Shadow Men & SeaDragon – a mixed bag post
Shadow Men
We have a big HVAC renovation going on in our library. One of our signage pieces includes a shadow man holding construction info located on each floor. They were constructed out of corkboard which is extremely difficult to cut. Trust me! We're planning to add yellow construction hats after Thanksgiving to spice it up.
Ok, so the point is that these shadow men are attached to shelves near the elevators and are extremely effective because they always kind of surprise me when the doors open. Your mind tricks you into believing that someone is really standing there. I've actually seen people stop and read the information, so it works. (Thanks to Dottie Hunt for the vision on this project.)
SeaDragon
A few weeks ago I caught a presentation by Microsoft fellow Gary Flake . He has a book out titled The Computational Beauty of Nature , you should add it to your collection. He gave a talk about web searching from the perspectives of the end-user, the corporation, and the scientist. More info . However, what I really enjoyed was the first 15 minutes when he showcased some software called SeaDragon . That link provides basic info, however you can see the potential of the software by installing Photosynth . Video Demo here .
One of the examples they've created is an artist's workshop. You can look around, zoom in and out, and get a 360 panoramic view. However what's really cool is that you can click on a painting and it opens in full view with the option to zoom in and out. This could work in a library too where you have a shelf of books and the ability to click on one and then view the text in column format. It's perfect for the iPhone world of pinch and pull browsing.
Here is video that puts it all into perspective.
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