John helps run a small museum, and they need a screen to show what’s on display upstairs. What are the options?
I help run a small museum in a historic building, and it’s hard for anyone with mobility issues to access an upper floor. To comply with accreditation requirements, we want some way to show what we have on display upstairs, using photos of exhibits and a short video.
On a recent visiting to a National Trust property, I saw a tablet in use for this purpose. If we do this, which device would suit our needs? Our budget is £200 to £250. If we could use the device for other tasks, such as word processing, that would be helpful. Is a Windows PC out of the question on this budget? How much more would we need to spend? John
You can use almost any type of computer for this purpose, from a small tablet to a large all-in-one PC. You can also use almost any operating system, including Android, Apple’s iOS, Windows and Linux. The best choice will depend on your programming abilities and factors such as the amount of physical space available, and whether the device is supervised at all times.
There is, in fact, a huge industry supplying products for this kind of use, and their names or blurbs often include “kiosk” or “digital signage”. Kiosk systems include cash machines, ticket sales machines, restaurant menus, surgery and hotel reception systems, library computers, and public information points (maps, directions etc). Many museums and art galleries now have large touch-screen displays that show exhibits and floor plans.
If you put a computer in a public area, people will be tempted to use it for their own needs. They might look up train times or phone numbers, but some might find it amusing to get up to no good. Public access devices are therefore put into a “kiosk mode” that stops people from doing bad things.
This usually means that kiosks only run one specific program. It can be a web browser, but often it’s custom-written software. In your case, it could be a video or slideshow.
You can use almost any type of computer for this purpose, from a small tablet to a large all-in-one PC. You can also use almost any operating system, including Android, Apple’s iOS, Windows and Linux. The best choice will depend on your programming abilities and factors such as the amount of physical space available, and whether the device is supervised at all times.
There is, in fact, a huge industry supplying products for this kind of use, and their names or blurbs often include “kiosk” or “digital signage”. Kiosk systems include cash machines, ticket sales machines, restaurant menus, surgery and hotel reception systems, library computers, and public information points (maps, directions etc). Many museums and art galleries now have large touch-screen displays that show exhibits and floor plans.
If you put a computer in a public area, people will be tempted to use it for their own needs. They might look up train times or phone numbers, but some might find it amusing to get up to no good. Public access devices are therefore put into a “kiosk mode” that stops people from doing bad things.
This usually means that kiosks only run one specific program. It can be a web browser, but often it’s custom-written software. In your case, it could be a video or slideshow.
Do some research
If you or your friends see any good kiosk systems, such as the one mentioned in the National Trust property, perhaps contact the management to ask for details. Ideally, you want to know the hardware specification, the operating system, and which kiosk software they used, if any. The major institutions probably have many different systems supplied by outside specialist companies, so smaller organisations could be most helpful here.
Also, almost every group has some informal way of communicating with people who share their interests. It might be a small magazine, a mailing list, a website, bulletin board or Facebook group, a conference or whatever. Does your museum? There are probably people out there who had the same problem and did a lot of work to solve it. You just need to find them.
Also, almost every group has some informal way of communicating with people who share their interests. It might be a small magazine, a mailing list, a website, bulletin board or Facebook group, a conference or whatever. Does your museum? There are probably people out there who had the same problem and did a lot of work to solve it. You just need to find them.
Hardware choices
In your case, the simplest and cheapest option is a digital photo frame that endlessly cycles through a set of photos. Many photo frames can also play videos. Some have motion sensors so they only turn on if someone is nearby. The Nix Advance X08E (£69.99) is one example, but there are dozens to choose from for far less than your budget.
The digital photo frame’s main drawback is also its main benefit: it doesn’t do anything else. You don’t need kiosk software to lock it down.
After that, there’s a trade-off. Android tablets and Apple iPads can do more than photo frames but not as much as PCs, so they may be less vulnerable to abuse.
If your main requirement was to do word processing, email, spreadsheets etc, then your best option would be to buy a cheap desktop PC and run a cable to a second screen. However, with a Windows 10 2-in-1, you could use the touch-screen tablet part to show photos and videos, then attach the keyboard for work. You could even do that within your budget. Shop around for an HP Pavilion x2 detachable laptop, a Lenovo Miix 3 or 310, Toshiba Satellite Click 10, Acer Switch or similar model at a discount price.
There are cheaper models – under £150 on Amazon – from smaller brands such as Linx, iRulu and Vortex. The Linx 1010B must be worth a look at £146.95.
Two warnings. First, check to see if you are getting a current model. It seems to me that detachables have lost the market to convertibles with 360-degree hinged screens. Second, all the cheapies have 32GB of storage. If you want lots of photos and a couple of videos, you may have to put them on an SD card, or copy them off when you need space for Windows 10 updates. I wrote about the associated problems of 32gb storage here.
There are also lots of 10-inch Android tablets that are more expensive than digital photo-frames but cheaper than Windows 10 convertibles. Some even come with keyboards for simple word processing, email and web browsing. This time you will need at least 16GB of storage and preferably an SD card slot as well.
Unfortunately, I don’t know much about cheap Android tablets. I only see the bigger brands such as Samsung and Asus, plus Amazon Fire variants, and I almost never use them. Nowadays, I have a 6in Android phone and a 10in Windows 10 2-in-1, so Android tablets are of no practical use.
Not surprisingly, the whole tablet market is in decline. Apple iPad sales fell by 22% in the latest quarter, and are half what they were at their peak. Ask around and someone may give your museum a tablet they no longer need.
Kiosk software
Windows has long been the most popular operating system for kiosk and signage applications. If you have Windows Pro or Window 10 Mobile, you could use its built-in Assigned Access feature to restrict Windows to running a single program. Unfortunately, it only works with Universal applications from the Windows Store. (The more flexible AppLocker is only included in the Enterprise and Education versions.)
There are, of course, plenty of third-party kiosk programs, but most of them are aimed at commercial applications. It can be hard to find one that does what you want, and even harder to find out how much it costs. However, most companies offer free trial versions, so you can explore the market without spending any money, just a lot of time.
You could look at the FrontFace Lockdown Tool (free) and Antamedia Kiosk Software for Windows (from $55/£43), and Video Kiosk for Android ($14.99). Netkiosk runs on both Windows and Android. Yooba Kiosk runs on both Windows and iOS. Perhaps readers can suggest some good alternatives.
Alternatively, you could use the free and open source Porteus Kiosk to provide access to photos and videos on your own website. Porteus is an ultra-lightweight version of Linux that boots from a CD or thumb-drive before opening Firefox or Chrome at your designated home page. The original operating system remains unchanged, underneath.
Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com
0 comments: