The Periscope Created by: Danielle wilde Ted Phelps Eric Harris

Overview

The periscope is a display device that allows the user to navigate an image through panning and rotating about a central post, as one would do with a real" periscope on a submarine. Hot spots on the image can activate movies when the centre point on the display, identified by a "cross hair", is placed over them.

An RFID antenna is used to allow "tangibles" or "tokens" to play animations on the display.

Usage Scenario

The periscope is a stand-alone device designed to allow children access to information that would not necessarily be available to them within the context of a single field trip. Basically an information/navigation device, the periscope contains a Director movie showing a panorama of the woodland and a number of thumbnail images representing links to QuickTime movies. By navigating through the panorama and finding and choosing the links, users are able to view the lifecycles of woodlice; to see up close some of the tiny creatures who feed from the leaves and leaf-litter; to see the way the wood changes its character over a season, or a period of fifty years. They can also see time-delay footage of various stages of the bluebells' lifecycle, and some of the interdependencies that are an inherent part of the woodland's character. Additional information, in the form of Flash animations, can be accessed by adding or removing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagged objects within range of the RFID tag reader aerial which is among the objects protruding from the Periscope's stem.

Applications supported by the device
Virtual window
Image navigator

System Architecture

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