Starscape

At Give Kids the World, each child is given the opportunity to personalize a small golden star that will be placed on the ceiling with tens of thousands of other stars, each one representing another child who visited. The Star Program has become an important part of the experience for the children and their familes – the child puts the star in an Enchanted Chest, the Star Fairy (a past ETC project) takes the star, and in the morning their star is up and they have become permanently connected to the facility. Behind the scenes, volunteers work each night to collect and catalogue the stars and then place them up on the ceiling. Having run out of room after years of stars, they are building the Star Tower, an addition to the Castle of Miracles, which allow them to continue the program for the next 20 years. For this project, the Starscape team is developing an interactive experience that allows children and their families to find their star in the tower. Because of the height of the tower, it will be impossible to get close to individual stars, so the team is pairing motion controlled cameras to locate and zoom in on the stars with a touch tablet to create a meaningful story. The entire experience will incorporate live video feed, lighting and audio effects in the tower, as well as developing a unique interface using the tablet. In addition to creating a meaningful story for the children and their families, the Starscape team is developing a system of cataloguing and documenting the location of each star, as well as an approachable interface for volunteers to work with when hanging the stars.