The MULTI-ReUse Touchtable, an interactive presentation medium, presented at IFAT 2018. Copyright: Klaus D. Wolf

Interactive knowledge transfer in MULTI-ReUse

How can you transfer knowledge from a research project to different target groups in an easy way? In MULTI-ReUse, the team relies on the touchtable!

The touchtable, an interactive presentation medium, is a console with a digital interactive work surface. It conveys the research issues and the central results in a visually appealing manner and enables the content to be tailored to suit the different target groups.

The dissemination of research results is an important requirement for making new findings applicable in practice. In the research project MULTI-ReUse, a multimedia touchtable was developed for the transfer of knowledge, to demonstrate water treatment process technologies and different possibilities of water reuse. The interactive format is not only aimed at potential users of these technologies, but also at other interested parties, such as citizens and businesses. The visually appealing and user-friendly presentation of the research content invites interaction, conveys targeted information and enables a direct access to the different water treatment processes that are being researched in MULTI-ReUse.

Demonstrate water treatment and water reuse

Based on the ever-increasing demand for water resources, nine project partners, including the ISOE Institute for Social-Ecological Research, are investigating the methods and possibilities of water reuse within MULTI-ReUse. With the application of new procedures this so called ‘service water’ wouldn’t necessarily reach the quality of drinking water but it could be used by the industrial sector for example or for agricultural purposes. It therefore could contribute to the saving of drinking water and the preservation of groundwater levels. To give an example, treated urban water could be used for the irrigation of public parks and green spaces, cleaning of streets or toilet flushing, just to name a few. In addition there also is a variety of applications in industry, for example the use as cooling or transport water. In order to present the possible methods for water reuse developed in the project, the MULTI-ReUse touchtable can be flexibly used at trade fairs or congresses. Its usual location is at the museum of project partner OOWV (Oldenburg-Ostfriesischer Water Association) in Diekmannshausen in Lower Saxony, Germany. Here the touchtable is an integrated part of the permanent exhibition “water supply yesterday – today – tomorrow”.

There is a short film about the MULTI-ReUse Touchtable by the manufacturer Interactive Scape. Informations about the museum Kaskade of the OOWV can be found here.

This article was first published on the pages of the project partner ISOE: https://www.isoe.de/wissenskommunikation/aktuelles/news-single/forschungsprojekt-multi-reuse-interaktive-wissensvermittlung/

This post is also available in: German