This Happened Talk Online

A video of the talk I gave at the first 'This Happened...' in Bristol is now online. This happened is a global network of events focusing on interaction design


In this public talk I introduce and discuss the background behind 'The Question', the theatre project I developed the Haptic Lotus for. In particular I used this talk to discuss the chronological development of the project, from my undergraduate interest in haptics to the electronic adaptation of children's games as a way of achieving embodied interaction in a cultural setting.

This is the first public talk I have given where people had to pay an entrance fee (for 3 talks in total). Hence, I felt that the pressure was on to be entertaining (technical details were therefore minimal).

Puppet Place Open Day Video

Here's a video from a recent 'open doors' day in Puppet Place, the studio I rent with other members of the creative technology collective RustySquid.



A bunch of the stuff on show was from people who work in the studio, though we had a good number of guest pieces too. You can find out more about each piece by clicking on it in the video.

Keen eyes will spot the Haptic Lotus at 0:42, which was present for hands on demos. Because I couldn't blindfold people or black out the lights as usual (far too much stuff to trip over) I had people follow me around while holding the Lotus. It fully blossomed when they approached the tea and cake stand. Pretty much everyone, robots included, likes tea and cake.

Writing for Guerilla Science

Here's a link to an article I wrote for Guerilla Science on the haptic lotus installation I did with them at Secret Garden Party this summer.

 

 The article will be stored in their archives here: http://guerillascience.co.uk/archives/2490

UbiComp 2011 Best Paper Prize

This week a paper on the Haptic Lotus was awarded Best Paper prize at the prestigious Ubiquitous Computing conference (UbiComp) in China. There were over 300 papers presented at the conference so we (the authors) are very happy about this.

The paper "Haptic Reassurance in the Pitch Black for an Immersive Theatre Experience" was presented by my collaborator Janet van der Linden of the Open University. It may be downloaded here.

Here is a video of the talk by Janet.

View more videos from ubicomp2011

Haptic Lotus at Secret Garden Party

A couple of weekends ago I took the mobile Haptic Lotus rig (and a couple of assistants) to the Secret Garden Party festival, at the request of Guerilla Science, an organisation that brings science to music festivals.

Over the course of 4 or so hours we created an interactive installation where festival goers could use the haptic device and sound effects to be guided to target cannisters containing sweets. We had about 40 people pass through the installation, many in fancy dress:

 

I've demo-ed the Lotus at conferences before, but a music festival, where people are just passing through while looking for a good time, or something unusual, is quite a different experience. One thing we tried was getting people to race each other in the dark. That was fun!

Here's the blurb for my Thursday evening slot (which featured in the festival program):

 

THURSDAY: ASCENT

17:00-22:00 Blind Robot’s Bluff: Adam Spiers Navigate through darkness with the Haptic Lotus, a cybernetic instrument that manoeuvres through space with engineered grace. Use the unfolding petals to guide you to your destination, and ponder the meaning of light in the dark.

More information on the event can be found on the Question website with some extra pictures in the Guerilla Science Flickr album.

Designing in the Wild Talk

I've only just discovered this online talk by Haptic Lotus collaborator Prof. Yvonne Rogers, despite it being given at Stanford University in February 2011. The talk discusses interface design in unstructured settings, as opposed to typical laboratory settings.

"Abstract: (February 25, 2011) Yvonne Rogers discusses how "designing in the wild" is causing a new rise in discoveries and a new direction in computer science. She illustrates how these discoveries can be achieved along without the tensions and challenges that can arise when giving up control."

Yvonne's description of The Question (which featured the Haptic Lotus) is presented at around 42:00

http://www.talkminer.com/viewtalk.jsp?videoid=0t3gYfZMpKg&q=

Much of my past and current research has been based on concepts that originated at Stanford, so it is nice to know that my own work is making its way back there in some form.

The Question in Disability Now

Despite many things happening in the last few months (such as handing in my thesis), I've been very poor at updating this blog.

Here's a link to an article on The Question I just discovered in the magazine Disability Now. The Question was a collaborative piece I did with Extant last summer, where we developed the Haptic Lotus.

Here's a snippet from the full story:

Arguably one of Extant’s most breathtaking (and currently on-going) works to date, The Question (2009/2010) utilises the Live Art concept with open arms. It has everything: the tactile audience experience, the walk-through installation, the use of audio and live performers.

The Question DVD

A DVD has been produced on The Question, my collaboration with Extant, the Open University and Battersea Arts Center. Here is a condensed / trailer version of the film:



The widescreen format of this clip seems to be struggling with my blog theme. If you are only seeing half the video click here to watch it on YouTube.

The DVD features the planning of the installation, details on the team, the haptic lotus device and audience experience. The DVD was produced by Braunarts and is available by contacting Extant.

The Question conference acceptance

Our submissions on 'The Question' have been accepted to the following conferences:

* DRHA2010 (Digital Resources for Humanities and Arts)

* MobileHCI2010 (Mobile Human Computer Interaction)

We may be doing a scaled down version of the installation (complete with Haptic Lotus) for the DRHA conference (in Brunel University). I'm sure that some hands-on technology will be accompanying the MobileHCI presentation (in Lisbon).

Both conferences are taking place in the first week of September.

Haptic Lotus in Wired

Technology magazine Wired have published an online article on The Question and the Haptic Lotus in their News and Culture section.

Written by one of the first attendees of the installation, the article speaks very favourable of the project and the haptic navigation device which I designed (with Paul O'Dowd and David McGoran) for the unique project.

"The Lotus device really does work, guiding you around rooms (and into the occasional wall). You have to work harder, but it's ultimately very satisfying to construct your own reality and story, using experiences that you yourself have to uncover and assemble."

An infra-red video of the reporter navigating the pitch black space accompanies the article.

The Question goes live

After a week of setting up, Extant's 'The Question' is now live, with performances running throughout the week. This project has been in the pipeline for several years so it's pretty satisfying to finally see the fruits of all the work and late nights.

My contribution to this project was the design of a unique navigation system that would assist people in finding their way around the pitch black installation. Below is an image of some 'haptic lotus' devices, waiting to be fitted to particpants entering the installation. These devices are one half of the navigation system that I designed, with Daivd McGoran and Paul O'Dowd, for this project.

I don't want to give away too much information on the project until the end of the week (i.e. I don't want to ruin it for any of the participants), so expect more details on the technology then.

Open University Front Page News

Extant's, 'The Question' and the Haptic Lotus have both been featured on the main news page of the Open University.

Go to news item

Front page articles only stay on the front page for a few days and I was a bit late picking this up. You can now read the full article in the news repository.

The project goes live on Monday 14th June 2010.