Exhibit: Five Computer-based and Mechanical Interactives
Venue: Hockey Heritage North
Location: Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada
Date: Winter 2005/6
Client: BaAM Productions, Toronto
Contributors: Mystus (mechanical development, electronics, software development, installation), BaAM Productions (project management)

Visitor Experience:
Our work for the museum comprised of touch activated audio playback, a realistic and automated skate sharpening demonstration, a video capture station simulating a live interview, and two computer kiosks for up to date content delivery. Of particular interest was the "Interview The Stars" exhibit. The visitor is invited to sit in the broadcasters chair. With staff prompting they read the questions from cards. Their readings are recorded and automatically mixed in with the previously recorded player responses. At the end they, and the gathered audience, view back the entire sequence of questions and responses. The full interview is available to be burned on a Dvd and taken home as a souvenir of their visit.

Client's Requirements:
Mystus provided all the active components for the interactives. We integrated these components with the physical housings and coordinated the installation and fine tuning on site.

Mystus Expertise:
The software requirement for these exhibits was quite complex. We drew upon our previous experience in video capture (Guelph Museum) and web connection (HBC Gallery, Montreal). The mechanical skate sharpening exhibit required our 'no surprises' prototyping method.

Unique Features:
One of the exhibits included capturing video of the visitor and integrating it into a video feature available to take home on a dvd.

Project Challenges:
Kirkland Lake is a remote town. The exhibits were developed with particular attention to maintainability in a remote location. A discovered issue was the extreme static discharge problem in the dry indoor air of the northern winter. This problem was solved using a combination of grounding, anti static carpet spray and anti static mats.