What is New in Raven Exhibit 2.0

Raven Exhibit 2.0 at a glance

Raven Exhibit 2.0 at a glance

Raven Exhibit is an interactive sound visualization and information display portal optimized for public outreach, exhibits, training, and educational applications in science museums, zoos, aquariums, and nature centers. The software platform offers the experience of animal sound and behavior to the users in a unique format that incorporates a lesson on the properties of sound, opportunities for game play and competition, natural history information, and a variety of species-specific information.

Raven Exhibit provides visitors, students, content managers, and trainers with a variety of interactive experiences ranging from immersive to informative and entertaining based on how a hosting organization chooses to configure it. The software platform offers flexibility to fit the needs of hosting organizations. A typical installation requires a computer with monitor, speakers, microphone with preamp, Raven Exhibit software, and sound contents. The user interfaces are simple and effective, with a wide range of customization options, making this exhibit one that visitors of all ages can interact with.

Major installations of Raven Exhibit

Major installations of Raven Exhibit

Currently, there are more than 20 major installations of Raven Exhibits around the world, including an installation at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Visitor Center. The Sound Studio, featuring Raven Exhibit software is a popular visitor destination at the Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity (home of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology). One of the most recent exhibits is at Ithaca Science center where the exhibit is installed inside a fabricated tree trunk. Reviewed and praised by exhibit evaluator Beverly Serrell of Serrell & Associates, Raven Exhibit is now available for licensing to other public centers and venues.

Raven Exhibit 2.0: Updates and Features

The visual display of the Raven Exhibit consists of three major areas – a sound visualization panel consisting of waveform and spectrogram views, an information panel with the description of the target species, and a visual display panel with images and videos of the species of interest.

[vimeo id=”235628043″ size=”large”]Raven Exhibit 2.0: An exciting new tool for education and outreach [/vimeo]

Sound Visualization Panel

The waveform and the spectrogram views in the sound visualization panel displays the properties of each sound in three different dimensions. The horizontal scale represents the time duration of the sound. The values are often expressed in seconds. The vertical scale represents frequency in the spectrogram view and relative amplitude in the weveform view. The color gradient in the spectrogram and waveform view represent relative amplitude/loudness values. In the sound display panel, the brighter colors represent higher amplitude values and the darker colors represent lower amplitude values. Users have the option of zooming in and out of the sound window, both in time and frequency scale. Users have the option of playing the whole sound or a zoomed-in segment of the sound.

Raven Exhibit 2.0: Sound Visualization Panel

Raven Exhibit 2.0: Sound Visualization Panel

Information Display Panel

This area of the exhibit displays a summary of the natural history of the species of interest. A description of the species, species scientific and common name, and a brief description of species sound is displayed in this panel. Along with the main description, two drop down icons — the information icon (owl silhouette) and the map icon — presents the natural history and range of each species. The information icon provides important details such as physical dimensions, conservation status, habitat, diet, and behavior of the species.

Information display panel in Raven Exhibit 2.0

Information display panel in Raven Exhibit 2.0

Image and Video Display Panel

Images and videos of the target species are displayed in this panel. Users can browse through a series of pictures and video clips to learn about the visual identification, plumage type, and age-sex differences in appearances of the target species from these images and videos. Additionally, the the video clip provides important information about the vocal behavior of a species associated with visual displays.

Image and video display panel in Raven Exhibit 2.0

Image and video display panel in Raven Exhibit 2.0

The new Raven Exhibit is available in four different languages – English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French. The multi-language capability will help connect a worldwide audience to fascinating world of animal sounds. The addition of video display and touch screen compatibility has elevated the platform as a science communication tool. Now, users can not only listens to the songs and calls of a species, they can also learn about species-specific vocal behavior. This capability can aid in deeper understanding and retention of bird vocalization and acoustic behavior.

If you have any additional questions about the exhibit, please contact us.

Acknowledgements: Raven Exhibit 2.0 is made possible in part by support from Ms. Lisa Yang and Ecological Associates, inc.