Pocket Museum

In collaboration with the Hunt Museum in Limerick, the Masters students in Interactive Media in CSIS at UL created their own pocket museums. The exhibition was officially opened today, as Dr. Mikael Fernström delivered a highlights lecture in the museum on the topic of Pocket Museums.

You can download a PDF of the exhibition catalogue here.

Digital Tools for Museum Professionals: Limerick, Ireland, 19-20 January 2017

Two days workshop organised by the Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick, as part of the EU meSch project.


Are you a museum professional interested in emerging technologies for cultural heritage?
Are you a museum professional keen on reimagining how heritage can be revitalised using technology?
Would you like to experiment with designing and developing interactive exhibitions?


If so, join us in Limerick on 19th and 20th January 2017! During these two days, participants will have the chance to explore design concepts and bring them to life using the kit developed over the last four years by the meSch project.

Participants will select and adapt appropriate content to create new and exciting visitor experiences. This event will provide an opportunity for participants to learn about new digital tools, explore design thinking for creating innovative visitor experiences, and network with like-minded professionals. No prior technical or design experience is required!

Venue: Interaction Design Centre, University of Limerick, Ireland
Duration: Thursday 19 January 2017, 10:30am - Friday 20 January 2017 - 5pm

Places are limited. You have to commit to participate for the whole duration of the workshop.

If you are interested in participating, please fill out the application by 20 December 2016 at the latest. Acceptance will be communicated by January 11th, 2017.





















About the meSch project
How can heritage be brought to life with digital content? The Material Encounters with digital Cultural Heritage (meSch) project (2013-2017) aims to enrich heritage artefacts by bringing objects, stories and materiality to the forefront of the experience. Its primary goal is to connect the physical experience of heritage to the digital in novel ways. The project has devised a toolkit to enable curators and other museum professionals to create new and exciting experiences enriched with digital content.

Four museums across Europe have explored meSch technology: in Amsterdam, the Allard Pierson Museum; in the Hague (Netherlands), Museon; in Rovereto (Italy), Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra; and in Limerick (Ireland), The Hunt Museum. For more information on these, follow these links:

http://mesch-project.eu/new-video-smart-object-enhanced-museum-exhibiton/
http://mesch-project.eu/apm-feint-video/
http://mesch-project.eu/voices-from-fort-pozzacchio/
http://mesch-project.eu/the-loupe-strikes-again-revealing-narratives-in-a-museum-in-ireland/

For further information on the meSch project, click here.

Frontend IOM Boot camp

Two of our Imedia students - Conor Souness & Manasi Shetye - were selected to participate in the IOM boot camp run by Frontend. Here Manasi reports.

The IOM Boot camp was a three day intensive workshop organised by the User Experience Design agency, Frontend in Dublin from 13th of June to 15th of June 2016. The selection for this workshop was based on our portfolios which were submitted online before 30th of May 2016. I was exhilarated to be short-listed amongst the 10 candidates for this bootcamp from four Universities namely University of Limerick, IT Carlow, National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and Trinity College, Dublin.

IOM Boot Camp - Day 1

The first day at the boot camp was scheduled from 10am to 9pm. It started with an introductory session and IOM presentation by John Buckley, UX designer at Frontend. He briefly described the issues faced by the migrants entering the European Countries, their routes of migration, three ideal personas, contents of the health pack, to be designed and potential treatments for the illnesses. We had a video skype call with Teresa Zakaria, Doctor of Medicine, IOM. She clarified the specifications of the health pack for the migrants and the scenarios of distributing the packs to the constantly moving migrants.

It was followed by a talk with a migrant named Kamal from Istanbul, who visited us to discuss what is the situation of the migrants in Ireland currently, and suggested how the respective government could aid these migrants towards a better future. After a short break we split into groups of twos and enlisted the overall issues of the migrants one on each post-it. The groups then assembled all the post-its on the brain storming boards and the National Creative Directors, Frank Long and Henry Poskit directed the categorisation of the issues. John concluded with putting across four projects for the teams. The projects were as follows:

1. Designing the Health Pack (Product Design)
2. Information Design (Graphic Design)
3. Distribution of the packs (Service Design)
4. Digital presence and aid (Application Design corresponding the Service Design)

 

The candidates selected their own groups and started working towards potential solutions for the assigned projects. And of the day each and every group had a discussion over their individual thought process and concepts to come up with a cohesive design system.

IOM Boot Camp - Day 2

The second day kick started implementing the potential solutions digitally. I was working with Susana, and Adrian to graphically represent the information design for the set of instructions to use the health pack. We first sketched the layouts for the possible designs and tried incorporating the contents.

We also visited a Pharmacy to observe the designs of the medical packs and observed the hierarchy of the design. For instance the title of the medicine in big bold letters and the quantity and descriptors in less prominent type sizes. We also observed the graphic styles of the info graphics on the packs.

We had a discussion with Frank from Frontend and he guided us to create a mental model of the design which can be applied across various mediums like print, posters, application design and a digital platform as well. The mental model displayed the category of the medicine, whether it was a pill, or a liquid solution or a cream and we assigned a numbering system to all the contents in the pack along with a colour code for a better visibility in the pack and easy differentiation. Followed by the Dos and Don'ts related to the medicine. Then the pictographic representation of the usage of the medicine. The Mental model concluded with the support information of the IOM website and helpline in case of query and also a bar code in case IOM wants to track the movement of the migrants anonymously. We presented our solutions for our respective projects at the end of the day and got a fair feedback in terms of iterating the design.

Mental model of the Medicine’s information

 Iconography, Colour coding, Numbering System

IOM Boot Camp - Day 3

We iterated the designs after the Day 2’s feedback session. Design is certainly an evolving process and when we look back at we started and where we reached it was a satisfactory feeling of improvement. A simple though essential mental model and its improved graphic representation gave a promising look to the health packs. We also tried designing mockups for the graphical unit in order to see how the post production would come across for the pack design. We finally presented our designs and the entire process to the entire team of Frontend. We were definitely appreciated for all the work that was put within a span of three days through out the bootcamp.

Visual representation of the Mental Model

Visual representation of the Mental Model for pills

Visual representation of the Mental Model for a Syrup

I also learned a few things through the presentations by the other teams working on the Service design, health pack design and the corresponding application design. Since we discussed and presented individual ideas and concepts on the second day of the camp, all the projects came together to form a cohesive system of design for the health packs, information and distribution to the migrants on the go. I thoroughly relished the three days spent at the bootcamp. It gave me hands on experience working with professionals a project that will eventually be implemented for a good cause.

The launch of the Alternative Perspective tours at The Hunt Museum

The Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick and The Hunt Museum are organising a public event to mark the inauguration of the “Alternative Perspectives” museum tours on Tuesday, 15 September 2015, 11am at the Hunt Museum.

The exhibition marks the launch of a self-guided tour using The Loupe, a smart artefact developed as part of the Material EncounterS with digital Cultural Heritage (meSch) EU project.

The aim of the meSch project is to design and develop a platform that will allow cultural heritage professionals to build  and modify their own interactive exhibits, and re-use existing multimedia digital content. It involves thirteen partners in six European countries and several cultural heritage institutions.

The already existing tours “History of Ireland in 10 objects” and "Architecture in the Hunt Museum" offered by the Hunt Museum to explore its eclectic collection (using a brochure or led by docent) are now offered in a new form – assisted by The Loupe.

The event,  which will take place in The Captain’s Room, will be opened by Hugh Maguire, director of the Hunt Museum. Dr Luigina Ciolfi  (Sheffield-Hallam University, UK, meSch coordinating partner) and Dr. Gabriela Avram (Interaction Design Centre, UL) will speak about the meSch project and respectively about the 2015- Year of Irish Design initiative, which funded the exhibition.

Laura Maye, the UL interaction designer behind the exhibition who has worked together with the team at The Hunt Museum (curators, docents and interns) will introduce the tour, after which the participants will be invited to experience the Loupe-assisted tour.

Steampunk'd : exhibition of student works

This exhibition is based on course work byMasters and PhD students in the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at the University of Limerick. Since 2010, in the course Contemporary Art in the Public Realm, students have worked in a dialogue with the Hunt Museum in Limerick City, using the Hunt Collection as inspiration for creating contemporary interpretations that can be juxtaposed with the original artefacts. This year’s theme is Steampunk, an art form (or cult) with its origins in literature as a subculture to genres such as fantasy and science fiction. Steampunk, in the physical form of various artefacts, often has an expectation that it relies on Victorian-style steam- or spring-powered technology. The materials used for creating the artefacts in this exhibition are mainly recycled. This year’s students had the opportunity to be coached into becoming creative makers by the eminent blacksmith and coppersmith Mark Wilson from Mountshannon, Co. Clare.

The exhibition is on display in the Bourn Vincent Gallery at the University of Limerick until the 23rd of April 2015. Admission is free.

Model and 3D print your very own museum-inspired creation!

In response to a very popular event on digital technologies and museums held at the Hunt Museum in January, the meSch team from the Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick are facilitating anotehr workshop relating to 3D printing in museums. Emerging 3D printing technologies are providing different possibilities for engaging and interacting with physical museum objects. Through a series of three workshops, participants will be provided an overview of 3D printing in museum contexts and will also build and print their very own 3D creation! No prior experience in 3D printing is necessary. This event was organised by the meSch team at the in response to a very successful event focusing on 3D Printing and Museums held at the Hunt Museum in Limerick.

Participants will also be given a tour of the Hunt Museum, which houses an internationally important personal collection featuring art and antiquities formed by John and Gertrude Hunt. The final printed creation will also be exhibited at this museum for a period of time!

These workshops have been organised by the meSch team at the Interaction Design Centre in collaboration with the Hunt Museum and will coincide with the Limerick City of Culture 2014.

Workshop dates and times:

June 5th 2:00pm - 5.30pm (Thursday)
June 19th 2:00pm - 5.30pm (Thursday)
July 10th 2:00pm - 5:30pm (Thursday)
Participants should be available on all three days.

Book now on EventBrite!


For more information on the event, contact laura.maye@ul.ie.

3D Printing in Museums event at the Hunt Museum, January 2014

Preliminary programme:
Day 1: June 5th 2014 (2:00pm – 5:30pm)
Tour of the Hunt Museum
Introduction to 3D printing and modelling

Day 2: June 19th (2:00pm – 5:30pm)
Practice digital modelling/printing

Day 3: July 10th (2:00pm – 5:30pm)
Demo of final models
Finalizing 3D Prints


     

Design@UL is progress

It's that happy time of the year when we're in the middle of assessing, marking and grading but since last year we also have a new and creative activity - Design@UL. This year, all the design-related groups and departments at UL are coming together to put up an exhibition of students' work in the former Franciscan church on Henry Street in Limerick City. The exhibition opens the 28th of May at 18:00 and runs until the 1st of June 17:00. With free admission and a city center location, we hope people from both near and far will come and enjoy the creativity.