7th Annual iDMAa Conference at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana
- Paul Gestwiki talks about Philip Beesley’s keynote about the of role digital media in interactive and responsive architecture.
- Alexandra Samuel, Social Signal, talks out Mike Bloxham and Dr. Michael Holmes Video Consumer Mapping Study and looking forward to Vancouver.
- Mat Rappaport, Columbia College, shares his reflections on the iDMAa conference.
Plus, other video insights from attendees throughout the conference.
The Video Consumer Mapping study. I’ve seen the results from this study many times, and I always love it.
Presenting data to a group of people that are interested in arts, creativity, and narrative. But, Bloxham, says, this really is about people.
The original VCM study in 2003 made it into the first iDMAa journal in 2004. How quaint.
And Dr. Holmes killed the microphone.
Dr. Holmes realizes there’s a gap between the data and the creativity. But the designers at iDMAa are designing and creating for these people being studied. This research gives you a glimpse into the media world of people and consumers.
1969 - media environment is very simple and limited
2009 - 40 years later; many more platforms; blurred borders
The one thing that hasn’t changed is the length of the day: 24 hours. Makes it harder and harder to find out what the media consumer is doing. Multi-platform, multi-place challenge.
The Video Consumer Mapping Study (VCM) helps to tackle this challenge. Nielsen has funded the Council for Research Excellence (CRE). They wanted a snapshot of the current media world to give them a sense of what is going on.
What did the VCM do? Examined participants for a full waking day across 6 cities in the US, following them all day and observing; so cross-platfrom, cross-location. Data measured every 10 seconds. An observer stays in the background with a small hand-held palm pilot-like device which tracks the life activity, location, and media consumed (15 major platforms) all day long.
Expensive, time-consuming, labor intensive research. Allows you to create a graph of participants’ entire day that incorprates all of this information.
Now Mike Bloxham coming back to give the analysis (Dr. Holmes gives the boring data, Bloxham gets the fun part… or at least, that’s how Mike and Michael characterize it).
Analysis divides media use by screen type:
This is undoubtedly the largest media research study in the US, perhaps the world.
Common notion is that TV is dead, 30-second commercials are dead, everyone watches video online, and it’s all related to age. VCM debunks pretty much all of this.
Average time spent watching TV is 309 minutes across all demographics. 65+ have greatest numbers (421 min). 18-24 has least (which is still 210 min). DVR use is fairly uniform and low across age demos. DVD/VCR avgs to 23 min across demos (much higher than avg. of 15 min for DVR) - when will DVD advertising take off? First screen totals 353 minutes per day across age demos.
Web averages to 49 min. 35-44 year olds have the highest use (remember they follow people to work). Email is also higher among 35-44 and 45-54 y.o. IM even among 18-24, 35-44, and 45-54 y.o. Software avgs to 46 min across age demos; much of the use comes from being at work. Computer video averages to 2 minutes across all demos. 2 minutes. Flies in the face of conventional wisdom, doesn’t it? Second screen averages to 143 minutes. At this point, total media usage is highest among 45-54 y.o.
Third screen (mobile content) averages to 20 minutes across age demos (includes mobile talk, as well). One of the major findings in this project was that people grossly over-report media usage (more on this later).
Fourth screen (everything else) averages to 8 minutes across age demos. Most age demos spend 8.5 total hours per day consuming media. Except 45-54 y.o. that use media for 9.5 hours per day.
Concurrent media exposure (CME) - exposed to multiple media at the same time; when accounting for CME, total media usage time drops by nearly 30% for some age demos.
When looking at media that people spend 10 minutes or more, 65+ have 5 media, 18-24 have 10.
When compared against Nielsen’s 3-screen report, VCM came out nearly identical.
When discussing reach and duration of media use… Gives a great scatter-plot graph that groups most media to the left, spread between top and bottom; with TV to the extreme right, top corner.
TV users were exposed to roughly an hour a day of live TV ads and promos. This is the first time an objective study found out (with precise granularity) how much [TV] advertising people are exposed to daily.
Self-reporting. Most people are grossly wrong of their estimates of how much media they consume. Some forgot usage of media entirely. Some give wildly inaccurate periods of use (one man thought he used his iPhone for 2 hours/day and it turned out to be about 25 minutes). And the amount that is over/under reported is completely random. There’s no generalization or correlation that can really be made about what is recorded and what is self-reported.
For tons more information on this study, check out this website. They’ve got presentations, reports, and even raw data. Lots to look at.
Final thoughts… Again, I’ve heard this presentation (or at least iterations of it) many times, and the data and findings are always fascinating. I think many of the people here in this room watching the presentation are also fairly blown away by all of this.
Part of the Shift in Digital Arts bonus panel
The notion of the symbiotic work - when we reach the point of everyone is an artist. Web memes as a rise-o-matic medium. What are the implications of everyone as an artist? Suggestion for further research.
On the digital divide - even Matt at Columbia College has started to poll his students on access to computers and software. Finds that many do have access to the hardware but not the proper software. Brings up the issue of when everyone has the access to the software on their own computer and software leading to no one working in the lab and the students losing out on the social experience of creation and collaboration.
Inter-media and symbiosis operate on a continuum. Also happens within creative thought. Brown suggests to Faber of a symbiosis between her art and the science.
The digital divide - we’re already assuming the kids are in college; however, there are people that don’t have the proper access to everything during K-12. And it’s even worse in third-world countries. Griffin responds that in many third world countries, they’re still grappling with the economic divide (the first part of the digital divide).
Part of the Shift in Digital Arts bonus panel
Taking slides of various microscopic stills and turns them into art.
Using scientific work as a template/foundation for her own work.
Carol went to another lab that specializes in taxidermy-like work. Took make pictures and scans.
Plastination - chemical process of replacing the fat with plastic
Incorporating various animal parts into artwork; overlaying different images, colors, and mediums.
This is a neat presentation, but seems sort of out of place at iDMAa.
Part of the Shift in Digital Arts bonus panel
Dr. Griffin comes from a small liberal arts school (Wesley College) that can’t place a lot of emphasis on tech since the school can’t really afford it.
In response to the affordability issue of the digital divide, computers were placed in public spaces like schools and libraries.
Second part of digital divide - basic ability to use technology isn’t there. Again, this is economically related. So when these kids arrive to school, they’re already behind.
The first element of the divide is considered closed.
Using software increases familiarity with computers which then leads to great levels of analytical and critical thinking. The entire Wesley College has 10 iMacs with plenty of software. The lab is always open IF there are no classes meeting there (however, since it’s the only Mac lab, there are a lot of classes in there).
Dr. Griffin polled her students and found that 38% thought they need to own the software to succeed. These students were the ones that were NOT able to afford it.
Dr. Griffin tries to give her students options. Freeware via download.com. Dr. Griffin finds good software for her students and have come up with cheap/free alternatives to Pro Tools, Final Cut, and the Adobe Creative Suite.
Part of the Shift in Digital Arts bonus panel
Gordon Moore in 1965; projected development of integrated circuit. Moore’s Law: doubling computer capacity and speed every 2 years, while cost goes down (this has proven true, and has held true for 40 years).
Resulting for the high pace of tech evolution, what is the role of the artist?
Intermedia - described interdisciplinary art activity prevalent in 1960’s. Everywhere today. Fusing of ideas, theories and materials are ubiquitous. Video art, concrete poetry, installation, etc.
Platypus is a great example in nature of intermedia; it’s DNA contains everything from amphibian to strangely human-like. Acoel Flatworm - part plant, part animal
“Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking.”
Even the human body is a self-contained eco-system - 12 lb of bodyweight is other organisms.
Will the artist be absorbed into other areas of creative inquiry thus making the utpoian phrase “everyone is an artist” a reality?
Part of the Shift in Digital Arts bonus panel
2005 project - looked to insert video art into urban spaces. Matt’s interest is to open it to a social context. As the piece evolved, they found that longer videos (ie, 10 min) didn’t keep viewers engaged; they kept walking by.
Throughout 1960s, as TV is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds, artists and activists started looking at TV as a way to spread messages.
In general, the business model for TV is to generate audience; create ads that resonate with the audience. The artists/activists from the 60s were simply trying to make socially relevant ads/programming.
Using architecture as a medium. 2 conditions: distraction & habitual. Architecture is experienced in fragments (individual buildings) and habitual (it’s always there). Just like TV today.
different types of video installations:
This is some very cool stuff. You can really make people think. One of the interactive pieces in Chicago brings up word-clouds connected to the 1968 DNC riots.
for more…
www.v1b3.com
www.meme01.com
I spent some time over at the Center for Media Design during a break in the conference yesterday, and I had an opportunity to play around with the excellent integration of cross-platform media and information flow here at the conference. Below are a couple of videos showing how iDMAa and the Center for Media Design has thoroughly integrated conference data (presenters, locations, abstracts) into the places, spaces, and ubiquitous devices that mediate our conference experience…
iDMAa 2009 :: Android, Surface, and QR from Brian McNely on Vimeo.
iDMAa 2009 :: RFID Integration from Brian McNely on Vimeo.
Last day of iDMAa ‘09. What a long strange journey it’s been… or something.
A little bit of an introduction….
Philip Beesley Architect in Toronto (Beesley’s own architecture firm). He’s also associated with University of Waterloo (isn’t Waterloo, Canada where the Blackberry is from?). ”A true renaissance man.”
8:52 - Beesley takes the stage. ”Responsive architecture” and post-humanist discourse.
Building that follows and absorbs energy from the sun, outputting twice as much energy as it takes in (why is this technology not everywhere?)
Thinking of objects as an anchor; transitional objects & transitional fields. Babies have security blankets before we understand what it is. We treat them as a part of us. These things are with us as we become ourselves; helps separate us from others (does this come from our intense individuality? Is it that ingrained in our culture?).
Hylozoism - from Lucretius - life comes out of material; it’s not transcendent, but from material qualities.
Chthonian Projects - the deep underground; “the underworld.” In Canada, the ice has scrapped away the crust and the mantle is exposed. Presents a unique architectural opportunities.
9:03 - Haystack Veil - Deer Isle, Maine; 1997 - created a “second skin” over the earth; a sort of lattice work over the ground to shelter new growth in a forest.
Orpheus Filter - this is hard to describe… but essentially an artificial lung made of synthetic material; rhomboids connected together in a semi-periodical pattern. Literally breathes.
Cybele - somewhat similar. These individual pieces of this and the Orpheus Filter are connected enough to hold themselves up and give themselves structure, but loose enough to allow a lot of movement.
9:09 - Endothelium - robotic geo-textile - individual hooks and barbs set up on tripods (these tripods “cover the Earth”) - driven by tiny motors (like cell phone vibrator tiny). It then spreads through the field of tripods and grows.
These are funky art projects, and I don’t think my descriptions are doing any sort of justice to this presentation. And I don’t think Mr. Beesley’s presentation is doing any justice for his actual art exhibitions. From the looks of things, you really need to see these art installations in person.
9:16 - Carbonate formation in a proto-cell; compares this process to a 1525 painting of a knight transcending into Christ who then transcends into the ether. In the Carbonate formation, the cells look to be feeding off each other; Beesley anthropomorphizes them. This anthropomorphization is then further compared to the relationship between Frankenstein’s Monster and the little girl with flowers. This gets to the idea that we should not hold natural life over engineered life; it’s all life.
9:20 - Implant matrix (another exhibition; from 2006). Very similar to the Orpheus Filter; however it’s more complex in its “lung” functions. Utilizes shape-memory alloy wire. Tracks your position and it sort of “breathes” in waves relative to your position.
Epithelium - displayed in quite a few places (Ball State being one) - tracks your motion and delivers an “emotional” response. Crowd behaviors. One part responds and then, like ripples in a pond, it spreads throughout the rest of the installation.
9:27 - Hylozoic Soil - combines many of the systems described so far - “symphonic immersive system” - probe-like fronds listen then respond, and this response, like Epithelium, spreads. Through weak actions chained together, we get quite coherent motion. It’s quite beautiful to see the videos. Very ephemeral. ”soft, intimate” It does not do one’s bidding; it will respond to you, but perhaps not the way you intended. ”…lingering sense of being consumed while at the same time being served…” Compares the whole thing to a coral reef.
9:34 - summing up - architecture through self-generating systems that appear to be living. responsive architecture.
Q&A…
Mimicking the deeply inter-woven systems of the human body - a good way to describe his responsive architecture. Instead of just putting a building in an environment, and having a very disconnected relationship; buildings should be interconnected with their environments. A mutual relationship.
9:45 - power generation and self-replication. power inside and outside are a fundamental Q along with how does the environment affect it (and vice-versa). Even the Osmiotic (sp?) Filter is a basic example; you’re bringing in turbulence which then affects the system
During the Q&A session, I had the epiphany. The spark of realization of what this technology could really do. Mr. Beesley is using this tech in art installations to get the initial idea out there, however, I suspect that he has great things in mind for how this could be used more in the future in actual buildings and housing once the tech is more developed.
Final thoughts… Again, I don’t think my blog post does any true justice to Beesley’s work. Check this out to get an idea of Mr. Beesley’s artwork.
[ Concurrent Session :: Design at the Edge :: Panel B ]
Collaboration and Design in Virtual Worlds
Anachronistic Juxtaposition
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~ The Las Americas Virtual Design Studio Populates in Second Life ~
Guillermo Vasquez de Velasco, Antonieta Angulo, and John Fillwalk :: Ball State University
Antonieta Angulo describes the Las Americas Virtual Design Studio, from conception through implementation. One of the key components was the work of students from ARCH 501 :: Graduate Design Studio at Ball State University. Graduate students were designers for the project, while the IDIAA Immersion Seminar in Virtual Worlds at BSU, a course of undergraduate students, built the environment and carried out the design initiatives.
Angulo notes that “virtual worlds provide a platform in which we construct very compelling experiences,” and she argues that such worlds engage a community of learners by virtue of multiple tools for the exchange of ideas. Innovation through student immersion results in a memorable experience for students that leads to tangible and measurable learning outcomes.
~ Project Lifewerx ~
Dolores Zage, Wayne Zage, Ben Johnston :: Ball State University
Lifewerx is an “immersive virtual collaborative environment” :: Johnston discusses the client-side demands of virtual worlds development as well as the server-side demands of running Lifewerx.
One of the keys is that they can place this environment completely behind a corporate firewall, similar to the recently announced SL Enterprise, but at a drastically reduced cost. Really interesting software and security improvements in the most recent version of Lifewerx which allowed them to focus on their “killer app,” which was desktop sharing. There’s a challenge in integrating the desktop sharing app with the virtual world. Now the desktop appears in the world, just like a firefox or OO window. Fantastic recursion! Desktop in desktop in desktop. Floating desktops living inside the virtual world…
~ Interactive Archaeology ~
Michele A. Chiuni :: Ball State University
Chiuni discusses “Santa Maria Antiqua,” and argues that in archaeology, you often see things you don’t understand, hence the need to attempt to see differently-to shift the field and/or phenomenological perspective. The goal for the virtual world that Chiuni describes is giving visitors to a place like the Roman Forum something more interactive, something besides the standard visual tools (signage, etc). With the application Chiuni has developed, one can actually view a virtual model of historical excavation of the site, for example. Fly-through visualization gives one a sense of the original configuration of the site, the early excavation of the site, etc. One can move between 3 different stages of existence at the site, adding to one’s concomitant material experience.
It’s important to connect documentation to the visualizations, indicating-through the same interface-how credible documentation (photographic :: discursive :: survey drawings, etc) supports the claims made by the visual presentation. The entire site is surveyed with a laser scanner, and there are hopes for incorporating wearable computing devices eventually for folks navigating the material environment.
~ Why Art in Virtual Worlds? e-Happenings, Relational Milieux and “Second Sculpture” ~
Patrick Lichty :: Columbia College, Chicago
Patrick Lichty @ iDMAa 2009
Lichty discussed the semiotic qualities of contemporary art in Second Life. He described several compelling examples of digital art in SL, discussing the ways in which art meets and/or confronts the subject in virtual worlds. He discussed a transgressive approach (for example, one becomes trapped in a tornado if one uses the phrase “new media” :: release is predicated upon an apology). These projects are from Gazira Babeli, who suggests that “body of code is body of work”
Lichty discussed the work of Cao Fei, another artist trying to engage both the high art community and the virtual worlds community. Lichty moved on to discuss the idea of the “the Happening” as manifest through “Second Front” on SL.
He argues for “Affect and Engagement” :: “In the end, arguments can be made for formalism, avant-ism, etc.” :: “What is important is that there are elements of affect and social engagement that translate between worlds, genres” :: “social media demands social art”
Emerging mapping technologies
What does it mean to the cartographer/geographer when maps are created by computers?
The use for theory is waning (in the age of data). Dr. Wilson disagrees. Theory has not died. So what is the role of theory in the age of the petabyte?
New forms of cartography…
Google Maps API has really opened maps up to nearly everyone. Geographers were slow to get on the train, though.
One very interactive use is the geo-tagging of photos. GIS serves to map the physical, quantitative. Geo-tagging opens up the idea of qualitative use of maps.
Personalized on the desktop - geo-tagging has become a way for individuals to organize their own collections of photos.
Even educational games have been created using geo-tagging of pics.
OpenStreetMap - essentially a wiki map that is fully editable by users
Results in a sort of cartesian plane of paleo-geography and neo-geography
paleo is the old school way of doing it; neo is full of mapping entrepreneurs
Geography of emerging mapping practices
We need to re-invest in theories, not Generalization.
What might mappings of neo-geographic practices tell us about: digital divide, convergence, socio-spatial segregation, visual hierarchy, collaborations, etc.?
Final thoughts…. This was a very interesting 10 minutes. A lot of stuff that I’ve never really thought of. Another example of the over-arching topic of how is the digital world going to affect the traditional way of doing business?
[ iDMAa 2009 Day 2 :: Morning Keynote ]
“Design for the Future” :: Tom Kelley, IDEO
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Tom Kelley’s keynote presentation discussed the blurring of the line between design and innovation, and perhaps more importantly, the notion of pace in relation to these two elements.
He begins with a venn diagram that suggests principles that guide IDEO: Design Thinking —> :: People [ desireable ] :: Business [ viable ] :: Technical [feasible] ::
Kelley describes a project analyzing the supply chain for Kraft Foods, and notes that “we start here,” meaning that the Design Thinking venn diagram constitutes an operative framework for tackling professional problems :: begin with the humans in the supply chain :: approach problems from the human side, not solely trucks/infrastructure [ for me, this is similar to the language ~ communication efficacy ~ documentation ~ circulation problems discussed in Actor Network Theory, and in projects from researchers at places like WIDE ].
Kelley discusses The Red Queen effect, a notion from Carrol’s Through the Looking Glass: “if you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.” The pace of innovation has changed: “Sony didn’t stop innovating,” says Kelley; they just slowed the pace of their innovation, and were passed by Samsung.
The 10 Faces of Innovation
The Learning Roles
The Organizing Roles
The Building Roles
Kelley hones in on two of these components of innovation, the first of which is The Anthropologist :: “The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes” ~ Proust. “On a per capita basis,” Kelley says, “we’re probably the biggest employer of anthropologists in America.” “Anthropology is too important to be left to anthropologists.”
Kelley is basically arguing that people don’t notice the quotidian aspects of experience design; this is where observational study, ethnography, and applied anthropology come to the fore [ I'm thinking here specifically of Dan Lockton's Design with Intent methods ].
Kelley moves to a discussion of The Experience Architect, one of the faces of innovation which is paired nicely with the work of The Anthropologist. The Experience Designer is concerned with addressing needs, while The Anthropologist is concerned with identifying those needs.
Story :: Narrative :: Discourse :: Rhetoric
From the perspective of my own disciplinary expertise, experience design is always already a conflation between the material and the lingustic ~ the stuff and the discourse about that stuff ~ Stuff + Stories.
Like Herigstad, experience design for Kelley is about the vanishing interface :: the interface mediates, but the effective interface elides that mediation.
This session is being simul-cast on Second Life.
Adam Brown (AB) - Michigan State - intermedia artist; human-computer interaction
Patrick Lichty (PL) - Columbia College, Chicago
Adam Nash (AN) - RMIT University, Australia - works in a variety of virtual worlds
John Filwalk (JF) - Ball State
AB - working in “hybrid ways.” Trying to link arts with science and technology
JF - fiddling with Second Life (SL)…
PL - social relations and how we relate to/with technology
AN - Adam is cutting in and out as he tries to speak.
Q&A
AB’s robots seemed to be “alive” or at least he says so. How did he figure that out? He says think about movies and cognitive psychology that humans want to think that something is alive. ”Willful suspension” of reality. He doesn’t claim to create life, but rather to simulate it.
Final thoughts…. The biggest thing that keeps coming up is “Sorry for the clunkiness of the interface.” I think if virtual worlds, like SL, are going to make major inroads into everyday life, the interface needs to be greatly improved. Gets back to the wet-nap interface from Tom Kelley’s presentation.
Joel Kline, Lebanon Valley College, gives his impressions of Thursday’s Panel session on Teaching Design. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQFocHWKCEc
Kevin Klinger, Director, Digital Fabrication, Ball State, talks about Thursday’s Panel session on Innovations in Teaching and Learning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxfeNbj9ILU
Peg Faimon, Professor of Graphic Design, Miami University, Ohio, talks about Thursday’s keynote given by Dale Herigstad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32kCrGXHumM
Brandon Waite also shares his view of Dale’s Keynote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx696j1U2Vo
Last evening, the iDMAa attended the opening of a new digital exhibition at the Ball State Museum of Art. It began with a fascinating audio/visual/dance presentation. Titled simply IDEAS, it is “an exhibition of artistic and innovative digital installations, interactive pieces, web sites, games, digital images, film, video and much more.” See a quick walkaround of the exhibit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVZ3o1Yo50
Tom Kelley of IDEO; “help build cultures of innovation” within various industries.
Got started a little late….
8:48 - “Blurring the line between design and innovation”
three things to think about…
Technical factors are not enough (look at Japan with their Betamax and mini-discs; lots of great tech that no one adopted).
The people factor is often overlooked. IDEO increased Kraft Food’s sales by $700,000 per week by tweaking the human factor; not the trucks or the nodes.
8:52 - Two problems with innovation - it’s important but not urgent. This is a problem, because there are so many things that are important and urgent. So then you put it off till tomorrow, and all of the sudden, someone has taken your idea.
8:55 - Other problem is “the Red Queen effect.” Based on “Alice in the Looking Glass.” Alice pals around with the Red Queen, who always in a bad mood. After making no progress on their journey, Alice asks why they’re not moving. The Red Queen says, “to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.” Innovation moves very fast and you have to outpace your competitors.
8:59 - If you’re on top and you’re the only one in your game, you get lazy. Your competitors sneak up on you. Example Tom gives is tire manufacturing in Akron, OH (which used to manufacture 100% of the tires in the US). The big tire companies had essentially no competition; then comes France with radial tires. They ignored the “Red Queen” effect. The whole tire industry folded in Akron because they slowed their pace of innovation.
9:03 - Looking at the “value” of two brands: Samsung and Sony. Sony was on top of the world in 2000; they got cocky, got lazy, and Samsung made its move. Samsung started changing its practices (innovating) by listening to their younger workers. Since 2004, Samsung has been on top of Sony.
9:06 - And Sony did not stop innovating… ever. They’re a great company, but they slowed down their innovation, which is all their competitors needed.
9:09 - “innovation made personal” … The ten faces of innovation…
1-3 are learning roles. 4-6 are the organizing roles. 7-10 are building roles.
9:19 - Tom’s favorite is the Anthropologist. Tom’s worked with engineers, and he’s worked with anthropologists. Anthropologists would do something like watch kids fish at a river, and come back to the main office and tell everyone about fishing. The “single biggest source of innovation at IDEO” because they go out into the field, identify problems, and can figure out a way to fix it.
“The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes.” - Marcel Proust
Vuja de - opposite of deja vu - you’re in the same place that you’ve always been, but you see something new. ”I’m not sure who it is that discovered water, but I’m sure it wasn’t a fish.” In other words, you get immersed in your environment and don’t see the obvious.
9:34 - Ultimately all innovations get copied.
An example about cake…
This is about understanding others better than they understand themselves. People will be happy to pay more if you deliver a service or, even better, an experience.
Find something that is important to you and design something that “sings.” In 2000, Westin Hotels came up with the idea of the Heavenly Bed. As soon as they introduced, not only did their overall market-share increase, but the amount they can charge per room also increased. And 5 years later, numerous hotels copied the idea.
“Aspiring to the ‘wet-nap interface’” - the instructions for a wet-nap are “tear open and use.” This is Tom’s goal for all products he designs. IDEO took the idea of the defibrillator, and made it simple enough for anyone to use in any emergency situation. And his 6-year old daughter was able to use it properly after giving it the “wet-nap interface.”
Final thoughts… this was an AWESOME presentation. Very entertaining. Very informative. Being a usability nerd, I very much enjoyed his closing idea of the “wet-nap” interface. Too many interfaces (Tom’s example is alarm clocks, I generally think of websites and software) are clunky and impossible to figure out. I wish more people would take Tom’s advice on the usability factor.
For more details on one specific project that Dale Herigstad mentioned yesterday, check out this story on MediaPost.
Several Twitter users are already effectively backchanneling and broadcasting information about this year’s iDMAa Conference using the hashtag #iDMAa09 on Twitter.
Current Twitter users attending and updating from the conference include:
Additionally, Rafael Fajardo has created a Twitter List of iDMAa 2009 participants, and tweets are being archived on FriendFeed.
If you’re tweeting from the conference, and I’ve left you off of this list, please include your name and Twitter username in the comments and I’ll update the post!
Gretchen Rinnert from Kent State U.
Not teaching tech at all doesn’t prepare students for future. Teaching tech separately from conceptual and writing courses leads to knowledge of tech without context. Teaching tech integrated with objectives and situations is ideal…
“teaching concepts and techniques of interaction co-taught through a framework based on prototyping”
Gretchen teaches a design class that focuses on designer’s role in development of rich media content and interactive spaces. Gets students to think about how other designers will think about their work.
Elements of user experience…
The above range from concrete to abstract from top to bottom.
Using linda.com
ning.com - social network where teacher can upload lectures, students can upload content and links; students comment on each other’s work, as well.
When getting started on a project…
This is a changing design world. Students need to realize the future of design not just the present. ”Flex their thinking skills.” ”Students create artifacts that represent their ideas, not artifacts that represent a repertoire of skills and portfolio piece.”
Q’s and comments from audience….
By the end of the class, students are able to prototype a website bigger than what they can program.
Experience shows Gretchen that when students get out of even the advanced programming classes, they understand what they’ve learned, but not why. This is not the case when students leave her class.
Gretchen would like to expand the course to include usability testing for the students’ websites.
Final thoughts…. This was very interesting. I’d love to be able to integrate some of these ideas into future courses that I teach.
This panel discusses how prototype software creation and development can help with teaching. iPhone app for hyper-local content for Muncie, developed and tested completely by students.
3:31 - They wanted a heavily interactive, multimedia web app (including video, text, interactive graphics, slideshows, etc.).
3:33 - Actually generates revenue through dynamic advertising that delivers a different ad (out of three different banners) each time it is reloaded
3:34 - Shooting video for the iPhone… shooting for a screen that is 4″ is totally different than shooting for the big screen (or even medium screen)
content also reflects HOW someone uses an iPhone. People use the iPhone differently than they use their desktop or laptop. Ex: videos have to not only be shot differently, they need to be edited differently (videos over one minute weren’t looked upon favorably; have to keep it down to 30 or 40 seconds)
3:38 - these stories are very quick turn around. Did not take a couple weeks to put the content together; done in about 2 or 3 days. Industry folks say that you can’t create content like this daily; this class has proved them wrong.
3:40 - iVillage - “advertising that doesn’t look like advertising” - connecting users to the various businesses in the Village (Ball State’s off-campus bar/restaurant/hang-out area).
3:43 - test users enjoyed the localness of it. You can get national news anywhere. Lots of positive feedback about the app. Students also wanted the ability to connect to other users.
3:45 - How this helps in learning… students learn teamwork and intense collaboration with students from 4 different departments; learned to conceptualize and design for small screen interfaces; learn how to present content on a small-screen format.
3:47 - this app got 2nd place in an AT&T mobile campus challenge - lost only to Harvard.
Q - How can other teachers bring something like this to their school?
A - They’ve been lucky. The Dean of the college loves this program. The faculty also gets along great with each other. Plus, this isn’t an idea that a low-level prof thought of and pushed toward the top; instead, it was pushed from the top to the bottom. Immersive learning is huge at Ball State, and they’re lucky to have such support.
Final thoughts…. Good presentation. I have a personal connection with this particular panel since I did much of the usability testing for this app. Interesting to see how this is all coming together and winning awards.
This event is designed for students that will be going into the industry.
Michael Adamson from Turner Sports Interactive
Kurt Kratchman from ASB.TV (used to work with Dale Herigstad)
Bryan Gray (BG) from Media Sauce
Dale Herigstad (DH) from Schematic
2:24 - you might not know what you’re looking for until you find it
-I completely agree. This is why a university education is great because you can wander around and eventually find what you want to do
2:27 - what are these guys looking for in potential hirees?
BG - design, TCOM, storytelling, articulating a particular point-of-view
BG - even the Flash designers have to be able to tell a story
DH - Schematic is less concerned with content than with the interface. ”rich media” with emotional content. ”Emotion design”
KK - passion, people that can handle change and adapt. He likes to have an environment where passion and ambition can flourish and grow.
MA - story of going to Phoenix with Turner sports for NBA All-star game. Handed out Flip cams to about 18 players and reporters. After three days of this, they had a veritable media center set up with laptops unloading Flip cams, tagging videos, posting videos, etc. Overall, the lesson is that his interns all came together and were able to adapt and work efficiently together, and ended up creating something better than had ever predicted (ex: Alan Iverson cutting off his dreadlocks and Muhammad Ali coming into the locker room <- both of these were unplanned but because of the unconventional ideas, they made a great program)
MA - so what he’s looking for is the ability to adapt and learn, rather than skill sets
2:41 - speaking of skill sets… what kind of skill sets are good for students to have when trying to enter the workplace?
KK - the next 5-10 years will be a maturing of the skills and mastering the toolsets. Websites and collaborative content are relatively new, and we’re now to the point of refining how this works and how we create all of this. Assemblage and organizing skills are the ones he’s really looking for. How do we integrate different skill-sets? Communication is always the bottom line.
BG - similar story to Mike’s about internship following a band tour around and shooting behind-the-scenes video. what drives business are those that can visualize and bring stuff to life.
DH - not specializing in content; visualizing things. looking the ability to demonstrate thinking. learning the individual program (Flash, After Effects, etc.) are important, but the tech is changing so quickly, that the individual program isn’t nearly as important as the ability to think critically. do you want to be a craftsman or a creator?
2:51 - MA asks who is involved in various disciplines… now, he says, you need to get these silo’d departments to work together.
2:53 - Q from audience about churning out button pushers…
DH - I use Keynote, not After Effects; you don’t want to get locked into the software; it’s about creation
BG - yes, you can learn how to use the programs (and it is definitely useful), but you need the context
2:56 - BG - architecture students are about the best because they are able to think in many different ways, physicality, time, 3D space, drafting, etc. it’s a very helpful background
Q&A with audience
3:01 - MA - put on your resume that you have digital experience (it will automatically land on Mike Adamson’s desk)
BG - if you can’t talk to your experience, talk to your skillsets. get creative if you want to get noticed.
3:04 - Q about digital portfolio
MA - if you have no digital portfolio, you won’t be first on his list. because while they are largely looking for thinkers, you do need to have some digital production skills, whether its a disc or a URL, etc.
DH - digital is important becuase of emotion. emotional display through dig. tech.
KK - there are many ways to get noticed. creativity works. you have nothing to lose by being creative and whacky. exploit the human interaction.
Final thoughts… great session. lots of great insight about what employers are looking for. Fitting, too, since I’m teaching to my TCOM undergrads next week about the industry and getting work. I’ll definitely use this talk as supplemental material.
12:40 - Dave Ferguson’s opening remarks… We all have RFID’s in our ID badges, which allow everyone’s individual picture to be shown on screen. Very cool.
12:45 - President Gora is in the room. Discussing the insight of Howard Dean and his opinion of the Internet - it’s comforting to know that old(er) people understand that the Internet is more than “a giant ATM” and is actually a place to create community.
12:49 - “Digital Intersection of the Universe” - describing Ball State
12:52 - Dean Lavery introducing Dale Herigstad… pretty excited to see Herigstad speak; it’s always intriguing
12:55 - Dale Herigstad now speaking - ”Beyond Screens”
12:57 - design based on need. the speed of the need is increasing, hence beta testing going right the user.
12:58 - “screen defines two spaces”
-space between screen and user
-content space
-how you interact and interface with each screen
1:00 - Dale’s favorite is personal since it involves touch… And who doesn’t love touch screens these days?
-idea of using an iPhone like interface for a remote control (2 screens essentially)
1:02 - using 3D movement on screen to create the illusion of space. Huge in video games.
1:04 - also used on Home Shopping Network and DVD extras. Windows Media Center utilizes this a lot
-I’ve seen this similar presentation from Dale before, and it completely changed how I look at 3D spaces within a screen. Left-right-up-down movement.
1:06 - connecting this to the idea of layers (like Photoshop) within the screen
1:07 - airport audience. Idea of large tech firms (Accenture, for example) having large displays in the airport. Kids and anyone play with these large interactive touch screens, but it’s the CEO that walks by to his next flight to NYC that sees people interacting and decides to invest or take advantage of this.
1:09 - media player controls that observe gestures (even beyond the touchscreen). even picking up facial cues.
-I’d love to know how this works without accidentally changing the channel for you.
1:11 - gyroscopic remote… maybe that’s how ^
1:13 - stereoscopic TV … large screens curving around the user
1:15 - connects ^ this to large wall-size screens
-Just like “Fahrenheit 451″
1:15 - IP TV. connecting what’s on TV with what’s on the computer. If we watch TV with our laptops, why can’t we connect this content?
-designed an HD-DVD (RIP) that could access and pull content from websites and display it in a fashion that looks like it’s hard-wired to the DVD
1:18 - 5′ by 12′ wall screen - “a digital waterhole” - large groups of people gather and communicate in front of this giant wall - the wall could recognize you via RFID and could help you connect with others, also contained info about the conference and surrounding area. can automatically feed info to your phone and email
1:23 - bringing screen media into the retail space as a sales tool. Example - video games - at stores, the video games are locked up but with a screen, the customer can interact with a virtual representation of the game
-I think this is genius - instead of throwing a screen into a store and looping commercials and advertising, use the screens to help the customer.
1:25 - back to the idea of the iPhone as remote. The iPhone knows where you are and can give you different info based on your location (can also connect you to friends via online social networks)
1:27 - Sony Xperia X10 - working on this for years. Sony’s version of the iPhone. Uses Android. a new to present arrays of info. more of the idea of 3D space on a screen using up-down-left-right
1:33 - comment from the audience…. technology has a tendency to affect how perceive other things (ex: rail roads affected how we perceive time); what Dale is talking about could very much affect our idea of space. Dale continues with idea of advertising being EVERYWHERE and when is it a violation of space?
-I very much agree with this sentiment
1:35 - question about sonics (since he’s discussed touch and gestures). Dale - using audio to convey information and to keep the tech “alive” (TV is always going and making noise; it would be odd for people to go to a menu that is totally silent)
1:37 - question about “what about grandma?”
-I was wondering about accessibility
Answer: we’ve discussed this and are working on it. do we use a back button? bread crumbs? doesn’t have a concrete answer because it’s still all in the air and too new
Final thoughts: I love hearing Dale Herigstad speak. Always an interesting time that leaves me wondering about the future implications of the screen. Gives the idea that the screen truly is a window into another world.
Kicking off the 2009 iDMAa, Mr. Herigstad treated the audience to a cornucopia of examples around digital interface projects. It would be easy to merely accept or dismiss his presentation as gee-whiz laden or only interface driven. Beneath the examples of Minority Report, diagrams of screen distance relationships, and data displays of complex information, lies a theme of “content is the interface.” Dale’s approach suggests that the more interface gets out of the way of content, or visually enhances the content with inferred relationships and context, the better the interface.
[ iDMAa 2009 Opening Session ]
“Beyond Screens: Redefining the Media Space” :: Dale Herigstad, Chief Creative Officer, Schematic
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Herigstad is interested in discussing innovation, both within his company, within iDMAa, and within new media spaces. Beta = “putting things out there” :: Herigstad notes that innovation is predicated upon new norms of speed-”we design for now, and imagine the future.”
Much of Herigstad’s keynote involves rethinking conceptions of space and place. He describes two spaces within the context of media creation and consumption: “interaction space” and “content space.” The relationship between these two spatial norms constitutes a s sweet spot for interface creation and innovation, based upon characteristics such as distance gestures and touch gestures, both of which must consider notions of place and scale in terms of public spaces ~ small group spaces (friends/family) ~ and personal spaces.
Herdigstad moves on to discuss spatial navigation in traditional, linear media consumption :: what is the space of the screen? how is it rendered and revealed? how can it be manipulated and shifted?
He describes gestural interfaces in which applications are surfaced in one space; there’s no moving away from or to different applications-the interface is the application, and components are colocated and coterminous. He discusses previous work with Home Shopping Network, Sony, Windows Media Center, Vongo, etc.
Herigstad moves on to a discussion of layering (a concept with rich implications for GPS and geolocative social interaction), and how this notion related to both content and experiences, describing these ideas from within the context of a major project with Accenture.
Ultimately, Harigstad is interested in interaction with, by, and through no devices, no remote :: haptics ~ movement ~ touch ::
In the future, Herigstad sees stereoscopic 3D and related navigation processes. He shows a really interesting graphic depicting human/media interaction from artwork to stereoscopic 3D, from 2D distal interaction with a painting to AR interaction within media to VR, to stereoscopic 3D, which essentially expands media to surround the participant rather than the participant entering into the space of media.
One of the final projects he describes is The Cannes Lions Touchwall, a 5′ x 12′ screen that constitutes a digital watering hole ~ the wall offers many connection possibilities based upon Time ~ Connections ~ Space :: RFID enabled, the interface encouraged ambient connections based upon predetermined information about registered participants. Social information connects participants; the entire display is haptic, public, integrated with mobile devices.
No real explicit talk of social triangulation in ITV so far… Context connections yes, but spatial connections triangulated by the social (see Bloxham’s tweet) seem absent.
Overall, a wonderful beginning to iDMAa 2009!
Welcome to Muncie, and to Ball State University!
While there are likely to be several backchannels at this year’s event, I wanted to take a moment to encourage Twitter users to interact at iDMAa with the primary conference hashtag: #iDMAa09.
We’ll be archiving all such tweets over on FriendFeed, where you are also encouraged to subscribe to the iDMAa 2009 Group.
Your humble bloggers can be found on Twitter:
Brian McNely ~ @bmcnely
Brad King ~ @Brad_King
Please feel free to list Twitter usernames in the comments, and please don’t hesitate to ping! See you at the conference!
Maps for the Letterman Building, Ball Communications, and Arts and Journalism buildings have been posted, along with a shuttle schedule.
The seventh annual International Digital Media and Arts Association Conference @ the Digital Edge November 5-7, 2009 has extended its submission deadline for abstracts (500 words maximum) for presentation and/or discussion about innovations and challenges pushing the edge of digital media and art to September 21st.
See the Papers page for more details.
Check back here during the conference for the latest on the keynote and plenary presentations.