BBC Learning Unplugged Pervasive Media Lab
June 29, 2009
Posted by Clare in: Innovation | Add a comment
On Friday we ran a pervasive media lab, produced by James Richards of BBC Learning, The Pervasive Media Studio and Ed Mitchell.
The aim of this event was to build new relationships, project ideas and understanding between BBC staff and creatives working in pervasive media.
It was an opportunity to share and collaborate on specific ideas for projects in the context of BBC Learning Development and to discuss and understand the commissioning process of the team. During the day there was time set aside to work on potential new idea proposals and by the end of the day, three of these ideas were selected for further refinement (Arkive, Hide&Seek's Garden of Bees and Aardman/Delib's National Panic Simulator).
The 65 participants were drawn from leading creatives working with mobile and wireless media from across the UK and BBC staff and commissioners including Myles Runham, Head of Interactive for BBC Learning, George Auckland, BBC Head of Innovation and Lucio Mesquita, BBC Head of Regional & Local Programmes.
Ed Mitchell's innovation lab format went down brilliantly with one BBC exec saying it was one of the most productive meetings he had ever been to. Hopefully we will be staging more similar events in the future. In the meantime, see the photos from the day here and here.
Media Playgrounds at Glastonbury
June 29, 2009
Posted by Clare in: Innovation | Add a comment
The Village Screen at this year's Glastonbury Festival was a unique collaboration led by the Region’s 2012 Creative Programmer, Glastonbury Festival, Team South West and Relays (Legacy Trust UK programme) and including the UK’s network of Creative Programmers, screen agencies and the BBC Big Screen Live Sites team, featuring Pervasive Media Studio Resident Tarim with his Instant Graffiti which was developed as a Media Sandbox 2008 commissioned project.
Tarim creates Media Playgrounds- installations which people can both play with and build new and different places to play in. Designed around a system called PTTP (Power To The People) that gives people the ability to play using many
sorts of gadgets; mobile phones, laptops, WiImotes and public access kiosks as well as the ability to create new games which work with existing playgrounds. Current areas of development include Instant Graffiti, an Etch-a-Sketch style projection on to both buildings and screens which people can draw with using a mobile connection or create new single-player and multi-player experiences.
For more information on Tarim's Media Playgrounds click here.
How To Botch A Relationship
June 12, 2009
Posted by Clare in: Innovation | 1 comment so farListening to Jon Drori on How To Botch A Relationship at bTWEEN. An extremely enjoyable presentation on how to reinforce prejudice and kill collaboration. His top tips for really messing up:
How to really mess up a relationship with a commissioner:
- Avoid understanding decision makers
- Always ask for money straight away
- Only engage at the very top level. Never form relationships across organisations
- Always use buzz words and jargon
- Never use evidence. Don’t try and match your ideas with their aims.
- Don’t ask for anything specific and never use reason
- Put in as much detail as you can to all pitches and documents
- Avoid challenge but get lippy. Shame them into funding you
How to both a relationship with people pitching to you:
- Develop a handy one size all procurement process (if possible get a large consultancy to design your process for you)
- Make sure tenders come as a nice surprise. Don’t give any notice
- Make them jump through hoops – they will feel more rewarded and valued when they get the work
- Call distant meetings at very short notice - this helps the transport industry and small agencies value the rest on the train.
Most importantly: make sure you patronise, lecture and confuse your partners. Ignore what they really want and make sure you do not understand their needs.
Liverpool > Bristol - bTWEEN cities live link next week
June 2, 2009
Posted by Clare in: Events | Add a commentI have attended the bTWEEN Festival for the last couple of years, so when Katz Kiely approached me with an idea to link up Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool we jumped at the chance to get involved with a programme which features brands like Bebo, C4 and Spotify as well as iShed friends like Alex Fleetwood of Hide and Seek, Nicole Yershon of Ogilvy and Capitalizing Creativity author Sarah Thelwall.
bTWEEN 09 takes place at FACT in Liverpool on the 11th and 12th of June and brings together a host of digital pioneers and thought leaders from TV, advertising, web, social networking. This year, for the first time, Watershed in Bristol and Cornerhouse in Manchester are hosting a series of live webcasts of bTWEEN sessions aimed at anyone interested in new applications of digital media.
bTWEEN are already experts in the streaming game, having offered live chat and video coverage for the last couple of years. This builds upon that offer, inviting audiences in the two cinemas to interact with the presenters, delegates and each other via twitter, chat and a video link, hopefully resulting in a more textured discussion around the issues and questions that arise.
The stream will be live at Watershed on 11 and 12 June. Attendance is free and recommended for creative individuals, cultural organisations and commercial agencies alike.
View the Btween Cities: Bristol streaming programme
Space is limited though, so visit the EventBrite site to sign up.
I will be in up in Liverpool and Victoria will be hosting the Bristol end of things. Hope to see some of you here/there…
Media Sandbox May Newsletter
June 1, 2009
Posted by victoria in: Events | 1 comment so farWe’ve had a busy May at Media Sandbox. Our six commissions continue researching the opportunities posed by multi-platform technologies and we’re pleased to share their progress…
HMC, Drake Music and bibic’s research led to swift development of a version of ‘Cyber-therapy’ called ‘Visual Voice Pro’. Legendary music producer Jools Holland helped to launch the software at London’s Rich Mix Studios. The launch was an excellent opportunity to promote the project and gave people the chance to try out the software. See pictures on our Flickr group
C6 and Steal from Work are ones to watch this June. They’re preparing to host a city wide exhibition of public art works in Bristol, to officially launch ‘Street Art Dealer’. They’ve engaged a number of exciting artists and will showcase several uses of QR technology to engage the public in a treasure hunt of art on the streets.
They need your help – 'Street Art Dealer' are appealing the general public to host a work on their wall (walls must ajoin public space). If you have a wall to lend, please email them at: walls@streetartdealer.com
AntiVJ have been on the road around Europe and Canada for most of the month. The opportunity to produce visuals for the 'Nuits Sonores' festival in Lyon, France, provided the perfect platform for a successful test of ‘Mapping Software 1.0’. They’ve posted a few pictures and videos on their project journal.
Indie Mobile and Nomos Media have worked hard on the development of their projects this month: Indie Mobile and Destar Limited have completed the first phase of ‘The Generator’. The team are now planning focus group testing and discussing exciting possibilities for a launch campaign with key artists. Nomos Media have also completed development of ‘AudioEnable’. Since chatting with Media Sandbox advisor Richard Hull of HP Labs, they've made some modifications to the user interface and the online Virtual Studio editing platform. Testing is underway, and so far, so good. They plan to handover to a selected school for user testing in the next couple of weeks.
U-Soap Media have continued to test out game scenarios for ‘Viral Spiral’ with the support of some fantastic volunteers. The tests have thrown up many interesting questions for the team and provoked some fascinating thoughts on why a resurgence of live TV is inevitable. Read more on their project journal.
Throughout May, all the projects have pushed their concepts into working prototypes. The teams are moving forward at significant pace and we’re really excited by the ideas that are beginning to manifest. With one month to go, the teams are focused on bringing their projects towards meaningful conclusions. To follow their progress, remember to check their Project Journals regularly
Read the full newsletter, sign up for updates and learn how you can get involved here: Media Sandbox news feed.
Media Sandbox is managed by iShed working with South West Screen with support from South West Regional Development Agency and Watershed.
