Vietnam: Decisions of War is a touchscreen interactive kiosk created by Cortina Productions and is part of The Vietnam Conflict exhibit on display at the LBJ Presidential Library. Visitors who interact with the kiosk are presented with a series of actual historical events, and are asked to make a decision about how to respond to each event. Through exploring the interface, visitors learn about the actual conflicting advice given to the president by his advisors, and ultimately the decisions made by the president. Tension is built during the activity through the use of a timer, pressuring the visitor to come to a decision. The tension is augmented by a phone call (triggered by the timer). Upon answering the phone, a voice provides new information to be used for making the decision. This scenario repeats itself multiple times through the activity.
Vietnam: Decisions of War was produced by a small team at Cortina Productions. Working with the producer, graphic designer, video editor, and hardware engineer, I programmed the navigation logic, developed the code to animate the clock and the triggering events for playing videos, audio and interaction with external hardware.
Technologies: Adobe Flash Builder, ActionScript 3.0, Rasberry Pi
Visitors are presented with a looping series of images of LBJ interacting with a ranges of advisors. Upon selecting the start button, the screen transitions to an urgent message.
Based on actual events, the message explains, as if in real time, what has transpired, and asks what the president should do.
Transitioning to the Situation Room, visitors search for information by reading advice from presidential advisors and documents, watching news reports, and viewing maps. A countdown clock builds pressure for a quick decision.
Here, Robert McNamara offers advice to LBJ.