Arcade-style kiosk showcases digital humanities research with a touch of nostalgia
On the first floor of Newman Library stands a brightly colored arcade-game structure made of painted wood and technology. Unlike the simple entertainment of Pac-Man or Donkey Kong of old, the purple, pink, and teal structure holds the door to an adventure in digital humanities research.
The kiosk showcases digital humanities projects created by or supported through University Libraries, Virginia Tech Publishing & Press, and campus partners. Its goal is to make humanities digital scholarship more visible, accessible, and engaging for students, faculty, and community members.
Exhibits featured on the kiosk include stories from veterans, descendants of people who were enslaved in Blacksburg, migrant workers, and others whose histories have been marginalized. New projects will be added and rotated as they develop with plans to include work created in partnership with departments and centers across campus.
Scott Fralin, University Libraries’ exhibit curator and learning environments librarian, said the idea of a kiosk had circulated for some time, but momentum picked up last summer. “When I look around and see digital kiosks, they all look about the same. There is a big touchscreen and a boring manufactured enclosure to keep it safe,” Fralin said. “The idea behind the arcade cabinet shape is that it is surprising and will draw more viewers, even if just out of curiosity.”
The design, he said, was also intended to be memorable and to signal care and creativity in how University Libraries presents digital scholarship. Fralin worked with the library’s Prototyping Studio to cut the structure, and assembled and finished it in his office. Student graphic designer Noora Kumar developed the graphics, drawing on existing promotional work for digital humanities projects.
The kiosk builds on years of digital humanities work across campus, particularly in oral history and community-engaged scholarship. Jason Higgins, digital scholarship coordinator, said the original concept grew out of efforts to share oral history projects with broader audiences and to expand digital humanities initiatives within Virginia Tech Publishing & Press. Several of the current exhibits were designed by Mariam Ismail, Virginia Tech Publishing & Press’s digital projects coordinator, in partnership with Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia. Ismail also helped shape the kiosk’s digital interface.
“Too often, oral history projects are recorded and preserved but remain inaccessible to communities and the public,” said Higgins. “Our goal has been to create short, high-quality video clips and short narratives from longer interviews to highlight their significance. With QR codes, audiences who are interested in learning more may watch the full interviews on their phones or electronic devices at their convenience.”
Higgins said the kiosk’s adaptability and accessibility set it apart. Projects are presented as short, high-quality video clips and narratives, with QR codes that enable users to access full interviews and additional materials on their devices. In tandem with the kiosk, the team will print posters with QR codes for the kiosk’s exhibits that will be distributed in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences’ history department, Solitude, and Historic Smithfield.
Ultimately, Higgins said, the kiosk reflects a broader commitment to sharing humanities scholarship in public and inclusive ways.
“We hope that the kiosk and the posters around campus can foster communities where the diverse stories of people from across time and regions can be heard, learned from, and commemorated,” said Higgins. “We believe that digital storytelling can create empathy and a more informed citizenry.”
