We are thrilled to announce that the interactive frog screen in our Frogs Beyond the Pond exhibit was awarded Gold in the Digital Applications category of the 2009 Loerie Awards held on Saturday 26 September. The screen or ‘touch wall’ was created by Cape Town company Formula D Interactive. The screen uses an innovative way of tracking multiple hands or fingers touching the projection surface. “The Aquarium’s touch wall is the largest multi-touch screen and the first installation to deploy FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) technology” says Michael Wolf, head of Formula D Interactive. “While touch screens and large scale projections are a common feature in museums, banks and public spaces around the world, we used cutting edge technology to allow multiple users to interact with the same interactive presentation. The result is an immersive interaction space ideal for museums, science centres, class rooms, public spaces, trade shows or any other multimedia presentation” says Wolf.

The interactive touch wall is one of the elements in Frogs-Beyond the Pond which immerses visitors in the world of frogs and invites them to ‘jump in’ to find out more about these quirky yet extremely threatened creatures. The ‘touch wall’ features an interactive explorative learning game focusing on frogs in the Western Cape. With input from herpetologist Marius Burger of Groen fame and freshwater ecologist Dr Liz Day, the screen presents various frog species including the endangered Western leopard toad and the critically endangered Table Mountain ghost frog in a selection of habitats ranging from mountain streams and permanent wetlands to suburban gardens and agricultural land. Visitors are challenged to remove the threats facing frogs in order to proceed with their explorations. An audio element is also included and visitors are able to hear the various calls of the frogs presented.