touch it...

again on the topic of displaying internet art...
i had been thinking about this topic a bit lately. and ther eare ways of putting computers into intallations or presented at galleries that will work. but you still have to maintain each computer. I thought that a projector or large screen with a mouse for the user to interact with would be a good idea. (then later today i saw a picture of that technique being used). then i thought that instead of using the mouse to interact with the medium you could use a touch screen instead. bringing the senory impact of touching the surface and altering the project. this then leads me to the idea of other more involved interface devices for interacting with internet art, and then makes me think that we are getting into the realm of gaming devices. there is a device that i saw being made by a third party for the next generation gaming consoles that is meant not only to allow the user more free form movement (the thing is essentially a ball on some mechanical arms, where the user moves the ball around) but the ball also gives feedback. so a person pulling an arrow back to shoot it, they can feel the tension. this sort of device could give viewers of internet art the tactile feelings that they may be missing compared to traditional art.
speaking of gaming and interactive art and touch screens, this reminds me of a game that i saw that is for the nintendo DS, electroplankton. it is a "game" in the looses sense, being that there is no end or winning, but there is also no losing. the player uses the touch screen to interact with little cartoon microbes and screen material to alter the music that is playing. they can create patterns of movement and repetitive rhythms. this is some of the same content and subject matter that many web artists are dealing with only presented in a more polished "cutesy" look.