Exhibit Multimedia Blog by point2explore

Key consideration #6: Offer a variety of choices

Continuing our series:  Ten Key Considerations for Exhibit Multimedia Success.

Ever since I was a kid, I heard that “Variety is the spice of life.”  And ever since, the variety of everyday things, like TV channels, has grown exponentially, and with the advent of cable TV and the web, variety is expected, especially on a screen.  The last thing you want, after spending big money on a computer or video system, is for the user to be disappointed with the content.  So to address that, we discuss variety in your exhibit multimedia.

No matter what type of facility you operate, you have a variety of visitors.  Age, sex, race, etc. differentiate your visitors and although you can’t provide something for everyone, you can tailor different offerings to different broad groups.  Be sure to consider the “group” you most desire to cater to, but also be prepared to offer a choice in order to entice a larger portion of the general public.

Custom programming is very expensive, so multiple custom programs may be out of your budget.  However, discuss with your software developer the cost to create a second (or third) version of your custom program with data that is geared toward a different target group.  This should be much less expensive than creating a completely new program.  Another option is to offer a game for children and offer some informational programming for adults.  Something as simple as an events calendar will get a lot of use by adults.  Informational programming can be as simple as a PowerPoint slide show or a simple link to your web site. 

Our point2explore software products are designed to be very affordable and customizable.  So by using software like ours, you can more easily afford multiple programs or even multiple versions of the same programs.  We also offer a very inexpensive PowerPoint template designed for use on a touch screen kiosk.  This is an easy way to customize as many different informational programs as you like (and do it as often as you like). 

A very important factor in offering a variety on your kiosk is the use of a main menu.  You will need a main menu program that will give access to each of the programs available.  These main menu programs are very simple to create but there are a few things to keep in mind.

·        A main menu should be set up to start up automatically when the computer is turned on.

·        The individual programs should be programmed to “time out” after a pre-determined amount of inactive time and should then return to the main menu.

·        Screen savers are great, but make sure that the timer on the screen saver is set to a longer period of time than the timer to time out a program.

·        Main menu programs can be made fun and attract users with the use of bold graphics, animation, and sounds.

·        Make sure that none of your programs, including the main menu, have an exit button.

With these things in mind, consider the variety that you can offer to your visitors and how that variety will increase the usage of your kiosk programs.

If you have any recommendations or additions, please comment by clicking the “Comments” link below.  We’d love to hear from you!!

Chris Meyer

President

CD Meyer, Inc./point2explore

point2explore is product line of customizable touch screen kiosk programs including interactive games and informational programs.  point2explore products are currently running in over 50 museums and have been used in corporate events across the country. Visit our web site at www.point2explore.com.

Key consideration #5: Kiosk Security

Anyone with a computer is barraged with scare tactics regarding the security of your computer data.  The most threatening security issues are viruses and hacker attacks.  All of your computer systems in your exhibits (and anywhere in your facility) should be secured with adequate firewall (hardware preferred) and virus protection.  Keep your virus software up to date and you should have no problems. 

But what about kiosks??  Most kiosks do not download email and may not even be “connected” to the internet.  Do you need to consider security on these types of systems.  YES!!

If your kiosk IS connected to the internet, make sure that you are secured with a hardware firewall (the one that is connected to your modem or router is fine, you don’t need one for each machine) and current virus protection software.  If either of these suggestions is ignored, you run the risk of a problem.

If your kiosk is NOT connected to the internet, you still need to consider the security.  As a matter of fact, the following security considerations should be applied to ALL kiosks (connected or not).

First, realize that your kiosk is for use by the general public and the general public includes people that like to “explore” computer systems.  Kids and adults with computer knowledge sometimes view a kiosk as a challenge to see if they can “hack” it.  There are also other people who don’t intend to cause damage, but may if the system doesn’t protect itself.  The best protection against this is to make sure that all kiosk programs contain no exit button.  That includes the little X in the upper right hand corner.  There should be no way for a user to close the kiosk program and see the desktop or more importantly, the start button.  This is the most important “law” of kiosk security.  If there is a way for someone to exit, they will.

That covers the on-screen exit buttons, but you may not know that in Windows you can exit the program you are in by hitting the ALT and the F4 keyboard keys together.  So if you are using only a touch screen (which we always prefer), this is not an issue, but if you need a keyboard because you are collecting data or allowing keyboard input it is imperative that you disable or secure the ALT, CTRL, Function and the Windows (or Command) keys.  This is where purchasing a kiosk keyboard becomes worth the expense.

If you stopped reading here you would be covered for most security issues, but read on, there’s more.

Another vulnerability is in the start up of your machine.  The above protects you while the machine is up and running, but what if the user unplugs and re-plugs the machine.  The machine will run through its start up routine and possibly land on a “choose user” screen or on the desktop.  If that’s the case, you could have problems.  You should set up Windows (or other OS) so that there are not user accounts to choose from.  You also should set up the machine so that the kiosk software program starts up automatically when the machine starts up.  This will add another layer of security.

There are all sorts of additional things you can do, but these items should give you a high comfort level in securing your kiosk systems.  Beware, software peddlers are preying on the security fears of the unknowledgeable.  Most people who have security software, probably have “over bought” due to the fear tactics of the software companies. 

As always, if you are using a vendor for your kiosk project, choose one with kiosk experience so that these security issues will be covered with their expertise.

If you have any recommendations or additions, please comment by clicking the “Comments” link below.  We’d love to hear from you!!

Chris Meyer

President

CD Meyer, Inc./point2explore

point2explore is product line of customizable touch screen kiosk programs including interactive games and informational programs.  point2explore products are currently running in over 50 museums and have been used in corporate events across the country. Visit our web site at www.point2explore.com.