In article <[log in to unmask]>,
[log in to unmask] (Paul Orselli / Lisa Costello) wrote:

>Does anyone have leads on interactive Bar Code components that get at the
>idea of how bar code readers actually work?  (As opposed to something that
>bleeps and blinks after you pass fake grocery items over a scanner)
>

We did an exhibit on barcode readers at the Ontario Science Centre
(Toronto) for the Hall of Tech' . It was a while back, 1988 or so. They
may still have it on the floor - don't know. We focussed on the historical
development of various barcodes and their individual features (like
bidirectional reading etc.) and the technolgy of the wand itself. We had
big blowups of each type of the then popular barcode systems. The visitor
could wand them and see what was coded into them on a single line
alphanumeric display. I think we created a task to make it more
interesting. Something like choosing from table of barcode labels and
making up random sentances. We had a wand on display that was taken apart
for people to view inside. Our worst problem was wear and tear on the wand
cable.

If I was to do it again I'd focus on how these things read so damn fast
and from all different angles and at different speeds even on dirty
supermarket counters. Any ways, to more directly answer your question, you
could take a barcode reader with serial transmision and put the output to
some sort of display for people to read.

Matthew Bates
Mystus Interactus  >>Interactive Exhibit Components & Development<<
276 Ossington Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6J 3A3
voice/fax: 416.537-7294
email: [log in to unmask]

--
Matthew Bates
Mystus Interactus
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