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Bush Center Uses Technology To Draw You In

Almost three years after groundbreaking, and a few hundred million dollars later, the George W. Bush Presidential Center is finally complete. It’s full of artifacts – such as gifts from foreign leaders, Bush’s cowboy boots and baseball collection -- but the main attractions are interactive and high-tech.

High Tech Highlights Of The Museum:

  • Freedom Hall: The main entrance to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, Freedom Hall features a 20-foot high, 360 degree screen that shows time-lapse videos and other images. The presentation is seven minutes long and will be updated regularly.
  • Decision Points Theater: This is where you get to decide how to handle the crises that defined Bush’s presidency. Two dozen touch screen terminals form a semi-circle around a large screen. One of Bush’s former chiefs of staff appears, and guides you through a scenario: Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq invasion, the troop surge in Iraq or the economic crisis. You have four minutes to take in the information, consult advisors, and then make a decision on how to handle the event. At the end, former President Bush explains what decision he took and why.
  • Defending Freedom Interactive Table: an interactive glass-top table makes it easy for you to pull up photos, documents and maps to learn about the invasion of Iraq and focus in on specific battles. 
Lauren Silverman was the Health, Science & Technology reporter/blogger at KERA News. She was also the primary backup host for KERA’s Think and the statewide newsmagazine  Texas Standard. In 2016, Lauren was recognized as Texas Health Journalist of the Year by the Texas Medical Association. She was part of the Peabody Award-winning team that covered Ebola for NPR in 2014. She also hosted "Surviving Ebola," a special that won Best Long Documentary honors from the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). And she's won a number of regional awards, including an honorable mention for Edward R. Murrow award (for her project “The Broken Hip”), as well as the Texas Veterans Commission’s Excellence in Media Awards in the radio category.