[BCMA] Tablet Stations

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Hi Joelle,

We installed a display in the Cannery last August that uses a tablet to access our virtual museum website and then mirror it to a large TV so that the tablet can act as the "control" in place of a mouse and keyboard, and people can see the content of the site on the larger TV screen. We purchased a Samsung Galaxy Tab A from Best Buy on a recommendation for our IT company (it was about $200) - though I'm sure any tablet with decent reviews would work.

To set the tablet up so that visitors are only able to access the website that we want them to see (aka put it in kiosk mode), we purchased an app called Fully Kiosk Browser - https://www.fully-kiosk.com/ . It was about $10 to purchase a single license for the full version, and I think it wasn't too much more to purchase multiple licenses. It has a lot of features and menus, but at the same time did not end up being too difficult to set up. There are a lot of other similar apps out there, so you don't necessarily need to use this one - just look for one that will allow you to lock your tablet on your designated websites. It also allows you to put the display in full-screen mode, set a screens saver (helps preserve power when no one is using it), auto reset to the website home page after a certain amount of time has passed so that the next visitor can start from the beginning, etc.

We looked at various tablet stands on Amazon (they seemed to have the largest selection/ best prices) that would have allowed us to lock it in place so that no one can walk away with it but none of the ones in our budget range really fit the aesthetics of our display. Fortunately, we are lucky enough to have a skilled wood working volunteer who ended up making us a beautiful wood stand that keeps the tablet secure (it's screwed into a frame, and the stand is screwed down to the floor), while also allowing us to charge it in place overnight (we plug it in at the end of every day using an extension cord that is hidden behind a wall in the exhibit).

We did have a few issues we had with the display to begin with, but they were mostly issues related to the lack of strength of the wifi signal in that area of the Cannery building, which caused problems in casting the tablet screen to the TV on start up in the mornings. After a couple weeks though, everyone got used to turning it on and it's been running well since.

If you have any more questions about this, please feel free to get in touch with me directly.

Thanks,
-Heidi



[cid:9fe0d205-dd06-4365-8b16-582129176600]

<http://gulfofgeorgiacannery.org>


________________________________
From: bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca <bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca> on behalf of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <bcma at lists.vifa.ca>
Sent: January 26, 2021 4:27 PM
To: bcma at lists.vifa.ca <bcma at lists.vifa.ca>
Subject: Re: [BCMA] Tablet Stations

Hi Joelle,

If you check out Displays2Go, they have a bunch of tablet options that are reasonable in cost.

Cheers,
Maureen

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 3:28 PM Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <bcma at lists.vifa.ca<mailto:bcma at lists.vifa.ca>> wrote:
We are looking to install a few tablet stations around the museum.
They would be connected to our website for visitors to access audio/video content and/or our online collections database.

We're wondering if anyone has any recommended set-ups, tablet types, or lessons learned from trying similar things. Note, our budget per station is around $1200.

Thanks,

--
Joelle Hodgins
Museum Director
Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre
PO Box 26 - 1100 Hwy 3B
Rossland, BC V0G 1Y0
250-362-7722 (888-448-7444)
www.rosslandmuseum.ca<http://www.rosslandmuseum.ca>

We are open year-round!
Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am-5pm
Find more details on our website<http://www.rosslandmuseum.ca>.
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