Kiosks at Disney and the American Museum of Natural History

Miller's Electronic Kiosks (Ch. 24) was very interesting. From the kiosks used at the Disney amusement parks to kiosks used at cultural exhibits, he's shown that Kiosks are indeed very versatile. "From a technological point of view, kiosks are fully capable of supporting rich, interactive narratives." (Miller, p. 395) However, he did point out that "the process of developing content for the kiosk is somewhat different from developing content for other platforms.

The kiosks at the Disney parks are interactive on a small scale. The headers (marquees) on the large kiosks at the park are designed to look like the pins that guests wear into the park, but there are five different patterns. The pins light up as the guests near a kiosk, and "if the wearer did well in the game, it would go crazy." (Hyde, p. 398) There are so many Disney characters walking around and depicted in the kiosks that my children enjoyed there too, especially the Disney parades! They bring out the child in us all!

There are kiosk games at Disney, and there were four Mickey kiosks on which Mickey's nose flashed at the same time as the kiosk's header. The screen of the game begins when a guest presses Mickey's nose or spun his ear. "The guest has to answer multiple-choice questions about the theme park they're visiting."

The kiosk at an exhibit in the Museum of Natural History was extremely interesting! It was in the exhibit about weather and showed where storms were expected and explained the devastation they can cause. Here's a website about the exhibits at the museum for anyone interested in visiting it.
http://www.amnh.org/news/2010/11/reviewers-buzzing-about-brain-the-inside-story/

It's even easy to research your destination from home on your computer, with your phone, or at the New York City Information Center. Here's a video which also shows some interactive kiosks being used. Kiosks have been popping up in lots of places since Miller wrote Digital Storytelling A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainment in 2008.
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/brain/

Miller, C. H. (2008) Digital Storytelling A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainment. Elsevier, Inc. Print.

American Museum of Natural History. (2010) Brain Exhibit. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/brain/