HP Creates New Media Gallery at Newseum

Hewlett Packard’s New Media Gallery opens Friday at the Newseum, an interactive exhibit that shows the power of new media in the news gathering process.

Vice President of HP’s Innovation Program Office Carlos Montalvo and Newseum Senior Vice President of Broadcasting Paul Sparrow joined FedScoop Radio for an interview explaining the various aspects of the gallery, which will be the first permanent addition to the museum since it opened four years ago.

“New media is integral to the way people experience the news,” Montalvo said. “It’s important that people have a central location where they can learn and understand all the ways new media is being used best and how it evolves over time.”

Montalvo said the gallery will be a living and breathing exhibit and will be updated as the landscape of new media changes. He said that the display has already needed to be upgraded once before it was available to the public because of advancements in new media.

The exhibit uses a number of touch screens and interactive presentations to give users an immersive experience. A camera takes a picture of the visitor, if permitted, and immediately it’s visible on a screen. An 11-foot-wide storyboard has 25 stories that illustrate the leading news of the past few months. The visitor touches the screen to learn more about news stories like the Tiger Woods scandal or the emergence of Google.

There is also an interactive game using motion-sensing technology for people to answer questions on new media.

HP became a Newseum Founding Partner in 2010, and the New Media Gallery was made possible with support from the Hewlett-Packard Company. The exhibit features several technologies from HP, including HP Slate 500 tablet computers, HP VantagePoint touch walls and an HP Photon Engine solution.

Also on Friday, the Newseum will launch newmedia.newseum.org, where visitors can download their gallery photos and custom-made news pages, participate in daily polls and comment on news events as they happen.