i-Wall: A Low-Cost Interactive Wall for Enhancing Visitor Experience and Promoting Industrial Heritage in Museums

Abstract

Interactive walls have been employed in many museums with the aim to enhance the visitor experience. These are usually large in size and expensive, while their typical use is to present generic content about the museum. As a result, they may not be easily set-up at multiple locations inside a museum and serve the purpose of presenting narratives about particular exhibits. This paper presents i-Wall, an affordable interactive wall system built from off-the-shelf components and technologies. i-Wall has been designed for the Syros Industrial Museum (Greece) and presents a narrative about a particular exhibit, the Enfield E8000, which is the first electric car that reached small-scale production (in 1973). i-Wall provides information to visitors about the concept, the design, the problems, the creators and the socio-political context related to the exhibit, in an interactive way. It also allows visitors to appreciate the interior of the car as well as its functions via augmented reality (AR) technology. The design of i-Wall combines interactive storytelling, animations, projection mapping, conductive paint, touchboard and AR.