Fun in TO!

Well I think it's official for me... the funnest Mulitmedia Pioneering events happen in Toronto! This time we had a two-in-one trip. For the first part of the day we traipsed through the snow to the ROM to meet Brian Porter and take a look at some of the digital media they have introduced to their exhibits. The second half involved a memory-filled walk through U of T, ending at the lab of Steve Mann. Steve is U of T's well-known cyborg professor.

The ROM was fun. Brian is the Director of New Media. He has the job of keeping the ROM as up-to-date as possible in terms of technology and media. He was kind enough to show us some of the more interesting additions they have made. The initial segment of our tour involved the Digital Gallery. The Digital Gallery is something designed to give kids a more 'hands-on' experience with the items in their exhibits. I don't mean that they are litterally allowed to touch peices that in some cases are 10s of thousands of years old but they have created 3D digital representations of some key pieces that the kids are able to manipulate on a touch computer monitor. It allows them to get a better look at the items and even allows an element of play that may engender more of an interest in the items and their history. The gallery also included a large screen on which they showed custom in-house created movies that would tell the story of the pieces and the history that they come from. Admittedly it wasn't a particularly high-tech setup but I think it would definitely add some fun to the museum for the kids.

We were later taken through the museum to the new dinosaur exhibit. Who doesn't like dinosaurs?! It really is crazy to look at these specimens and try to imagine what it was like when there were masses of them walking (or flying) the earth! This exhibit is in the new Crystal section of the gallery. It was my first time seeing this new change to the ROM. My feelings are mixed. I like the way it looks on the inside, but on the outside I think It would seem more crystally to me if it had been made of glass. I like the overall shape of the structure (it reminded me of the fortress of solitude) but somehow the material they used really took away from the idea of crystals. But having said that I guess I can see how it would minimize interior display space if a large percentage of the walls were made of glass. So on that thought I accept the choice of material! I'm digressing a bit from the main purpose of our visit... The Dinosaur exhibit has some interactive kiosks for people to use to learn more about the specimens. Again I think the play factor is definitely a bonus - I saw alot of kids running up to the kiosks to play with them and hey, if they learn a little bit while they play that's never a bad thing! The kiosks displayed some static and video imagery related to nearby specimens. Unlike the Digital Gallery these displays were out-sourced to a mulitmedia company.

The last major segment of the tour was visiting with Zack in the ..... department. He has a pretty amazing job. He basically creates any video and audio content the ROM needs. This job is carried out solely by himself and one other person (who wasn't there unfortunately). You could really tell that he loved his job! He showed us some footage of some digital art that the museum will be displaying soon (for a limited time). The only downside was that he spends his days in a room with no windows. :(

After the ROM we went for lunch and then headed through the core of the city toward Steve Mann. I really had no idea what to expect from this character. I had certainly heard about him while I attended U of T and occassionally caught glimpses of him around the Computer Science/Engineering buildings but I had never had any interactions with him myself. It turns out he is indeed quite a character! I really enjoyed meeting him and hearing his philosophy on technology and what direction it is going in. I was quite surprised to hear him talk about going back to some more basic roots. You would think that a man who walks around every day with various do-dads and gadgets attached to his self would be all about progressing toward the complete cyber-era. But rather he seems to be now looking back to the basics. What he showed us was his newest invention, not a laser that shoots into your brain and gives you voice messages but the hydraulophone called 'Bessie'. And Bessie was awesome! Basically the hydraulophone is a musical instrument powered with water rather than air. This is something I would definitely like to have in my backyard! If only i had thousands of dollars to buy one ;) Steve took us into his back room to show us the prototype for the more esthetically pleasing hydraulophones. It was quite entertaining - some people played, some got soaked! It is quite impressive how it sounds when you get the hang of it. It has an organ type quality to it and you can play any notes you would normally play on say a piano or any other instrument. I'm looking forward to the Spring when I can go see the large installment at the Ontario Science Centre. At the moment it's running on air due to the cold temperatures. Somehow ice isn't as conducive to making music as flowing water or air! Come Spring the water should be turned back on and let the fun with the FUNtain begin! I'm not kidding - they really called it a 'FUNtain', I didn't make that up ;)

All in all it was a fun day. The Open House committe also got to go visit Cossette to check out the space as a possible venue. It is a pretty snazzy place! Looks like we've found our Open House a home!