U-Garden: An interactive control system for multimodal presentation in museum

In this rapid development of advanced computer technology era, the trend for interaction with the input devices has shifted toward the incorporation of intelligent technology gradually. To facilitate the intuitive paradigm for human to use digital equipment, the traditional input devices such as keyboards and mice are augmented or even replaced by various novel mechanisms. The provision of the intuitive functions by using a variety of end devices such as camera, RFID, WiiMote enhances the interaction and playfulness of information presentation. This paper presents a set of tools to help developers create interactive presentations with machine intelligence. The design rationale of the set of tools called the “U-Garden” was described. We also illustrate how the U-Garden could be adopted to synchronize the hardware devices and media content to build an intelligent interaction. To test the performance of the U-Garden, the tools were applied to interactive presenting applications to demonstrate the content presenting power for digital archives. Finally, experiments with user experience on our proposed content presenting system were conducted and discussed. The results reveal positive responses that users are able to appreciate this intelligent presenting of the content of digital archives through our tools.