Web 2.0, what is it? Is it just a word that we name drop to sound like we know something everyone doesn‘t? Or is it the need to repeat our content twice only upside down and a transparency of 30%? All pretty good uses for the word but in fact web 2.0 actually has a purpose.
Wayne McPhail has the low down on the proper use of web 2.0. Mr.McPhail describes web 2.0 as “Social Media” and the more you think about it, it really rings true. There has been a large surge of applications and websites that really build on the idea of social media. Face book is a classic example it’s very core is social. But leave it to the web to really make this kind of social networking much simpler with the innovation of Twitter. Twitter is a application/website that answers the question, “What are you doing right now?”. Simple right, well many people stand behind this technology as a great way to stay in touch with family, friends and co-workers.
With the invention of Web 2.0 people are sharing a great deal of their personal lives to the world. However so many people are doing it that I don’t think many people care. Not all Social media is this personal thought. The thought of book marking (again very simple) was taken a step further and has allowed people to share there otherwise personal bookmarks with the world. So the idea is it uses an RSS feed to gather people’s bookmarks and people can than search them. So if someone found a great link for a flash site everyone can than take a look. For those interested tour over to del.icio.us.
A great man once said “With great power comes great responsibility”. That being said the Web 2.0 does have it’s social rules. Primarily being awareness, education and involvement. This new form of media needs to grow, it should be used to teach, help and socialize not just to make a quick buck. It should be encouraged to remain a conversation and not a broadcast, people should be interacting and have personal involvement rather than a cleaver marketing campaign pretending to be “with the times”.
Social Media or Web 2.0 is getting stronger everyday. People are freely sharing what they know and what they learn it’s a good time.
More technologies :
http://www.mogulus.com/
http://www.utterz.com/
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Rom Moves Forward
Back on February 8th the Interactive multimedia students from IMM at Sheridan took a trip to The Rom. Unfortunate for myself I not only woke up late but my train was 25 minutes late so by the time I had shown up I had missed most of what the tour was about. But I did manage to catch some exciting stuff at the end.
Brian Porter, the New media director of The Rom was nice enough to run us through some of the things they were working towards. A team of two people are working to digitize as much of the artifacts as possible. It has the potential to open new worlds for both The Rom and many of the people around them. It opens new ways of learning. The tour started off in what I understand to be a digital gallery which was designed to give children and possibly adults an interactive learning experience. The room was filled with touch screen computers and a large projection screen at the front of the room. The computers gave the audience the choice between Egyptian or Canadian historical explorations. In the sections they could pick from artifacts that had been scanned and rotate them in 3d space as well as learn the history and fact about the item. I find this a great way to learn and relate both a wide range of info to real life artifacts.
We than moved on to the new Dino exhibit housed in the new “crystal” extension. This alone was worth the trip not only did I find a long lost relative but I also saw new ways The Rom was bringing technologies in to help make the experience more enjoyable. Three kiosks were spread through out the exhibit. They were comprised of large wide touch screens. Imagery is used to clearly explain the facts about the dinosaurs. For example Images with a T-rex on one end of the scale with its weight of people on the other. I’m a fan of this kind of implementation of the technology . It’s easier to grasp the concepts and much more amusing than standing there reading the 8pt writing on the cards.
I had a great time, although I had missed quite a bit of the tour but I still enjoyed myself and suggest if you’re in the Toronto area and you haven’t been than well …go.
Brian Porter, the New media director of The Rom was nice enough to run us through some of the things they were working towards. A team of two people are working to digitize as much of the artifacts as possible. It has the potential to open new worlds for both The Rom and many of the people around them. It opens new ways of learning. The tour started off in what I understand to be a digital gallery which was designed to give children and possibly adults an interactive learning experience. The room was filled with touch screen computers and a large projection screen at the front of the room. The computers gave the audience the choice between Egyptian or Canadian historical explorations. In the sections they could pick from artifacts that had been scanned and rotate them in 3d space as well as learn the history and fact about the item. I find this a great way to learn and relate both a wide range of info to real life artifacts.
We than moved on to the new Dino exhibit housed in the new “crystal” extension. This alone was worth the trip not only did I find a long lost relative but I also saw new ways The Rom was bringing technologies in to help make the experience more enjoyable. Three kiosks were spread through out the exhibit. They were comprised of large wide touch screens. Imagery is used to clearly explain the facts about the dinosaurs. For example Images with a T-rex on one end of the scale with its weight of people on the other. I’m a fan of this kind of implementation of the technology . It’s easier to grasp the concepts and much more amusing than standing there reading the 8pt writing on the cards.
I had a great time, although I had missed quite a bit of the tour but I still enjoyed myself and suggest if you’re in the Toronto area and you haven’t been than well …go.
Mobile devices.
The world of mobile seems to be a bit of a complicated one, with the world always looking for bigger and better video and sound. Yet for many people around the world it’s all about that little pocket book with a 4 inch screen and the awkward to use buttons and a skill and art of broken English. Confusing as it might be the mobile world does seem to be growing. With its share of disadvantages it does come with its share of advantages.
With the new technologies that are being implemented into cell phones it gives a more personalized experience that a person may not necessarily get on a computer or television screen. Things like murmur, which started in Toronto Ontario as a kind of self guided tour. It works by calling a phone number and enter a code that is displayed at a certain location it than tells you a history about that location or a place around that area. Murmur has now grown throughout a few other cities like Vancouver, Montreal and most recently Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Now combine Murmur with say the GPS capabilities within the phone and you could have a whole new thing or at least another take on it. If this was to happen it wouldn’t be the only thing that has used mobile to their advantage. Flickr, has developed a way to upload pictures straight from your cell phone and not only that also uses GPS to display exactly where you took that picture. FaceBook has just thrown its hat into the mobile world by allowing people to upload content and update personal info right from your phone.
I have a cell phone but I’m one of those use it for its purpose. Now I’ll admit when I first got my new cell phone (A Sony Ericsson w300i) I was excited, downloaded some ring tones a few games but after a month it’s all but a phone to me now. I guess one of the draw backs I fell is holding me back from really enjoying the mobile world is the price. I mean I freak if I accidentally hit the web button and it asks me if I’m sure I want to browse the web. Not to mention the small screen is somewhat of a pain.
However love it or hate it Mobile is making the move and it’s becoming a huge aspect of our lives.
With the new technologies that are being implemented into cell phones it gives a more personalized experience that a person may not necessarily get on a computer or television screen. Things like murmur, which started in Toronto Ontario as a kind of self guided tour. It works by calling a phone number and enter a code that is displayed at a certain location it than tells you a history about that location or a place around that area. Murmur has now grown throughout a few other cities like Vancouver, Montreal and most recently Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Now combine Murmur with say the GPS capabilities within the phone and you could have a whole new thing or at least another take on it. If this was to happen it wouldn’t be the only thing that has used mobile to their advantage. Flickr, has developed a way to upload pictures straight from your cell phone and not only that also uses GPS to display exactly where you took that picture. FaceBook has just thrown its hat into the mobile world by allowing people to upload content and update personal info right from your phone.
I have a cell phone but I’m one of those use it for its purpose. Now I’ll admit when I first got my new cell phone (A Sony Ericsson w300i) I was excited, downloaded some ring tones a few games but after a month it’s all but a phone to me now. I guess one of the draw backs I fell is holding me back from really enjoying the mobile world is the price. I mean I freak if I accidentally hit the web button and it asks me if I’m sure I want to browse the web. Not to mention the small screen is somewhat of a pain.
However love it or hate it Mobile is making the move and it’s becoming a huge aspect of our lives.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Inspiration
On November 29th 2007 a gentlemen by the name of Simon came into class to talk about physical computing in the business and he came up with some great examples. It was quite the inspiration in the way that people are taking the digital age in some great ways. For example Zach Booth Simpson, he is doing some really cool and interesting things primarily for museums, hospital as well as any other venues that would like to display his work. Most of his work seems to revolve around more scientific discussions.
Zach main “canvas” if you will seems to be interactive walls and floors. Normally consisting of a projector and a camera. The projector gives images for the user to react with and the camera tracks the user. Now camera tracking is a very touchy area, it won’t track fast moving objects so Simpson came up with various ways to make this process more usable by using the situations where the people had to move slowly in order to get the full experience. A great example of this is “Mariposa”, butterflies fly over you but only seem to land on you when you stay completely still. He uses this in a kids museum and loves that this certain corner is the only place where the kids are quite and still.
Another great thing about Simpson is that aside from this he is also a biologist which makes sense once you see his work however most if not all his work uses mathematics to create the graphics.
So if you haven’t heard of Zach Booth Simpson you have now and I urge you to check out these links he really does have some fascinating displays.
Mine-Control - Zach Booth Simpson's official site
Bio
Exhibits - If you want to check out his work in person
Alittle Wiki on Zack_Booth_Simpson
Zach main “canvas” if you will seems to be interactive walls and floors. Normally consisting of a projector and a camera. The projector gives images for the user to react with and the camera tracks the user. Now camera tracking is a very touchy area, it won’t track fast moving objects so Simpson came up with various ways to make this process more usable by using the situations where the people had to move slowly in order to get the full experience. A great example of this is “Mariposa”, butterflies fly over you but only seem to land on you when you stay completely still. He uses this in a kids museum and loves that this certain corner is the only place where the kids are quite and still.
Another great thing about Simpson is that aside from this he is also a biologist which makes sense once you see his work however most if not all his work uses mathematics to create the graphics.
So if you haven’t heard of Zach Booth Simpson you have now and I urge you to check out these links he really does have some fascinating displays.
Mine-Control - Zach Booth Simpson's official site
Bio
Exhibits - If you want to check out his work in person
Alittle Wiki on Zack_Booth_Simpson
Monday, October 29, 2007
GestureTek Toronto
The day is Friday October 12th 2007, I’m up early to catch a train into Toronto for a field trip with the IMM class to Gesture Tek. For the purpose of the intro I’ll mention that I have been to Toronto three times and have always driven, No train was needed. So as a bright idea I thought to make it a learning experience in more ways than one. Now with all my “vast” knowledge of train rides I managed to have a lapse in judgment and got off on the wrong stop. Beauty eh, needless to say I’ll leave the rest for another blog but I’ll mention that I had no concept of how the bus schedules worked in Toronto nor did I know that busses and street cars go handed in handed.
All my hard work and learning the inner workings of Toronto’s transit did not go unappreciated. I’m confident I would not get as lost in Toronto again and Gesture Tek was definitely worth it. They are for surly at the front of what they do. Some of the consumer products that you would be aware of are the “Eye Toy” for Sony’s Playstation 2. Now they did not create the product they manly supplied the inner workings for the “Eye Toy”.
Gesture Tek is a company that focuses on creating products that interact with the user through Gestures and motion. Now so for some of their works are pretty basic but it is easy and clear to see that there is a market for this stuff. They develop products ranging from Interactive walls, interactive floors, tables etc. They have been used in meetings in a conference room to interactive games such as soccer, air hockey with your feet and racecar driving. Although the graphics for some of these were for the most part okay, it was very addictive and fun.
Most of devises worked off of a projector and a tracking camera. I recommend taking a look at their site, it is worth taking a peak and I feel like plagiarizing because their descriptions sound much better than my own. But meh I’m a noob at this whole blog thing.
The company has been moving in quite a few directions as I talked about before they move into gaming with the “Eye toy”, they have also moved to help out in Rehabilitation. With GestureXtreme system which later evolved into the IREX package they can: “…submerge a patient into a computer generated world producing isolated joint movement, combined joint movements and full body functional movement of both upper and lower extremities…”.
GestureTek is has also put their technology into mobile phones which I find to be a great thing. I believe that in Japan all the phones have their technology and in the states about 40 of their phone models have this. It would be great for games, reading maps and so forth. It works pretty much by tilting your phone in a direction and the screen acts accordingly. To find out more go to: http://www.gesturetekmobile.com/
To read more please visit their site at http://www.gesturetek.com/index.php. and for more technologies much like these please visit some of the following links. Thanks for reading and have a blast.
Other Links:
- Gesture Glove : Minority report for real
- Gesturetek Mobile
- Gesture-based television control developed: Bad idea for hand talkers
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Sheridans Visualization Lab
The Visualization Lab at Sheridan has been around for 9 years with over 30 projects under their belt. They have developed programs in numerous areas ranging from e-learning for police training and pre -visualization of Ottawa for their Light Rail Project. But more recently they have been moving toward some advances in the way of interactive Media.
Song Ho Ahn , a Visualization Developer for the Visualization lab has been working on a Facial Animation Communication Engine or F.A.C.E. It is a face recognition system which uses the OGER 3d engine and the windows GUI. Song mentioned that this technology could possibly be used for facial animation for video games, as well as displaying the user emotions in real-time on their characters in a Massive Multiplayer Online role-playing game (MMORPG) such as World of War craft.
At this early stage of the project it seems to be quite finicky it doesn’t pick up the main features at times as well as losses the tracking all together. However it is easy to see that in the future this could hold some good capabilities, such as add good workflows for animators, as well it adds another level on top of game play and interaction from a gaming aspect.
The Visualization Lab has also developed a system which I believe is called “Vivisys”. It’s essentially a chose your own adventure game. However the twist is that it allows the use of multiple inputs from touch screens. It gives the audience the choice to choose what direction they want to take the adventure and depending on the majority vote, the video than branches off in that direction. I found this to be really interesting especially if big movies and movie theaters would use this technology.
So this ends my blog for today. I hope you enjoyed it and till next time have a blast. PEACE
If you are interested in these technologies please check out some of these:
- Organic Motion
- Ieee Xplore - emotions recognition (subscription required)
- Ieee Xplore - facial recognition through speech(subscription required)
- Xface
- Talking Head: Synthetic Video Facial Animation in MPEG-4
- Multi-Touch Interaction Research( not relevant but I just think it's cool.)
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