Marcos Dias - PhD candidate - School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne

28 Aug 2009 FRI - Final aesthetic fine-comb

2009-08-28T15:15:00.000+01:00

Today we discussed minor changes to intro screen and buttons. Everyone was quite busy because today we had to hand in the hard copies of our dissertations with all revisions included. I also spent some time coordinating the printing of business cards with Dee. We are going to print 500 cards with the final web address for our project (CUBE being one of the subprojects):

http://www.museumbuilding.org

Marcos

27 Aug 2009 THU - Testing interface

2009-08-28T15:12:00.001+01:00

Today I tested the interface on Neil Kearney, the administrator of the building (he is one of our interviewees). He didn't know how to use it initially and felt overwhelmed by the lack of clear buttons and text content, but once he figured out how to use it he started recognising elements of the campus and the building and spent more than ten minutes browsing sounds and images inside the museum building. He was delighted about it and amused with the "unusual" approach we used. He commented that we must have put long hours doing it... True enough!

Marcos.

26 Aug 2009 WED - Sound fine-tuning

2009-08-28T14:17:00.001+01:00

Spent the afternoon fine-tuning ambient sounds and reviewing the names for the clickable sounds with Dara and Killian. We changed position, loudness and range on existing ones and added and subtracted a few ones (we are limited to 32 sound channels on each interface - the campus and the building).

There were a few empty spots and some of the sounds were either too high or too low. We did a lot of testing to ensure that if users follows circulation lines (although he might decide not to), they will get a continuous soundscape.

Marcos.

25 Aug 2009 TUE - Testing and Sound fine-tuning

2009-08-25T18:04:00.000+01:00

Today Killian worked on the Flash Prototype, Marcos and Dara re-edited sounds and XML files for campus and building interface and Bin Bin did some user testing inside the Museum Building, getting people to try out our interface on a mobile connection (O2 dongle) on his laptop. The results were good, people are spending between 5 and 10 minutes browsing the interface. It seems that some users are clicking randomly expecting to find little "easter eggs" and some users don't look at all the clickable content, but that is not a big concern for us as our interface is discoverable and it is up to the user to create his/her own experience of it.

Tomorrow we will put together a protoype with all sounds and XML files re-edited and text information changed (research and pre-load panels) and we will keep testing it. We will also talk to our supervisor Nicky to get some feedback from him.

Marcos.

24 Aug 2009 MON - Reports and more testing

2009-08-25T11:28:00.000+01:00

Today we handed in our reports and in the afternoon we had a meeting to analyse our findings from the prototype testing. We still need to change the loudness and adjust position of ambient sounds on both campus and building interfaces, as this is probably the most important element of our interface. Once we've done that we will test is again on people that have never been to the Museum Building.

I will send link to prototype to our supervisor Nicky to get his feedback and also to Feargal, who gave us some important advice on the design specification prior to the final implementation phase.

We are happy so far with the outcome and there doesn't seem to be any major issues with the interface, so that gives us plenty of time to fine-tune it based on the feedback that we get.

Marcos.

21 Aug 2009 FRI - Testing and small changes

2009-08-25T11:21:00.000+01:00

Today we had a meeting to discuss our latest prototype and the testing phase. We have all tested the interface with friends and colleagues across different internet connections and computers. It seems to take about 10 seconds or less to download on a standard 1Mb broadband connection. On most computers the ambient sounds take another few seconds to start playing after the initial preloading. We will look into that as we don't want users to enter campus interface and discover that nothing is happening.

In general people tend to spend a few minutes browsing the soundscape on both the campus and building interfaces. Some people miss the clickable items altogether, but most eventually find them.

We did some minor visual changes to the interface and Killian is going to put together a new prototype including the movie transition between campus and building. We also have to write our individual reports about the project for Monday, so that will keep us all busy over the weekend!

Marcos.

19 Aug 2009 WED - Towards a final prototype

2009-08-19T18:01:00.000+01:00

Today we have a workable building interface prototype with all sounds and images plotted, but we still need to change XML file names. Dara reedited images in movie transition and it is down to a workable 2.5 Mb. It will have to be preloaded to run smoothly. We should be OK for Interface delivery, which was extended to the 21st of August (this Friday). The sounds are all edited and we decided on msueum building clickable button. Research page content is done, so our only standing concern is to edit final Actionscript code for individual elements such as slideshow and buttons.

Our submission to the Parsons Journal of Information Mapping was accepted, which is great news. We are also aiming to submit it to design competitions, but we need to get it finished first!

Marcos.

15 Aug 2009 FRI - Prototype and Ambient Sound Plotting

2009-08-19T17:57:00.000+01:00

Killian presented us with a prototype in Flash of the ambient sounds and the image popup. They work well and it seems we are on the right track to finish final prototype. We tested it with a few classmates and observed them. It seems that people are engaging with the sound experience and eventually finding their way to the clickable sounds and images. We still need to bring in a lot of content into both interfaces, it will be interesting to see how interface works when all images and sounds are plotted onto it. Hopefully our idea of interrelated layers (circulation, flow and people) will work out in the end. Image above represents the plotting of ambient sounds we have been working on. I like the visual representation of the sounds, it relates to the circulation paths plotting in a way, although for our minimal approach methodology it might just be a bit too much to show this layer, rather we would like the user to discover it.

Marcos.

12 Aug 2009 - Touching base

2009-08-12T14:45:00.000+01:00

I am finally back from my duties as Coach of the Irish National Surfing Team during the World Surfing Games 2009. While I was away I worked on compiling the research process and edited and abstract for an academic paper for the Parsons Journal for Information Mapping (PJIM). Today Dara, Binbin and Killian updated me on their progress and we discussed the final interface. We've split the workload and will work towards prototyping the final interface and editing the final content.

Marcos.

06 Aug 2009 THU - Research Process Documenting

2009-08-06T14:04:00.000+01:00

As I am currently away coaching the Irish National Surfing Team during the World Surfing Games, I have been documenting the research process. On Tuesday (4 August) I had a Skype meeting with Dara and Binbin to check out the progress. It seems that there are a few issues regarding the streaming of mp3, but Killian is working on it. Dara has been editing sounds and Binbin is organising content. Dara sent the latest interface design by email to Feargal and we are waiting for his response.

Nicky suggested that we send an abstract to a publication, so I will work on that in the next few days. Internet facilities are very limited here, but I am still able to check the progress of our project on a daily basis.

Marcos.

27 Jul 2009 MON - Design Spec Meeting

2009-07-27T18:29:00.000+01:00

Today we had a meeting in the afternoon to go over the Design Spec. We all agree on functionality and features of campus interface, but we need to do some more work on the Museum Building interface, which is a bit of a challenge considering that it has a lot more content and it is a three-dimensional structure (although it is unlikely we will represent it as a full 3d model).

The plan is to start testing functionality of campus interface while deciding on final design spec for Museum Building interface and editing content.

Marcos.

26 Jul 2009 SUN - Design Spec Revisited

2009-07-27T13:21:00.000+01:00

Based on the meeting we decided to redo Design Spec. I worked out a few sketches based on Feargal's suggestions and did a mockup in Illustrator of the campus interface. I only kept buttons for the Museum Building and the Research interfaces. Apart from that, the mouse movement controls the opacity of elements on screen and the dynamic audio while the circulation trails slowly build up in a kind of self-playing movie. A little bit like shining a torch into the darkness. If user doesn't click on Museum Building button or on the building icon on the campus map, at the end of the playing movie, the interface redirects user to the Museum Building.

Still working on Museum Building Interface. There is a lot more information to display on it plus all the different floors. We need to do our best to represent the content without design getting in the way or without following the informational route.

Marcos.

24 Jul 2009 FRI - Meeting with Feargal about Design Spec

2009-07-25T19:01:00.001+01:00

Today we had an important meeting with Feargal to discuss our Design Spec. I prepared the drawings below with most of the concepts that we had so far. After explaining to Feargal the aim of our project and giving him the background of the process, he thought that we should define our audience first and then look at what is the best way to deliver the content to this audience. He suggested that, in line with our non-informational approach, we should avoid trying to patronise the user by using icons, pop-up panels and trying to be too self-explanatory. We should aim to let user explore and create his own meaning out of it.

We had a group meeting after and decided to go back to the drawing board and rethink our Design Spec before we dig in to the interface production. I think this will prove a valuable approach, save us time (as we were going down a complicated informational route) and ensure that our final product is in line with our aims and that it doesn't follow any aesthetic trends. We agree that what is going to make it work well is all the content that we have collected. There are still some questions of how the content will fit into the interface while creating a strong narrative, and that is the reason that we are redoing the Design Spec.

Marcos.

23 Jul 2009 THU - Design Spec Meeting and final Experiments

2009-07-23T13:23:00.000+01:00

Today we had a meeting in the morning to go through our Design Spec. We covered a lot and have a much better picture of the functionality that we envision for the interface elements. We are going to redraw them (in pen and pencil) so we have a set of information for our meeting with Feargal tomorrow. We also went into the Campus to run some experiments for the People layer, hopefuly these will be the last ones we conduct so we can focus on design spec and interface building.

Marcos

22 Jul 2009 WED - Uploading and Editing Photos and 3D drawings of plans

2009-07-23T13:19:00.000+01:00

Today I came into college to upload the photos from the experience we conducted last night. I edited some of the levels in them but didn't change anything else. I also made a selection of some of the best and did versions of them in 800x533 pixels. They might need to be even a bit smaller for the interface, but it gives us an idea of how much detail we can see once they are on final intercface.

I also worked on 3D axonometric drawings based on the simplified versions of the Museum Building plans I created. It takes a lot of time to do the staircases, but I've learnt that there is no need for them to be exact, as long as user can visualise them.

I also contacted Feargal Fitzpatrick and asked him to have a look at our design spec so we can start prototyping after that. He is going to meet us Friday morning.

Marcos.

21 Jul 2009 TUE - Light Trail Experiments

2009-07-23T13:14:00.000+01:00

Today we hoped to conduct all final experiments but the weather got in the way, so most of the experiments we wanted to carry out for the People layer have to be postponed. In the evening we did manage to conduct a series of light trail experiments. We were inside the Museum Building from 9pm to 0:30 am. I will upload photos tomorrow to our share drive. The look pretty good in the small screen of the camera.

Marcos.

20 Jul 2009 MON – Planning the big session tomorrow

2009-07-20T23:12:00.000+01:00

Today we met up in the afternoon to discuss the Experiment day planned for tomorrow (Tuesday) in the Museum Building and also the design interface. Today I worked on redesigning plans for the building and campus and creating the 3d informational layer on top of them. I also experimented with a white background on both, seems like a feasible option in case the Design team decides against the black background (to standardise all groups), although the colors are more vivid against black.

Long day ahead tomorrow, should be fun!

Marcos.

17 Jul 2009 FRI - Meeting to discuss interface and experiments

2009-07-20T11:00:00.001+01:00

We met in the afternoon to discuss interface design and new experiments. We drafted a list of what we have to do for the different layers across the 5 interfaces that we are envisioning: campus, basement, ground, 1st floor and 2nd floor. Binbin is going to draft the list and we will decide on it before heading to the museum again, probably on Tuesday evening.

I presented a mockup of the 3d interface for the building and the campus. We agreed to use it as basis of the navigation structure. We still have work to do on icons, colors and expandable panels, but we already have a good idea of what we want and we are all aware that there is a need for it to be kept simple so that we are able to execute the Flash interface before deadline (18th August). I will be working on 3d interface of subsequent floors (basement, 1st and 2nd floors) at the start of next week.

16 Jul 2009 THU - Interface Design

2009-07-17T00:34:00.000+01:00

Today I kept working on interface. I did a mockup of the Trinity campus map using Google map as a basis just to see how our idea of working in overlapping layers would work. Once that was done, I brought it into the building interface file and use opacity to overlay both. I also tested out some icons representing the 3 different layers we are using: Flow, Wavelength and People.

15 Jul 2009 WED - Prototyping

2009-07-15T18:44:00.000+01:00

Today we had a quick update meeting at 1pm. We are still working on the individual tasks we set up. A lot of work to be done preparing information and prototyping. I worked on the building interface, trying to create a simplified visualisation of the building. I decided to try an axonometric perspective. The advantage is that at the bottom we still have the plan of the building as it is, which means we can put information on it using x and y coordinates when we bring it into Flash. The idea is that the interface is intuitive and with little text as possible, to let user discover. Tomorrow I will try the same approach onto the Trinity campus map and see how the two will work together.

14 Jul 2009 - TUE - More Experiments in Building

2009-07-14T18:14:00.000+01:00

Today Dara, Binbin and Killian conducted interviews inside the building with staff and visitors while I went around marking down the public and private spaces inside the building and checking the plans to understand them better, as it does look like a maze! I found out that there were rooms between the first and second floor, which was "confirmed" by one of the interviewees who jokingly mentioned about the "one and a half floor". Reminds me of the movie "Being John Malkovich"...

We've split up the workload, I am editing the building plans and the Trinity campus map to create simplified but accurate versions for our purposes. Binbin is editing interviews and drawings, Dara is editing sound and Killian is researching the Flash Interface.

13 Jul 2009 - MON - Project Specifications

2009-07-14T18:11:00.000+01:00

Today we had a long meeting to sort out our Project Specifications. Check out: http://spatialexploration.blogspot.com/2009/07/14-jul-2009-tue-more-experiments-inside.html

At the end we finalised our Aim, Methodology and Description of our project. We are waiting for feedback from Nicky (our supervisor). We think that this will give us the focus to start building up the interface and focusing on the remaining experiments we need to carry out for the different layers (Flow, Wavelength and People).

10 Jul 2009 FRI - Working on Design Spec and meeting with Nicky

2009-07-13T15:34:00.000+01:00

Today we met with Nicky in the afternoon to discuss our progress so far. We presented him with a few design spec mockups that me, Dara and Binbin were working on and showed him the list of experiments carried out so far. He had seen the video we posted of experiments too.

Nicky suggested we clearly define our aim, methodology and description of the project before conducting any more experiments. We are going to think about it over the weekend, then get together Monday to finalise it and post it over to Nicky.

09 Jul 2009 THU - Design Spec

2009-07-09T15:53:00.001+01:00

Today we delivered Design Spec to the Design Team. We are making several mockups of different parts of the interface to see how they will work together. Tomorrow Nicky is coming over from Belfast to meet us.

We are also planning experiments for next week, probably focusing more on the users of the building, as we already have a lot of data about the building itself.

7/8 Jul 2009 TUE/WED - Design Spec

2009-07-09T15:48:00.000+01:00

CUBE Sunday Experiments JUL 5 - Trinity Museum Building from Cube on Vimeo.

We have been working on Design Spec and at the same time researching Flash interface and functionality. I edited a video of our experiments on Sunday: http://vimeo.com/5492664
Dara edited his 60 second audio piece that we performed inside the building. We got some really interesting long exposure photos from our light experiments and we recorded sounds from all areas of the building. These experiments will be incorporated into our final interface.

06 Jul 2009 MON - Experiments Galore and Chat with Science Gallery

2009-07-06T23:03:00.001+01:00

Yesterday we carried out loads of experiments inside the building. Check http://spatialexploration.blogspot.com/2009/07/05-jul-2009-sun-spatial-experiments.html
It was a tiring end for a Sunday but very rewarding. We interacted with the space of the building using sound and light and through both standard and unusual experiments. We will be analysing the data throughout the week.

Today we met with Don Pohlman, Exhibition Manager of the Science Gallery, and he gave us an overall view of the Infectious RFID tracking installation. He gave us the email of the producers of the installation in Italy, we'll contact them to find out more.

We also attended the Design Team meeting (me and Killian) and got a better idea of what the website is going to look like. Tomorrow we will discuss design spec and branding for our group and have a better look at all the data collected.

03 Jul 2009 FRI - New Experiments, loads of Idea and tons of Data!

2009-07-04T21:48:00.001+01:00

Today we discussed further Experiments, the Design spec and the idea of creating a buzz around the Project. See http://spatialexploration.blogspot.com/2009/07/03-jul-2009-fri-experiments-no2-3.html

We expanded Experiment No.1 and launched Experiments No. 2 & 3 inside the Museum Building. At this point, we have gathered a lot of data, so I think one of our priorities is to ensure that we are documenting it in an orderly fashion and having a closer look at it.

Looking forward to the Experiments we have planned for Sunday, when hopefully we will have the whole building for ourselves and experiment with sound, light and movement.

The idea is to let the building "talk to us" without any interference from users of the building.

The building has spoken, the Manifesto is out, and the Revolution is about to begin!

02 Jul 2009 THU - Manifesto! and beyond...

2009-07-02T18:49:00.000+01:00

We all agreed on the Manifesto. I drafted it based on the Museum Building as a living creature running its own Revolution, and that we are the "comrades". So that fits in well with our idea of running several experiments. We also spoke about the final outcome of our project. It seems that we are moving towards a kind of map interface with several layers that the user can activate as they wish and possibly a separate section where we will have the recordings of all the experiments and how our research progressed. The map might have a simple 3D interface which the user can interact with. Possible use of Flash technology. This might change, but I think it will help us to work on final design spec that needs to be presented in the 10th of July (next Friday).

NEXT STEP: Tomorrow we will discuss experiments we wish to run on Sunday and possibly pay a visit to the Science Gallery to enquire about the RFID technology they used for the Infectious exhibition.

01 Jul 2009 WED - Manifesto!

2009-07-01T18:21:00.001+01:00

OK,

I've come up with a sketch for my idea of the Manifesto. Inspired by Mark's ideas this morning, I decided that the manifesto should not be written by us, but by the Museum Building itself. We are the comrades enlisted by it to make this Revolution happen!

Dublin, July 1, 2009

Museum Building Manifesto

Citizens of Trinity, Dublin and beyond:

For over 150 years I have sat here in the heart of the Trinity Campus. I have witnessed the highest authorities of Trinity College fighting about my location and strived to maintain my composure as they decided to cut funds on my dressing materials. I survived many smoggy winters, the slow dilapidation of my internal spaces and a few dodgy maintenance experiments. I have been a home for many noble and decent people, who have fought important wars, built railways in lands far beyond the horizon and created a wealth of knowledge. I was born to a high standard, embellished by some of the best stone carvers in this country, and yet today very few people would dare glance at me, what to say explore the many layers of culture, technology and folklore that I have accumulated over all these years. I have sat in misery while my brother Kells gets all the attention. I am aware that my entrance is uninviting and hidden away, but throughout the years I have been neglected.

I am a living creature as much as any of you and I will no longer sit here in silence. I declare my own self immune from the tyranny of packaged guided tours, the banalization of everyday life and the trivialization of history. I will make myself heard and will reappropriate all the technologies of our society of digital spectacle against spectacle itself. I will breathe, scream, expose myself and reveal my hidden layers to the limits of my decency. I have enlisted a group of revolutionaries that are loyal to me and believe in my ideals. They have the most effective digital and analog media weapons, the sharpest thoughts, and will stop at nothing till this Revolution has proved its value.

Citizens of the world, you are a part of this, as much as you are a part of me. I invite you to join this Revolution, to listen to my breathing and to share my heart beat. Liberate yourselves from your everyday routine, throw away your guide books, reset your ears and eyeballs and listen to the chant of Revolution!
Signed:

__________________________
The Museum Building and SEMB

01/Jul?2009 WED - meeting with Mark

2009-07-01T16:27:00.000+01:00

We had an interesting meeting with Mark today inside the Museum Building. More details on our Meeting Notes blog:

http://spatialexploration.blogspot.com/

We are going to develop ideas for the experiments we wnat to carry out in and around the building and also come up with a few ideas for our Manifesto and then we will meet again tomorrow to discuss them. We might record some audio on Sunday, but that hasn't been defined yet. We'll also have a look at the results of our experiment No.1 (Bin Bin is plotting his results onto the map).

30/06/2009 TUE - Design Meeting and Experiment No. 1

2009-06-30T17:04:00.000+01:00

Today me and Killian met with the Design team to give our initial ideas and to find out about the progress they are making. Each subgroup (6 in total) gave a brief description of their intents and progress. In the meantime Dara and Bin Bin were in the campus starting our Experiment No.1: Patterns of Circulation - GPS Mockup. I joined Dara a the Museum Building after the meeting for a quick tour with his friend Shoidin (spelling must be wrong!), she has worked on similar projects before and gave us some good suggestions and ideas. After that we joined Killian and Bin Bin in our experiment.

We followed people as they entered the Campus till the point they either exited or entered a building and also followed people leaving the Museum Building to plot their trajectories. We wrote quick descriptions of each person and any details that caught our attention. The experiment reminded me of the Situationist's technique of Derive, as we ended up doing our own Derives by following people randomly!

We plotted the information onto a big print of the Trinity map, still need to get Bin Bin's input (he started earlier than us) so we can discuss outcome as a group. Along the way we picked up little details and created our own form of narrative. I think it is interesting to try and figure out how the paths cross or interact.

Tomorrow we will meet Mark O 'Halloran in the morning and in the afternoon we plan to start our experiment No.2.

29/06/09 MON - Developing Ideas Further / Museum Visit

2009-06-29T17:25:00.000+01:00

Today we all met at 2pm to discuss ideas between ourselves. I presented some of the theoretical background to my idea of the online/physical game. Some research texts that inspired me:

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
Benford, Steve et al. (2004), 'Uncle Roy All Around You: Implicating the City in a Location-Based Performance', ACE'04, Singapore, viewed 23/06/2009, .

Chtcheglov, Ivan (1953), 'Formulary for a New Urbanism', Bureau of Public Secrets, viewed 17 April 2009, .

Lettrist International (1955), 'Proposals for Rationally Improving the City of Paris', Bureau of Public Secrets, viewed 17 April 2009, .

BOOKS

Debord, Guy (1995) The Society of the Spectacle, New York, Zone Books.

McCullough, Malcolm (2004) Digital Ground, Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press.

Sennett, Richard (1992) The Fall of the Public Man, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

I tried to compile the Main Points of our Subgroup:

- Focus on EMOTIONAL as opposed to Informational.

- Stimulate senses: visual, audible, touch?

- Social Interaction ad-hoc communities, interacting with strangers

- Location Awareness: Derive, exploring alternative paths, crossing boundaries

- Tracing Location: using data to create installation? Tracing user's paths. Links between paths.

We paid a quick visit to Trinity campus and the Museum Building to gather some ideas before our Skype Meeting with Nicky (postponed to 4pm). One thing we noticed was the lack of strict boundaries between public and private spaces. Also CCTV cameras (and signs) in several places.

Nicky suggested that we imagine ourselves as a collective of artists and produce a Manifesto. He also suggested focusing on EXPERIENCE rather than EMOTION of user. Nicky also suggesed that we actually go and do what we are thinking in practice, even without the technology available.

We met after and decided to try out the tracking of people's movements inside the campus using maps and pens tomorrow (Tuesday). On Wednesday we are meeting up with Mark O'Halloran to show him our ideas and get his feedback.

26/06/2009 - Discussion of Ideas

2009-06-28T17:49:00.000+01:00

PARTICIPANTS:
Killian, Dara and Marcos

We discussed each other's ideas to try and find a common ground. We were suppposed to meet Nicky but he couldn't meet us today, so we will have a Skype call with him on Monday (29/06).

- Dara presented two ideas: 1) create an audio interface which allows user to navigate a simple map of the building by tracing a path with the mouse on the screen while listening to high quality sounds which have a connection to the building but are neither exact sounds recorded in the building nor totally random sounds. He pointed out that the idea is to create a sensorial experience that takes focus of the visual aspect and highlights the incredible sounds inside the building.
2) His second idea was to create visual patterns based on the sounds and project them onto the building and making a video of the projections.

- Killian demonstrated his interest in location awareness and using GPS technology to track the users of the building over a certain period of time and create patterns out of their trajectories. As the users move in and out of the building, they create patterns that link the Museum Building with the outside world, telling the story of the connections between them. He also spoke about the possibility of attaching sensors to the users so we can analyse their emotional reaction to the geography of the streets. Killian argued that it is a way of telling the story of the building through their users instead of just creating an informational website.

- I presented my idea of creating an online/offline game involving strangers in which participants circulating inside the Trinity Campus have their location tracked and eventually discover the Museum Building while being helped (or hindered) by online participants. The multiple trajectories can form interesting patterns and also allow participants to explore the campus in a novel way and possibly interact with strangers or make personal discoveries out of casual encounters, much in the way that the Situationists developed the process of the "Derive". This game could involve actors and bypassers, which might not know that they are involved in the game. I envision it as an alternative to the standard Trinity tours offered to tourists inside the campus.

We all agreed that our project can be defined by the term EMOTIONAL more than the term INFORMATIONAL. We think the audio experience of the building should be a part of our project and we all have in common the idea of working with location awareness and circulation. At the same time, we want to focus on strong ideas instead of trying to make an extremely complex project.

NEXT STEP: we decided that each of us would bring in two ideas on Monday, discuss them further and meet with Nicky to get his ideas. This is going to be a fast paced project, so there is no time to digress!

25/06/2009 THU - Meeting External Examiner - Douglas Repetto

2009-06-26T12:23:00.000+01:00

We met with our external examiner Douglas Repetto. Douglas gave us a little bit of feedback on our dissertations (didn't talk about each of them individually) and then proceeded to ask us questions about Final Project. His main suggestions were:

- KEEP IT SIMPLE
- Come up with a statement that decribes what we want to achieve through it
- Think creatively, this is not commercial project.
- Filter out egos. This is a group achievement.

He suggested that we step back from our groups at the start and involve whole class in intial thinking process. At the same time, we have a serious timeframe constraint...

Hopefully the next few meeting between build teams and leaders of each group will clarify things so we can move forward.

Marcos.

24/06/2009 WED - Group Meeting - Gathering Ideas

2009-06-26T11:43:00.000+01:00

During this meeting we discussed the research we did to find projects that inspired us or that we thought were relevant. to the Project. I presented two projects that were quite inspiring to me. Both relate to games with a set of rules that are played simultaneously online and in the real world.

Blast Theory's "Uncle Roy All Around You" is a game that addresses collaboration and trust between strangers, the use of location awareness and the link between an online 3D virtual environment based on a real city and its real counterpart.

http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/mov/mov_ur.html

Pacmanhattan (http://pacmanhattan.com/) is an interesting adaptation of a classical videogame. A group of enthusiastic graduates from the NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program adapted the simple strucutre of the game, which consists of a maze where Pacman eats pellets inside the maze to score points while avoiding the ghosts. They use New York City's street grid as the game's maze and designated 1 player as Pacman (conveniently dressed up) and 4 as ghosts. They are sent into the streets, limited to the grid, while 5 controllers in central control office give them instructions by mobile phone and wi-fi. They also used custom software to recreate the grid on a screen. PLayers update their controllers of their position and the controllers drag icons representing the player's location on the screen to update their positions and determine how many pellets Pacman has eaten.

Both Uncle Roy All Around you and Pacmamanhattan realised the limitations of using GPS in their games. It was too slow to update exact position of players and high buildings created shadows, limiting access to the GPS coordinates and making it unreliable. In both, the player's updates provided their location on screen. Uncle Roy uses more complex technology, and relies on expensive software (giving PDAs to all players on streets), but has an interesting aspect of creating new social links between strangers. One of its objective was to generate enough trust between players online and on the streets so that they would commit to support each other in times of crisis during a whole year!

Pacmanhattan has a simpler approach to technology but is still quite engaging. At the same time, it is more of a recreation of the original videogame and ressembles a more sophisiticated version of a game of tagging. Nevertheless, it shows that limits in technology can actually boost creativity.

And in both, public spaces become part of the game and participants explore areas that they might not pass through during their normal routines.

Killian showed examples of the use of GPS to track taxi routes and people's and animal's movements to create patterns that cross each other, showing possible ways of interacting. He also spoke about how GPS can be used with other sensors to track people's emotional response to their geographical location. This reminds me of the Derives of the Situationists and Psychogeography.

Binbin described a similar location based game that he played in the army.

Marcos.

NEXT STEP: meeting Nicky (supervisor) on Monday. Group meeting before that.

19/06/2009 - First Meeting with Supervisor

2009-06-25T16:03:00.000+01:00

We had a Skype call with our supervisor Nicky Ward. The main purpose was to discuss timeframe and overview of project. Nicky suggested two different approaches:

1) create an installation/event and later document it on the Final Project website.
- in this case, there is an issue of time, as we would need to break it down into two parts: installation and documentation. At the same time, if we are using physical space as part of the outcome, it would be the only way to do it as after the website is launched, the project is finished.

2) the installation/event would be live on the website. This means that any interactivity or gameplaying would occur without our direct control and it would be harder to document the results.

We agreed on having another Skype meeting next Friday (26 June), and that we would send Nicky our Powerpoint slides (by Wednesday) for the individual presentations we gave about the Project before our final exams.