Michael Borthwick: DIY exhibit  building with open source hardware
Channel: NDF - National Digital Forum
Date: 17/10/2015

Day 1 of NDF 2015, 1.30pm Tuesday 13 October 2015

Cultural institutions share a commitment to preserving heritage in open formats and have long understood the value of open source software. By sharing not only the software source code but the hardware design files, the developers of wildly successful open source hardware projects such as the Raspberry Pi and Arduino facilitate creative remixing by a vibrant global community. The Arduino physical computing platform can be used in interactive exhibits that take sensor input and control audiovisual systems and mechatronic devices.

The Linux-based Raspberry Pi can act as a low cost, low power, reliable video player offering on-the-fly switching between Te Reo and English closed captions to provide a more accessible and inclusive visitor experience. This presentation will include case studies of the use of these platforms in Australian cultural organisations.

Michael's career in museum media began in 1995. He is passionate about accessibility, and experienced in video compression, editing and engineering in cultural contexts. He has utilised his programming and electronic engineering nous to leverage open source hardware to create successful exhibits for clients including: the State Library of Victoria, the RAAF Museum and the Arts Centre Melbourne. @MikeBorthwick