Enjoyed a personal tour of the new Microsoft Surface multi-touch table last weekend with Product Management Director Jeff Gattis. What is intriguing to me is that the platform was developed specifically to build on social interaction between users, who sit across from each other around a table, rather than gaze side by side at a touchscreen. (I've long believed that the most interesting interaction isn't with the technology itself, but between visitors who are using the technology as they talk about the content and build their own connections to it).
So, what can users do while they sit around the table? You can check out a few demos online: an official one, and a preview by Popular Mechanics. The videos highlight key capabilities: sensing objects that are placed on the table (via an optical code), sharing pictures across the table, and enabling transactions such as debits and emails. The table is being marketed primarily to commercial venues such as hotels and casinos (because of larger market size presumably), but there is obvious crossover with public spaces in certain museum environments.
How might it be used by museums?:
- "Objects to talk about" placed on the table, with conversation starters appearing near them
- Collaborative games using real objects
- Pub environments that have begun appearing in science museums such as the Science Museum in London
In balance, a few more things to consider:
- How long would we want visitors to sit at the tables? I can imagine a pub-like interaction (such as a hotel pub) taking 20 minutes or longer to casually sit, converse, and peruse the technology. (Most museum exhibits would prefer to design for 5 minutes to keep people moving.)
- The authoring environment is based on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), a new Vista based environment not currently in the repertoire of many exhibit programmers. Early adopters may face some growing pains.
- Cost for the hardware is in the $5k to $10K range; programming and production cost is additional
All in all, intriguing to see a technology designed specifically for social interaction in a public space...
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