
E-paper is making it's way into museums - luka-birsa
https://www.visionect.com/blog/epaper-museum-label
======
TeMPOraL
Here's a link to the hardware:

[https://www.visionect.com/technology#hardware](https://www.visionect.com/technology#hardware)

Details of the controller board:

[https://docs.visionect.com/VisionectPandaDS.html](https://docs.visionect.com/VisionectPandaDS.html)

And the thing that was interesting for me the most, the screens they use:

[https://docs.visionect.com/ElectronicPaperDisplays.html](https://docs.visionect.com/ElectronicPaperDisplays.html)

Now why the screens were most interesting for me? Because "e-paper" name has
in the past been used not just for e-ink-like displays, but also for super-
low-power LCDs, which is _kind of a different thing_. Fortunately, Visionect
seems to be using "the real deal", i.e. ink-based displays.

Now the only question for me - where can I get my 24” e-ink display for my
computer?

~~~
douche
I desperately want a 10-12" e-ink ebook reader. Trying to read textbooks or
programming tomes on a standard size Kindle is too painful. Not a whole lot of
options out there though.

~~~
ekianjo
How about that ?

[https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Wireless-
Reader-3G-Global/d...](https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Wireless-
Reader-3G-Global/dp/B002GYWHSQ)

Even better maybe, the Onyx Boox Max at 13.3 inches:

[http://www.banggood.com/ONYX-BOOX-
Max-13_3-Inch-1G16G-Flexib...](http://www.banggood.com/ONYX-BOOX-
Max-13_3-Inch-1G16G-Flexible-Screen-16001200-4100-mAh-E-book-
Reader-p-1069484.html)

~~~
epaulson
Are there any good hackable e-ink tablets? I love the feel of my Nook but the
software is terrible. I want to be able to wirelessly sync content from my own
document management system without much fuss.

I periodically poke around on Alibaba looking for basic, blank e-ink readers
but haven't seen much.

~~~
detaro
Sony made some models running Android that you could root, but I think their
current offerings don't have that. For others (some Kindles, I think Nooks?)
jailbreaks were also available, so that is something worth researching.

~~~
deltawave
The nook can be rooted to run Android, I'm not sure if the newest models have
the capability: [http://www.babblingengineer.com/how-to/how-i-turned-my-
nook-...](http://www.babblingengineer.com/how-to/how-i-turned-my-nook-into-an-
e-reader-monster/)

------
tgb
I saw some touch-screen displays labeling artwork in the Gallerie
de'llAcademia in Venice that gave detailed background and history and
explained the scene being depicted. Thank god! I know nothing about art and
embarrassingly little about history and like to go to museums to learn, but
they usually suck at teaching! They just have the year the object was made and
a label, usually, plus artist if known. No context. Nothing explaining why
_this_ piece is out front and not hiding in storage. You're expected to
_already know that_.

And then when you do get audio tours or descriptions, they're often banal and
just describe the object that you can already see ("The girl on the left looks
onto the scene with a pained expression" so what?!).

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vincentkriek
Although I can see the advantage of having a digital label in a lot of cases,
I don't see the necessity in a museum environment. There is serious human
interaction necessary to change the collection to move and change the works of
art. It would be easy to change the label at that time.

What use case is there to change the label "on the fly"?

~~~
drzaiusapelord
How about showing different slides to show more text. Imagine it rotating
between 5 blocks of text. That's 5x the information you can display. I'm
usually disappointed by the tiny amounts of texts those little placards show.

~~~
jordache
I imagine if the screen refreshed frequently, that would greatly reduce the
battery life of these displays making them much more tricky to maintain

------
ThePadawan
We use similar displays for room occupation displays on our campus (made by
[https://www.roomz.io/](https://www.roomz.io/)).

For me, the most interesting thing to learn was that "battery-powered" means
that the manufacturer expects a battery to last 2-3 _years_ , as the displays
maintain no active WiFi connection, and are only woken up sporadically via RF.

~~~
luka-birsa
You can check [https://joanassistant.com](https://joanassistant.com) which is
a room booking system, based on the same technology. It integrates with
Exchange, Office 365 and Google Apps, connects via WiFi and runs for months on
single battery charge. Its fully interactive and updates instantly.

------
wudag
Yet an other example of "progress is not obviously better" : like these
commercial centers' electronic maps, one guy will be able to handle the device
at a given time, and all 5 people around will have to wait him to finish
before being able to just know the title. And I'm skeptical about the reduced
ecological impact of electricity and electronic devices as compared to paper.

~~~
csydas
Mmm, in this case, as long as the labels are just labels, I think on the whole
for the lifetime of product for net changes.

From the eink site under the bistable display, the device draws once then
really isn't drawing power. [1] They claim that theoretically as long as
nothing needs to change, it will stay that way.

So, I guess it really depends on how often museums have to change labels or
wish to update the labels. Even if it's a one and done, I do think that the
net energy savings of a horde of labels as opposed to new label printings
every time would result in net savings both financially and ecologically.
Often the labels are not just simple paper and require more resources to make,
etc.

I don't think this is necessarily saving any rainforests, per say, but I also
don't think it's draining electricity.

[1] [http://www.eink.com/technology.html](http://www.eink.com/technology.html)

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ehmuidifici
Its funny how we link 'museum' with 'outdated things'. When I first saw that
title I just thought that would be something like e-paper being obsolete.

~~~
ciroduran
Museums are certainly in need of redefining their purpose, but to call them
'outdated' is a bit of a stretch, I'm afraid. I would recommend anyone
interested in the role of museums in today's society to read Art Power
([https://www.amazon.com/Art-Power-Boris-
Groys/dp/0262072920](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Power-Boris-
Groys/dp/0262072920))

~~~
ehmuidifici
but to call them 'outdated' is a bit of a stretch

I didn't say that =)

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Pamar
Can someone please correct the _it 's_ in the title?

~~~
aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA
I thought it might be a sly reference to the "it's" found in the museum label
depicted in the article photo.

------
sigio
Various stores in the Netherlands are currently using EPaper like screens as
price-tags. Examples are Mediamarkt/Saturn and Makro/Metro. Nice way to
automatically update pricing and have up-to-date pricetags.

~~~
posterboy
I'd say this is more for posterity than anything, seeing how those thrive on
aggressive advertisement.

------
ekianjo
> seamlessly blending in with the paintings

Certainly does not like so from the pictures.

------
Zekio
Anyone seen cheap E-paper solutions, one could use at home for various things?

~~~
luka-birsa
Sure, you can use HTML&JS to create an interactive E-Paper device with the
technology that Visionect offers - check the development kits:
[https://www.visionect.com/development_kits](https://www.visionect.com/development_kits)

~~~
dagw
I doubt that $700 counts as cheap to most people

------
coldpie
"making it is way"

~~~
trav4225
For some reason, everyone on Hacker News spells it "it's"... :-/

~~~
sbuttgereit
And don't get me started on "their", "there", or "they're"... though on Hacker
News commenters knowledgeable of the correct usage of "their" and "there"
seems to be the least common.

------
cmod
A good case where design really does matter. These things stick out like sore
thumbs. Good museum labels blend. They certainly don't look like old
thermostats.

I can't imagine most museum curators would dare to put these on their walls.

And anyway — why constrain all information to a single display. If the goal is
to get more information about a painting to a view, there are more solutions
both more efficient and kinder to the patrons.

This feels like a case where a simple (dare I say it?!) QR code would have
much longer, smarter legs.

~~~
paulcole
Not every visitor can use a QR code. I can't think of a single situation where
QR code is the best answer.

------
jordache
is replacing physical labels such a significant overhead for museums? I would
think in the effort associated with updating art pieces, the new label is a
drop in the bucket.

~~~
laurent123456
Also, like all software, the digital labels are unlikely to "just work" so
maintenance will become an additional expense, which is likely to be more
expensive than just printing labels.

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the-dude
German retailer 'Mediamarkt' ( electronics ) already uses e-ink price-tags and
displays for over a year now. Seen in NL.

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analogmemory
I wonder how long till someone figures out how to make unauthorized edits. If
it's just over wifi...

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jbb555
"All report an average cost of $70-$100 per label, " Why so much to print a
traditional label?

~~~
binarymax
Usually museum labels are very high quality, mounted inside of laminate or
glass. Definitely not $100 worth, but when you factor in design and
installation labor then it might reach that in theory.

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qwertyuiop924
...and "its" seems to be making it is way out of the English Language.

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mk7
The best think about e-paper is low-power usage: it needs >>no power<< to hold
an image. Power is consumed only when changing the image...

~~~
napsy
... not to mention very good reading capability when exposed to direct
sunlight

------
56k
its.

