Craig Johnson, Executive Director, and Victoria Prizzia, Exhibit and Interpretive Planning Director, of Interpret Green, Philadelphia, stand beside the Interactive Nature Now Table at DEEC.

Visit the sprawling new DuPont Environmental Education Center (DEEC) at the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge along the Riverwalk at Wilmington, DE, and you’ll see much more than just water, sky and wildlife. Interactive exhibits and multimedia presentations there highlight the history of the marsh and focus on three of its natural residents—the osprey, snapping turtle and raccoon.

Designing the exhibits that encourage observation, exploration and investigation of the plants and wildlife fell to an interesting, green-savvy bunch from nearby Philadelphia. Interpret Green is a team of educators, artists, media developers and exhibition professionals. The group’s website states that the challenge at DEEC was to design a visitor-centric environment that “cultivates curiosity, inspires interaction, enhances personal meaning, and encourages learning and deeper questioning.”

That’s a big job, certainly. But Interpret Green accomplished it in part by using an all-in-one Touch&Go Messenger 65L from Micro Industries in a novel way. They turned it into a tabletop display, one big enough to provide a full-color, high-definition, interactive aerial view of the marsh and surrounding areas.

I admit, nobody here at Micro had thought about flipping a 65-inch Touch&Go unit onto its back like a turtle. We figured retailers would use the displays for interactive consumer kiosks, digital signage, store maps, advertising, messaging, product information, demos and television. Our friends at Intel were just as surprised as we were by how they use the 65L at DEEC. Seeing the Messenger 65L there became an “aha” moment for one of Intel’s Roving Reporter bloggers.

“It’s really a simple concept,” he wrote. “You take a large touchscreen digital sign/computer and lay it flat on a stand. Suddenly, the world changes.”
It just goes to show that even the manufacturer doesn’t always know how a good product will be used. We’re glad Interpret Green and DEEC showed us something new. When you think about it, a 212-acre wildlife refuge with a $10.9 million, four-story, 13,500-square-foot facility and extensive trail system has a very big story to tell. Naturally, they needed a big, handsome digital display to help tell it. And since the story is continually updating, Interpret Green chose mCosm to remotely manage and monitor the computers to make sure they are always current, operational and performing up to speed.