Los Altos History Museum
Originally opened in 2001 the Los Altos History Museum had not significantly updated its permanent exhibit in 20 years. With the help of their generous donors the museum contracted the original exhibit designers, The Sibbet Group, to reimagine the museum in light of the present day bringing in the technological advancements characterized by the surrounding Silicon Valley. The Sibbet Group reached out to its technology partners, including Syfn Labs and Electrosonic to realize their vision of a connected information deep, accessible, interconnected, and participatory experience.
The experience was broken into four main segments, three focused on the geographic regions that make up Los Altos: Hills, Valleys, and Creeks and one on the Town itself. Each of the geographic regions is represented by a video wall highlighting notable moments, a timeline kiosk allowing a deep dive into various historic moments, and a kiosk dedicated to presenting stories of notable people via video. The Town section of the exhibit consists of two kiosks, one kiosk dedicated to videos about the various aspects of Los Altos development and residents civic engagement, and the other dedicated to visually representing the history of the region geographically via the evolution of maps over time. Finally, the centerpiece of entry and exit experience, a 8 foot diameter LED ring display. On this display visitors are able to share feedback with the museum using a kiosk allowing them to select from various topics that they feel are important to them. The entirety of the experience is managed via a CMS powered by the Contentful headless CMS platform.
I was the sole technologist on this project for Syfn Labs. I developed all of the software for all of the kiosks, video walls, and LED ring. I was also the technical project manager for this project interfacing with the design group to validate UX and provide direction on content requirements. I also worked closely with Electrosonic to ensure that the hardware specifications matched our design requirements, worked closely with them to provision the various PCs running the exhibits, and helped troubleshoot various installation challenges. This was an exciting opportunity to manage the entirety of a large fully fleshed out installation and I learned a lot in the process. It is also exciting to have work that is freely available and helping to inform the general public.
