Multimedia Kiosks - Guides, Explorations, Interpretations.

This module involves you in the production of two multimedia kiosks that, in some way, represent a place. This task can be interpreted by you in several ways, so it is worth outlining some of the genres of kiosk that have been produced by previous students on this module, and that are produced more generally for public consumption.

A kiosk may seek to meet a range of needs. Someone interested in a place may need a straightforward map and 'you are here' orientation, a directory of shops and services, a tour guide of places of interest, an attractive presentation of views of scenic locations, insight into the relationship between past and present on a site, a creative exploration of the qualities of a place ... Such a list would be extended in different ways by different people. Some of these approaches may be combined, but some probably wouldn't fit together. Try and set yourselves clear aims for each of your projects.

Some 'ideal type' kiosks:

• An interactive map for a town or area of interest. This is the multimedia equivalent of the old-style town map with buttons and lights to help people locate places of interest. Its main point is to help people find their way around; so the map should be clear, and images should help people to recognise major landmarks. Text is likely to be simple and functional.
• An interactive directory for a shopping or commercial area. Most people will be familiar with paper directories of shops, services and businesses - they have been produced to help commerce for at least a couple of centuries. An interactive version has the same aims: to give people key information that helps them access goods and services easily. Such a guide will probably contain such items as maps, addresses, contacts, lists of goods, etc. - an important design feature is a set of clear and efficient indexes.
• An interactive version of the scenic tour guide. Most tourist locations sell 'souvenir guides' that help people find their way around the location, give them attractive pictures of the places they have seen, and give them background information.
• An interactive version of the 'past and present' photo book. Many towns are the subject of books that show old (19th or early 20th century) photographs of places alongside their modern equivalent - such books enable people to cash in on the mass of photographs taken in the past by producers of postcards, and satisfy a perennial desire for 'instant time travel'. These books usually give some historical text to help people interpret what they see.
• Interactive versions of photographic or artistic studies of locations. Painters and creative photographers often use their medium to create visual studies of the distinctive qualities of places. The new media can also be used in the same way.
• You might also be trying to construct the kind of kiosk which is specific to multimedia - a 'digital walkthough'. In this case you are trying to build a structure through which someone can navigate and get many of the impressions that they would on a real walk.

Which of these you try and produce will depend on the place you select as your subject, and on the possibilities that you see in it.