousand visitors over ten days, and provided IDC researchers with useful insights for future work: within a recently funded Science Foundation Ireland project, Shared Worlds, novel interactive installations in public spaces will be developed over the next four years at a number of locations around Ireland.


Contact: Luigina Ciolfi, Interaction Design Centre, Computer Science Building, Room CS2034, University of Limerick;
Tel: [+353] 061 213530; Fax: [+353] 061 202734; E-mail: [email protected]