Undoubtedly, multimedia-based cultural learning tools have become commonplace in the museums and classrooms. Therefore, what are some of the unique thrusts of the proposed project, in terms of the multimedia design and learning content?

Through a decade of work by Ranjit Makkuni, while at PARC in active learning, we have been re-questioning the basic form of a computer-based tool, i.e. the hardware forms of television screen, typewriter keyboard and mouse, and the software forms of 'windows' and button-pushing. The computer media eliminates physical
space and Man's physicality in the act of communication. Because human transformation involves physical and symbolic movement, Banaras's spatial context of the river, spire - lined skyline, the steps to the river, demad re-'presentation' in the proposed exhibit Hence the exhibit will incorporate both virtual access and spatial design.

Our past exhibits on Thangka pinting and on the the Gita-Govinda love poem have begun to explore "embodied virtuality". In the Thangka exhibit, the display screens of Thangka imagery are embedded in a representation of a temple wall, and hence, the screens frmaed in the periphery of the wall provides a field for the museum learner to enter into the Thangka painting space. Similarly, mirroring the multiple levels of meaning and expression of the Gita-Govinda poem. The Gita-Govinda exhibit re-'presents' the learning spaces of the poem in three concentric rings. Much like the experience of circumambulation of a traditional temple, the learner moves from the outer narrative level of the poem, to the middle interpretative level, and ultimately to the inner reflective level of the poem.

The Thangka and Gita-Govinda exhibits illustrate intital design attempts that correlate physical spaces with learning spaces. We wish to extend the methodology developed in these to represent Banaras's ghats, its didtinctive river-line and skyline.

We must challenge the customary notion of a multimedia presentation as being only concerned with the display of objects on a rectangular display screen. Banaras's settings challenge us to broaden our notion of a display screen-based presentation to include the overall environment including architectonic space, backdrops, lighting systems, aroma and wind effects. Building the elements of such a rich presentation will advance the field of the design of learning environments. We must challenge the customary notion of a multimedia presentation as being only concerned with the display of objects on a rectangular display screen. Banaras's settings challenge us to broaden our notion of a display screen-based presentation to include the overall environment including architectonic space, backdrops, lighting systems, aroma and wind effects. Building the elements of such a rich presentation will advance the field of the design of learning environments.

Multimedia technology has become ubiquitous and has become commonplace in the classroom and the home. However, as the learning content becomes more and more digitally based, people are losing touch with the physical dimensions of the world, especially the sense of touch, and the role of the body in the act of learning and in the act of communication.

To provide kinaesthetic based interactions with the Crossing content involving the whole body, the project is designing a range of high-touch interfaces, such as computer based clothing and craft objects through which the learner accesses the Crossing content. Symbols and images on the clothes allow the exhibit goers top access, retrieve and manipulate the Crossing content.

These new interfaces hence serve as both a tool of interaction as well as a memory aid of the Crossing spaces. The exhibit goers can take the clothing and objects home to and these objects then remind the exhibit goers of the powerful learning experiences in the Crossing.

Immersion into the symbolic spaces of Banaras is a two-way, interactive process. In any ritual space, objects and offerings are first defined, assigned with meaning, and the devotee places herself in relation to the symbolic world, and invokes transformation. Hence, from the context of the Ganges, the river of healing, the floating of lamps and offerings are important ritual events.

Therefore, the project will explore how museum learners, although separated by thousands of miles, can obtain an experience of the spiritual life of Banaras - the waving of lamps in the temple, the floating of the lamps and offerings to the river of healing. Hence, we face the technical challenge of projecting a spatially distributed pilgrim into the spaces of the ghats, e.g. how can we develop tools that will, for example, allow an American museum-goer to float flowers in the Ganges, and receive the results in America. These issues challenge the design of the physical and virtual interface.

In terms of the learning content, multimedia presentations typically present pre-recorded imagery, and pre-recorded commentaries. Because of the living- daily, seasonal and annual - rhythms of Banaras, the exhibit will explore how the learner can connect 'live', directly to the priest in the Shiva temple, the pilgrims on the ghats, the boatman in the river, the gurus in the pavilions, and the musicians and dancers in the schools. Of course, interpretation and scholarship will be available to the museum - goer but, our primary focus is on accessing living culture.

The underlying content of the project is most relevant to Modern Man. The universal fear of death has inspired people of all cultures to ponder over the phenomenon of Death and its relationship to life and after-life. The Banaras ghats present a potent symbol of the interplay of life and death. Understanding life in relation to the peripheral presence of death can contribute to transforming and healing.

One of the challenges facing modern society is the relationship of the individual to the whole, between people and communal memory and between people and the idealizations as provided in the myths of a culture. The internet, perhaps reflects modern computer society's yearning for the collective. The proposed project explores cultural learning tools that allow people to understand the relationship between the individual and the Whole. Technology, if it has to be meaningful, must respond to these perennial issues of man.