On Sun, 9 Jul 1995, Maria Economou wrote:

> Following up the subject of touchscreens for museum displays:
>
> We are seeking advice for touchscreens for Macintosh computers for
> temporary exhibitions. The Deparment of Antiquities
> of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford is planning a two-month exhibition which
> will include an interpretation and public information program designed
> with Apple's HyperCard.
>
> We would appreciate any advice or suggestion on the technical side of the
> interactive diplay.

I've used touch screens by MicroTouch and by Carrol Touch in the past.
The Carrol Touch screens used an IR LED matrix in a bezel mounted over
the screen.  This had the advantage of being easy to install, and
temporary, but offered coarse resolution and was succeptable to dead flys.

The MicroTouch screens used an Inductive/Capacitive overlay, either
factory or user installed.  They are currently in use on the majority of
our interactive exhibits, and seem to be quite bulletproof.  The oldest
has been in daily use for close to 4 years, and has never shown any signs
of trouble.

No matter what you end up with, remember to make your buttons and hot
spots big enough for a finger.  Even though the screens offer bogusly
high resolution, the finger is a pretty coarse pointing device.

-j

Jesse Anderson
Sr. Design Engineer
New England Science Center
222 Harrington Way
Worcester, MA 01604
(508)791-9211