Article

KioskCom Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards: The best public access kiosk application

Students and education were common themes for the winners in the best public access kiosk application category.

June 20, 2004

Editor's note: On Tues., April 27, the KioskCom Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards 2004 were handed out at a reception and ceremony at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nev. The KioskCom Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards were established in 2002 to honor, recognize and promote the best interactive self-service kiosk implementations over the past year. The 2004 awards honored kiosk excellence in 11 different categories. This is the third of 11 profiles covering the winners and runners-up in each category.

Those darn kids

Casino night at KioskCom 2004 was a time for fun, charity and networking with leading players in the self-service industry.  But mingling amongst all the seasoned kiosk industry veterans where a couple of young students from Boyne City, Mich.

What were they doing there? These brilliant young men came to accept the award for the best public access kiosk application.

"It was a very prestigious thing and it was very much an honor to win something like that and to get credit from those in the high end of the industry," said Randy Calcaterra, digital media designer for Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District/Boyne City Public Schools. "It's opening a lot of doors for us and certainly very exciting."

Students and faculty at BCHS can use the award-winning kiosk to keep up-to-date with what's happening at the school.

The Boyne City High School's kiosk is a modern information center developed by students in the school's visual imaging program. The kiosk, which provides information about the school and school district, sits in the lobby of BCHS.

The content is displayed on four 27" wall-mounted monitors that are housed in an elegant enclosure. Along with official school communications, the kiosk allows users to access school play information, the Senior-send off DVD, games and other video productions by the school's digital media program, TEAM BCVI. Calcaterra, along with BCHS students Jesse Vanalstine, Shawn Shooks and Jacob Warstler, traveled to Las Vegas to attend the conference and accept the award.

Randy Calcaterra (L) and his students from Boyne City Public School District accept the award for the Best Public Access Kiosk Application.

According to Calcaterra, the students were blown away by the award. "I don't think they knew, even until we got there, and even until we were announced, they really didn't know the scope of it and how different they really were in being students and not being professionals in the industry," he said. "When they got there and saw who was there, and the fact that they were so unique, I think it really drove home that this was a bigger thing than they had expected."

To see how BCHS is helping students refine and test their design skills in a credible venue visit the Boyne City High School Interactive Kiosk site.

It's alive! It's alive!

The kiosk at University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Beadle Center for Genetics and Biomaterials Research is an information kiosk designed in the shape of an 11-foot tall DNA helix.

The Beadle Center kiosk is a "living" interactive sculpture that fuses art and information.

As the runner-up in the best public access kiosk application category, this "living" interactive sculpture fuses art and information to better communicate the work being done at the university's Beadle Center.

Nanonation developed the software and kiosk systems and provided the technical and project management for the steel kiosk structure.

Multiple mini-monitors display a variety of media loops that constantly change the look and feel of the sculpture and a 22-inch touchscreen enables users to interact with various information sources.

"The Beadle Center project was really a great opportunity for us," said Bradley K. Walker, president & CEO of Nanonation. "The chance to dive into the historical and scientific content behind George Beadle and the genetic research capabilities at the University of Nebraska was really unique and rewarding. "We're pleased to have it stand out and be recognized in a very competitive category in our industry."