In fact, my (now extinct) company did just this thing for a children's
grocery exhibit way back around 1994 for the Children's Museum of Houston in
the Ray and Lillie Cullen Investigations Gallery. We had a picture of the
food guide pyramid on screen which kids filled in with their food choices.
You can contact someone at the museum and ask them how it's working for
them, and whether they could sell you a copy of the software (no commission
here, they bought the rights.) http://www.cmhouston.org/contact/contact.htm

Another thought is to avoid barcode technology altogether, and use RFID
technology. It uses radio wave fields to uniquely identify objects and
doesn't wear off or require reprinting.

I co-wrote a paper on RFID tech last year, and have a for-museums addendum
that I wrote myself. Let me know if you'd like a copy.

Chris Noessel
graduate student
Interaction Design Institute Ivrea
http://www.interaction-ivrea.it/c.noessel/

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of William M. Greaves
Sent: Saturday, 19 October, 2002 12:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Grocery Store


One point of thought here.
Is the scanner a typical grocery store counter top scanner?
Why not have the scanner set to scan as food groups in lieu of pricing!
That way Children can learn what food groups for various meals work
together and
Are nutritious. A child could look for lets say a nutritious breakfast.
If they select the correct foods they would get a balanced meal. The
computer could tell them what they need.
William M. Greaves AIA, NCARB
Principal
Architects iN Design
http://www.architectsindesign.com
[log in to unmask]




Greeting to all:
We are designing a grocery store exhibit for our new museum and are
discussing scanning equipment at the
checkout counters.
In our discussions with staff we have some with concerns about using
actual laser scanners because of an eye
safety issue.
Some feel if children look at the scanner laser light it may cause eye
damage.
I have been to a couple of museums that use scanners in the Grocery
Store exhibits.
How have other museums addressed this issue?

Thanks,

Eddie Lott
Director of Education and Exhibits
The Children's Museum of South Carolina
843-946-9469
[log in to unmask]

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