Arduino-enabled Patron Interaction Counting

Using the Arduino development board (http://arduino.cc) has become a very popular way to create hardware prototypes that bridge the divide between the physical world and the Internet. This article outlines how to use an Arduino, some off-the-shelf electronic parts, the Processing programming language, and Google Documents to create a push-button reference desk transaction tally device. The design: plugged into a computer at the reference desk, staff members push the appropriate button on the device when a reference transaction occurs, and the action is instantly tallied in a Google Document. Having a physical device on the desktop increases chances of proper collection of information since it is constantly visible and easily accessible, versus requiring staff members to click through a series of options in a piece of software running on the PC. The data can be tabulated in Google Documents or any other source that processes form-based HTML data. This article covers all of the major components of creating the project: - Constructing the Arduino circuit and programming it - Creating the Google Docs form - Creating the Processing program that will listen for information from the Arduino and send it to the Google Docs form