The IPES Museum Learning Project has come along nicely since it was last written about. We are currently working on building a prototype tabletop display to explore ways to make a great interactive exhibit. We are in the process of brainstorming and building features to engage the user, with hopes of informing the user at the same time. We are using the observations collected at the Oregon Hatfield Marine Science Center as a starting point for the brainstorming, but we remain open to unique ways to interact with the tabletop. By giving users enough direction to form their own questions and explore the answer, we hope to increase user engagement and increase learning.

I am an undergraduate Computer Science student visiting the University of Florida from the University of Southern Maine. As a web developer, building a tabletop display has been an exciting experience. I have been able to translate the communication skills I learned in web development to designing a successful interface on the tabletop, while learning about the nuances of building an interactive interface.