While reading the News and Observer on Tues., Feb. 22nd, I ran across an article about the D. H. Hill Library at North Carolina State University. The article was by Jay Price and it goes into detail about a new room in the D.H. Hill Library called the "Technology Sandbox". This room is filled with the latest in large, interactive displays that use multi-touch, gesture-based computing. The centerpiece of the room is an $100,000 Perceptive Pixel display wall that is similar to the ones used by cable news networks. NCSU officials believe this to be the first Perceptive Pixel display to be in any library or university.
Library staff at NCSU have received a federal grant to develop a "technology tool box" that would be used as a platform for other libraries in the ever-expanding bid to bring libraries into the age of technology. According to David Woodbury, who oversees the Sandbox, "Libraries are places where you come to work in a group, and you need the tools to visualize the data, to share what's on your screen with your partner. They (the students) are going to be using these tools down the road in their jobs, and the idea is to get these things in to their hands now."
Along with the Perceptive Pixel display, the Sandbox's 1700 square feet include, a quad-panel display (four screens that can display images from four computers or one giant image and is used for group presentations or group computer programing), a SMART Board (a digital chalk board used for educational purposes that allows you to display your computer screen while being able to manipulate the image with your gestures such as circle or underline important data while your talking about it), a pair of Microsoft Surface Tables (tables that look like giant horizontal iPads and work like the Perceptive Pixel), and the Sandbox will include a Microsoft Kinect ( a new type of computer gaming equipment where players use gestures to control action on the screen and is expected to be an asset for the university's game developers.)
This is completely foreign to my memories of studying in the D.H. Hill Library 30 years ago. I made that comment to my husband and he replied "I never thought you went to the library." He can be such a smart *%# sometimes but I love him anyway. I'll admit that I didn't use it enough my first year at State. (I was too busy having a good time.) But that is beside the point. The Sandbox is now open for public use 7 days a week. If you would like to read the article, go to:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/22/1005614/ncsu-jumps-into-sandbox-to-touch.html#storylink=misearch
Other information can be found at http://www.ncsu.edu/ . Go to the library tab and enter Technology Sandbox in the search window.
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