Whiteboard projectors are / aren't dangerous: UK schools edition

Don't look now (for serious, we really mean it), but yet another health scare is taking those in England by storm, and this time whiteboard projectors are to blame for inducing panic in the hearts of mums and dads everywhere. The quarter-million academic projectors that have been installed all across the UK are now the focal point of an ongoing study, which suggests that a "viewer's peripheral retina could be overexposed even when they are not actually staring directly into the beam." Protesters are suggesting that the brightness be toned down to no more than 1,500 lumens, and a number of sensitive teachers and students alike have reported "dazzle effects" after looking at the board for an extended period of time. We could wonder if anyone actually expects the school systems to revert back to chalk in order to get things done, but more interestingly, who's up for swapping their PJ out for an RPTV (you know, before your retinas dissolve)?

[Via The Register]

[me @ Jul 4th 2007 9:43AM]

Give the teachers hats.

Problem solved.

[Ethan Duffy @ Jul 4th 2007 9:49AM]

The teachers may appear dazzled, but actually they're confused as to why this strange blue screen has appeared with 'Video 1' on the screen ("why isn't it showing what's on the laptop"). These appeared at my school about three years, and as well as being a wonderful way to waste half an hour also afforded us the ability to watch powerpoint presentations, but bigger and with the added joy of watching your physics teacher aimlessly scribble over it.

And you can't even write on some of them. They had a purpose in Music but little else. Investing in education doesn't count if you just spend lots in technology that shouldn't be your first priority (*cough* OPLC)

[Jonathan @ Jul 4th 2007 10:00AM]

Please please please PLEASE will you stop confusing England and the UK? There are four countries in the UK: Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England. Every article about the UK on here then seems to refer to England only. Which is it?

FWIW I'm English living in Scotland...

[hal @ Jul 4th 2007 10:44AM]

Too true, you engedget 'writers' (as you call them) have made this mistake many times!
People do not become writers because they can write, they do so because they are intelligent people!

United Kingdom = Northern Ireland and Great Britain! (if you people don't understand READ IT AGAIN)

Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales.

END OF!

[tcc3 @ Jul 4th 2007 10:05AM]

Its a good thing these people never go outside. Did you know we loose thousands of people a year to incineration? The daystar is truly blinding.

[BogtrotterLeny @ Jul 4th 2007 10:15AM]

Maybe they should put their hands in their pockets and buy one of these.. http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-GB/Products/SMART+Boards/

[Lattyware @ Jul 4th 2007 10:57AM]

Indeed, the writers do seem to be completely unable to get England, UK, and GB correct.

And yeah, we have them, and I have heard of no such effects, sounds like rubbish to me. 90% of the teachers don't know how to use the boards anyway.

[Chrisboff @ Jul 4th 2007 11:00AM]

OK the reason why this occurs is because schools are installing projectors that project onto standard whiteboards that are not designed to be projected onto. The whiteboards are quite smooth and reflective and too much of the light from the projectors is bouncing off the board resulting in a flare on the board from the lens which is potentially blinding. Proper projection screens are designed to absorb a higher percentage of the light to prevent this effect.

[Andrew Kelly @ Jul 4th 2007 11:59AM]

from personal experience, the most dangerous part of classroom projectors is the projectors themselves. e.g. jumping over a chair+hanging projector=pain

[TokenFag @ Jul 4th 2007 1:13PM]

Considering at least *some* of these projectors would be DLP - based, and not current generation models with faster colour wheels, it's possible that some of what is bothering people is the dreaded "rainbow-effect". I'm one of those people, for example, so it's LCD or LCOS-3chip options for me only for my home theatre.

As Chrisboff has stated, projecting on a standard whiteboard at high luminence would be a contributing factor. Pulling down blinds, etc... so that lower-output projectors could be used would solve some of that.

[Darvin @ Jul 4th 2007 2:42PM]

Engadget! You do this everytime.

UK (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) = England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland

Great Britain = England, Wales, Scotland

England = England

Unless you specifically know you're _just_ talking about England, it's best to say 'UK'.

[kballs @ Jul 5th 2007 2:05PM]

This is total BS unless the students are staring directly at the projector lens. Looking at the projected image on the screen is no different than looking at it when the blinds are open and the sun is shining on it (except the sun is way brighter when it's shining directly on the screen).

Next thing some paranoid schitzo parents are going to be suing for exposing their kids to [deadly] infrared radiation from the heating system.