Jonathan,
>>
We are looking into the possibility of using RFID technology as unique
identifiers for personalizing the experience with Gallery Interactives fo=
r
an upcoming exhibition at the Natural History Museum.
Does anyone have any experience with using RFID for this kind of thing. A=
ny
hints? Known pitfalls? Recommended suppliers of tags and readers?
>>
The "Energy in Everyday life" exhibit with the
big wheels in the Science Museum's Energy gallery
(http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/energy/site/LookAround9.asp?nowExhibit=14)
uses RfID tags to decide where the wheels are.
We used rfID readers from www.rfid.co.uk which
were pretty cheap - less than £100 each I think.
Their site has a useful guide to the different
frequencies. You buy the reader from them and
then order a certain number of tags and they code them specially for you.
One issue that did come up is how to attach the
tags to something else - you can get them in a
whole range of shapes, such as pill like
capsules, credit cards and "bath plugs". We ended
up using "bath plugs" for energy in everyday life
because they have a hole for a screw. We then
found that ferrous metal screws (ie steel) stop
them from working and you have to use brass.
In terms of "personalising the experience" the
main pitfalls that I've come across is that
people are so engrossed in seeing the experience
for the first time that they don't
notice/understand the personalizing bits. Or else
the personalising bits are so much work for the
visitor that they don't think its worth the
effort - a bit like annoying websites which force you to register.
You might want to check out the "ExSpot" project
at the exploratorium which gets round both of
these issues by making it an "opt in" system,
only people who want to see extra information on
the web site ask for the tag - and when they do
they get told how to use it. More details at
http://ubicomp.org/ubicomp2004/adjunct/demos/hsi.pdf#search=%22exSpot%20rfid%22
Best of luck with your project and do let us know how it goes.
Best wishes
Joe
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