News
Happy Packages lives on! | Dan | Thought Pie
It's been hard-core few months, as you might tell from the other blog posts and mediasandbox…a lot of fun, inspiring, challenging, and more than anything this project has opened hundreds of doors for everyone involved. A realisation dawned this week that we really are operating at the forefront of the pervasive media industry…things break, people don't understand, it's new NEW stuff!
Our stand looked beautiful, as did Tom's face beaming out from the 42″ plasma screen. People milled around, took the Happy Packages GPS demo for a test drive, asked us what on earth we were talking about and nodded knowingly when we explained the difficulties working with pervasive convergence in multi-platform content distribution systems.
At around 3 or 4 it was time to deliver the 6 minute presentation and face the judging panel, who were:
Sam Ingleby - Digital Communications Programme Manager, Intellect UK
Dan Sutch – Researcher, Futurelab
Paul Appleby, Series Producer, BBC NHUIt was all over in a matter of seconds (360 I suppose) and as the beads of sweat poured down my face my mouth moved of its own accord, parrying everything the judges could throw out - It's a niche product, a playful campaign machine, a response to the enthusiasm shown by modern consumers to engage with their brands…And as it turned out, the cold hearted commercial hard-sell was what done it for us! After a painful few hours wishing the other Media Sandbox participants the best of luck, the announcement was made.
Happy Packages lives on! After an awkward group hug (and some slick high-fives) up on stage the party was on full swing. It wasn't long until we headed to Start The Bus for more, and while I didn't manage to get the barmaid's number (no appreciation for Pervasive Technology it seems) it was night to remember: Champagne, food, friendly back slaps and promises to take over the world. Watch this space.
Just The Beginning | Tarim | Altern8Exhibiting at a showcase event means don't get to see a lot of what other people are doing. (Could the other teams run the event again so I can wander round, please?) We finally settled on Instant Graffiti as the demonstration of PTTP. Instant Graffiti allows the audience to draw in light, etch-a-sketch style, on a building. Richard (who did a great job producing code at short notice and without complaining that I'd just changed the spec … again) even managed to fit a two point perspective scheme in so the lines of light follow the lines of the building. We couldn't find a small building inside the Watershed to project on - so we had to use a back projection to convey the idea.
The PTTP tribute to Friedrich Hundertwasser. I think the idea fits well with his concept of "window rights" - although he might not have been so keen on all the straight lines.
Although this is the end of the Sandbox project - for PTTP it's just the beginning. The next stage is to look at running some Instant Graffiti Parties to encourage people to play and write some interesting games for it. Keep an eye on the Sandbox lists for dates and on www.mediaplaygrounds.co.uk
Many thanks go to all the Media Sandboxers: Clare, Emma, the panels, the other projects and the many people I've talked to - for seeing the potential in PTTP. Without you, it would still just be an idea knocking around in my head that, although clear to me, seemed too difficult to explain. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. Publicly controllable fountains, and a whole lot more, are now one step closer
Sign up now to play Harmonize | Clare | NewsHave you been chatting to giant snowmen in college green? Or chasing robots around Bristol centre recently? No? Then you’ve not yet played Harmonise…
Harmonise is an experimental GPS-based team game which has been created by Licorice as part of Media Sandbox. Teams must work together in a race against the clock, harmonising virtual and physical actions to overcome the challenges of the environment. Once the time is up, the team’s score is recorded and posted to an online league table for all to see. It is free to play and will take about an hour to experience.
For more info or to register a team to play at Watershed, Bristol UK between 17th and 19th of May 2008, visit www.harmonise-game.co.uk/
Iteration 1 - Secret Happiness | Dan | Thought PieIn the Pervasive media Studio, we've listened to what HP told us about releases in Iterations. So the Secret Happiness mobile page is up there and looking skinny.
We're encouraging you to leave a picture of somewhere that makes you happy and a secret about why you're happy there.
Your secret form
http://www.thoughtden.co.uk/secrethappiness/The Gallery
http://www.thoughtden.co.uk/secrethappiness/gallery.phpWe'll be working on it today according to feedback already so be prepared to start seeing some lovely Bristol secrets.
