A photo tour of the ROM’s Barrick Gold Corporation Gallery
by Roger Cullman — Mar 18 '14
The ROM’s Barrick Gold Corporation Gallery now has new interactive video displays that entice people of all ages to connect in new ways using modern video wall technology.
The gallery, located in the ROM’s Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth’s Treasures (Level 2), is an interactive 600-square-foot space with multi-touch, animated displays and multi-media presentations.
Just inside the gallery you’ll find the world’s largest gold coin, a 100 kg $1M gold coin enclosed in a glass display case. While this specimen is untouchable, the interactive Game Table behind it is meant to be touched.
Comprised of three 55″ screens (each measuring 48″ x 27″) the Game Table stands about waist-high, enabling easy hands-on access to the display. Users are encouraged to drag-and-drop icons around the screen by tapping coloured circles and swiping their fingers along the backlit surface. Each gesture they make results in a measurable outcome in the mining process shown on the screens.
Users learn about the challenge of modern mining and get to manage the delicate balance between production and sustainability. In essence, they’re finding out how similar real-world decisions would impact the future of mining — while having fun interacting with this display. Think of it kind of like The Sims game in microcosm. There’s also an iOS app called ROMining that’s works much the same way on mobile devices.
Adjacent to the Game Table is a four-panel Touch Wall that features images, illustrations and text that let visitors explore the extent of our reliance upon the products of mining, encouraging them to make responsible decisions in consuming valuable resources.
“This project took over two years from conception to launch and a year to develop and implement the two interactive installations in the Gallery,” says Courtney Murfin from the ROM’s Interpretive Planning department.
“Both interactives were conceptualized in house by the ROM, and content was also developed by the ROM. We undertook two rounds of scheduled/facilitated user testing over two months, followed by three months of further development updates and testing.”
The hardware used for the screens are MultiTaction screens from MultiTouch Ltd.. Independent Toronto companies developed the systems for both the Touch Wall (Meld Media) and the Game Table (Aesthetec Studio).
The Game Table and the Touch Wall are now a permanent part of the Barrick Gold Corporation Gallery of Mining, providing the most advanced, hands-on, user-driven visitor experiences at the ROM.
