Heather Hennigan
Contributing Writer
Many of you may have noticed the new screens on the walls of the Elaine Langone Center (ELC) lobby. What are they, exactly? For those who aren’t quite brave enough to go explore and discover the answer to this question, here it is: they’re interactive kiosks that promote the arts at the University.
There are two kiosks in the ELC lobby–one for the Samek Art Gallery, and another that functions primarily as a part of the “Arts. Everywhere.” Presidential Arts Initiative on campus.
“Two of the primary objectives of the Presidential Arts Initiative are to increase the visibility of the arts at Bucknell and to encourage increased student and campus-wide engagement with arts activities, programs, centers and departments. To that end, a major plan for the first year of the initiative was to enhance campus communication of arts activities, and our new kiosk fulfills this objective,” said University arts coordinator and professor of English Carmen Gillespie.
The Arts kiosk features “The Muse” (bucknell.edu/TheMuse), a weekly compilation of University arts events and related content, as well as an interactive “Arts. Everywhere.” map that highlights all arts centers and locations on campus. The kiosk also includes a section on the “Big Picture,” which displays interesting arts-related media that breaks through the our “Bucknell Bubble.”
Currently, the “Big Picture” feature is a slideshow of images from the Tate Gallery. There is also a “Film Shorts” section on the kiosk, which will allow students to watch videos created by University students and faculty as well as interesting shorts by contemporary artists. Students can also see movie trailers of general release films on the kiosk.
The kiosk also features “The Pulse,” a student poll in which you can vote and see percentage results of student responses. Each week the questions will change and students will have a chance to find out what other students think and feel regarding various topics.
So, go to the kiosk and answer the question on “The Pulse,” which is currently about whether you prefer “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report.” I won’t tell you the answer distribution, though–you’ll have to check it out for yourself!