2008.11.16
The permanent thermic ink is not suitable for the needs of the concept as they are unable to be activated by body temperature and are limited to grey or pink.
A different approach was needed to allow the stamp to perform it’s function without compromising the concept and restarting from scratch. The direction was to look outside of the stamp and include functionality that lends it’s self to a more interaction based realisation.
As a result the concept now includes more than just a stamp design, it includes a whole new way of customization, discussion and sharing with the added information about the topics relating to climate change and renewable energies delivered though a mobile social network.
The functionality of this is derived from the use of QR tags and mobile capture / internet devices.
This is a QR tag. It is a 2D structure similar to that of a standard bar code. The difference is that it can be captured using a mobile device’s camera and a reader interprets the image and decodes the information, which can be anything from a line of text to — the more common use — a bookmark for a mobile internet site.
The tag example shown here is a link to the new Rave Interactive social network.
The principle is that a user activates the heat, captures the QR tag and is transported to a mobile social networking site. The page they start on depends on which stamp they have captured, but they can navigate the whole site from their mobile device. The starting page contains contextual information about climate change, energy conservation and renewable energies as well as a task to take an image relating to the stamp captured.
This is then uploaded via 3G, MMS or email from the device and shared with the community. The images can be rated and the highest rated image over a recurring specified period of time is made into a stamp using the Royal Mail customization feature on their website. These can then be purchased and the submitter of the image receives them for free.
This encourages socialisation around an important topic allowing for exploration of the way to change the current status-quo. It encourages the capturing of images, be they inspirational or horrific, which further illustrate the positive points of renewable energies and the negative points of continued dependence on fossil fuels.
In a strange way this is also a method of stamp collecting, aimed directly at the younger generation who see stamp collecting as a book full of plastic and boring stamps. This provides a gateway for the younger generation to step into the world of stamp collecting. Bringing it into the digital era. It may even inspire them to take another look at the world of stamps to see what other cool things there are, allowing a stepping stone to the traditional method of collecting.
2008.11.15
New interaction between computer and instruments, for use with audio processing or synthesis.
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/11/07/mcmillen.string.interfaces/
2008.08.22
I have been offered a work placement at ITV Future Technologies in Camden. Great! I’m not writing about that now but I’m sure I will post about what I can while I’m working there. It has got me thinking about my future though. What do I want to do? Who do I want to do it for? Will it make me any money?
I am talking about employability of course, and not just getting a job after my BA Honours but ‘being all that I can be’. I am concerned that my BA may not be enough let me reach the heights that I want to in my career. Fate could deal me some great cards in terms of working for the right people and being in the right place at the right time but if there is something I can do now to give me the edge over my competitors then I owe it to my future to do it. I have learnt from my father’s experience when he reached a point from which he could not ascend because of a piece of paper (or lack thereof) regardless of experience and being the best in his field. I don’t want this to happen to me, so any qualifications I can get now, I won’t have to struggle without later and may open doors for me sooner than would have otherwise opened.
What this is all leading to is me doing a masters. To this end I have begun looking at MA and MSc courses starting September 2009 and thought I would share a few with you. I will NOT be doing a masters at Ravensbourne as I feel in order to get the best out of it, I need resources. Something that Ravensbourne’s head faculty seem reluctant to provide (for whatever reason) to the interaction department.
Here are a few of the courses I am considering:
MSc Multimedia Design and Virtual Reality Technologies
MA Interaction Design
MA Design for Interactive Media
MSc Human Computer Interaction with Ergonomics
MSc Digital Media
MSc Human-Computer Interaction
I am hoping to talk to someone at Ravensbourne soon about how to go about applying as even if I decide not to do a masters, there is no harm in applying. Oh and it’s going to cost about £5,000.
2008.07.12
For the third year I want to experiment more with the physical and not the virtual (although I am quite partial to the virtual). So with that in mind I have been thinking about some things that interest me that I would like to investigate further.
Mood Furniture - like mood rings but furniture that changes colour depending on your mood.
Reactive Seating - using something like thermo-chromic ink or tracking and LED displays, the seat changes colour where you have been sitting on it as a gradient. The more you stay in one place the more the colour changes showing just how you have been sitting. Ideal for a club / bar / social environment.
Musical Typing - a communal project using keystrokes provided by volenteers which is then converted into note and played back. The keys are recorded and the user then submits the information to hear it played back. It is not a real-time keyboard.
I would really like to look into multi-user experiences and social collaboration. Using multiple user’s to create something larger than the sum of it’s parts. Each user adds something which is incorporated into a larger idea. I am trying to think about cumulative art or music as a starting point, each user adding to the ‘canvas’ or ’score’ in some way and then hearing / seeing the complete result.
This is something I will be updating with more ideas when they come to me. Got to keep the ideas flowing.
