Interactive Alice in Wonderland Book for the iPad

I missed this one!

Alice in Wonderland Interactive Book for the iPad

Interactive Multimedia Journalism: NY Time's 5-part series, "Held by the Taliban"

I came across a link to this information below  via the Innovative Interactivity blog:



-NY Times

David Rohde, a NY Times reporter, was travelling in Afghanistan to interview a Taliban commander when he was kidnapped with two Afghan colleagues on November 10, 2008.  He reported his story in traditional format, Held by the Taliban:  7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity  in print and on-line in a series that spanned over five days, along with an epilogue

I found that in just about 10 minutes,  the on-line multimedia version of the Rohde's story provided me with a deeper understanding of the complex nature of the conflicts in the region, as well as a sense of what what he might have felt during his long ordeal. 

Rohde tells the story through narrative, photographs, animated maps, video scenes of his experiences, propaganda-like content from the videos watched by young men of the Taliban, and a 3D representation of how his escape from captivity unfolded.The on-line interactive feature included five video clips, each corresponding to one of the articles of the series.  What I appreciated about the video clips was the opportunity to  view each of the video clips sequentially, or in an any order.   The animated maps provided a meaningful geographic context to the story, and the fact that the story was narrated by the author gave it a sense that the conflict in and around the Afghan region is immediate, real, and urgent.

Rohde's story continued with a Q & A on a NY Times blog, further enhancing the meaningfulness and life of the story.   Before the digital era, a story like this would have been thrown out with the paper, or watched by a few on a television news documentary, remembered by a handful of historians, and forgotten by most people. 

Interactive multimedia journalism provides a chance for readers/viewers/users a glimpse of history and culture related to the news story,  and also provides a means of documenting history-in-the-making for current and future generations.  

As I read Rohde's story, watched the video clips, and viewed related multimedia content, I thought about the  increase in the number of people who now access the internet, including the NY Times, from their mobile devices.  I wondered how story might be interpreted through the small screen, and also wondered how Rhode's multimedia story and others like it could be played out on  screens installed in public spaces.  

With some tweaking, this form of multi-media journalism could be accessed on large screens, or even touch-walls, in variety of locations.  Airports, trains, visitor centers, museums, libraries, and shopping malls come to mind as places where this might be useful.   Similar interactive screens are out there, such  the GoBoard digital concierge at the Courtyard Marriott, created by Four Winds Interactive using Microsoft's interactive technologies.

-Mariott GoBoard, Microsoft



-Hard Rock Cafe's Memorabilia Wall, Engaget

RELATED

Charlie Rose interview with David Rohde

SOMEWHAT RELATED
Sensory-Mind's Ring Wall, an interactive multi-touch wall you don't even have to touch!
The Ring Wall is an interactive information display that looks like it could support an interactive multimedia news story.

How to recreate past events with multimedia

The link above is to a post by Tracy Boyer, the author of the Innovative Interactivity blog, and discuss techniques that multimedia content producers can use to recreate past events, along with some examples.

Tracy Boyer's Blogroll

I'm sure that many of my readers will appreciate this list!

• 10,000 words
• Adam Westbrook
• Design Reviver
• Duckrabbit
• FlowingData
• Interactive Narratives
• Journerdism
• Kennedy Media
• KobreGuide
• Mashable
• Mastering Multimedia
• MediaShift
• MediaStorm
• Multimedia Standards
• MultimediaShooter
• News Videographer
• ReadWriteWeb
• Smashing Magazine
• Teaching Online Journalism
• Visual Editors
• Visual Journalist

Softkinetic 3D Gesture Recognition for Games and Rehabilitative Play

Taking 3D interaction further, Softkinetic has developed middle-ware that uses a 3D camera to support full-body gesture interaction with games and other applications. No controllers or devices are needed!



The following video is narrated in Portuguese, I, think, but you can understand the content in any language. I you love the Wii, you'll probably like this!


Here is a video that demonstrate how Softkinetic and Silverfit paired together to develop rehabilitative games for the elderly and others:


The following table is from the Silverfit website:

Game	Movement trained
Puzzle	While sitting down, bend whole body left and right, and stand up. Cognitive/visual component.
Mole	Balance exercise by stepping with one leg while standing.
Catching grapes	Walking movement left and right.
Walking	Walking in place, while avoiding obstacles and thresholds. Activity of Daily Life (ADL) component.
Arm exercise	Arm stretching and reaching in all directions with one or both arms. ADL component.
Picking flowers	Walking backwards, forwards and sideways. Optionally, bending down.
Memory	Arm stretching left, right, forwards and upwards. Cognitive component.

RELATED

Softkinetic and Silverfit Introduce Senior-Targeted Gaming
(Danny Cowan, Gamasutra, 12/19/08)

Softkinetic's Gesture-Based Interactive TV Action:

Interesting 3D Interactive Gesture Recognition System by Atracsys: BeMerlin Product Demonstration of Nespresso Products

Via Core 77:

The following video clip is an example of BeMerlin, an infrared guesture recognition system developed by Atracsys for demonstrating 3D representations of Nexpresso's expresso machines.


The video was taken at the Home + Housewares 2009 show in Switzerland.

Lm3Lab, Nicolas Leoillot, and Multimedia Interaction

A Look Nicolas Leoillot's Videos

I came across a link to a few videos uploaded to Vimeo by Nicolas Leoillot, of Lm3Lab, in Japan. Lm3Lab is responsible for a variety of new interactive multimedia technologies. At first glance, the applications appear to be geared for the commercial market. Upon deeper inspection, the applications have many characteristics that would translate nicely to the world of education. Take a look!


Holographic Google Earth from Nicolas Loeillot on Vimeo.

Catchyoo.tv

Interactive Book Catchyoo
by Catchyoo

Lm3Labs UbiqWindow

UbiqWindow

"UbiqWindow is a touchless optical technology which lets users experience a unique interactivyt with digital content through natural gestures...Ubiqwindow is open to any type of software applications, legacy website, or brand new applications. Ubiq window can even be applied to real objects."

Catchyoo iTable at Teikoku Data Bank, in Japan: http://www.tdb-muse.jp/:



More on this topic coming soon....

Top 15 Posts: Interactive Multimedia Technology

As of 5/31/08
Interactive multimedia for social skills, understanding feelings, relaxation and coping strategies
Engaged Learning Revisited: Four videoclips for reflection....
UMAGINE Creative -Digital Story Telling for Interactive Whiteboard or Touch Screen- free demo available
Interactive Multimedia Technology: May 2007
Dance.Draw Project : Exquisite Interaction - Collaboration between Software Information Systems -HCI- and Dance Department
Microsoft Surface multi touch screen table - I wish I had one for my projects last semester!
Programming for interactive multimedia applications: WPF, Silverlight, EduSim, NeuroVR - Musings: Learning about application development and programming at mid-life
Interactive Information Visualization: Digg Labs Website
iPod Touch Possibilities... I want one!
NASA's promotion of MMO games to support STEM learning; Space Station Sim game; EASe games for children
Interactive Multimedia Technology for Science and Math
More Multi-touch: Microsoft Windows 7 Demo on a Dell Laptop
More multi-touch from members of the NUI group!
My Nokia n800 Internet Tablet!
NUI Group Member Bridger Maxwell Receives High School Science Fair Awared for Multi-touch Screen Project

Link to post: Reflecting about Interaction-Updated

If you are interested in interaction and technology, I've updated my "Reflecting about Interaction" posts on my TSHWI (Technology-Supported Human-world Interaction) blog. I've embedded a couple of video clips that show how body movements interact with music applications. One is an interactive music wall, and the other is a staircase that senses people's movements and plays music and sounds as they move.

You might also be interested in my latest post about Johnny Chung Lee and his Wii hacks. "I wish I could be Johnny Chung Lee for a Day!"

Revisiting the Cambridge Guide to Multimedia Learning

The Cambridge Guide to Multimedia Learning, edited by Richard E. Mayer, the "father" of this fairly new discipline, is a great resource for people involved in instructional technology and application development.

According to Mayer, "the focus of this handbook is on how people learn from words and pictures in computer based environments. Multimedia environments include online instructional presentations, interactive lessons, e-courses, simulation games, virtual reality, and computer-supported in-class presentations."

As I revisited the various chapters in this handbook, I realized that people interested in topics such as information visualization, computer-supported collaborative systems, and data-driven decision making might find some value from this book.

What I'd like to see next from Dr. Mayer is a handbook that focuses on ways people learn, think, and communicate through interactive multimedia that is presented on screens of all sizes. This is important, given the explosion of large interactive whiteboards in classrooms, large-screen displays in the home, and mobile devices that now contain higher-resolution screens.

Link to a great post about serious games and virtual reality in business

Elaine Alhadeff's Future-Making Serious Games blog has a wealth of interesting information for people interested in how interactive multimedia technology can impact the present- and the future. Take the time to visit her blog and take a look!

Here is a slice from one of her latest posts:

Via: daytaOhio - Barco and daytaOhio Equipped Collaborative Visualization Complex at Wright State’s Joshi Research Center
"Barco, a leading global provider of visual display systems, has partnered with daytaOhio to implement the industry’s most advanced virtual collaboration and visualization complex at Wright State University’s Joshi Research Center. "

It is exciting to learn about the growth in collaborative visualization! The businessmen below seem to be enjoying the experience:

For more interesting ideas, look at Eliane's archived posts about serious games.

Link to post: How to use FireFox to use internet resources off-line

If you use digital media with students with special needs and you have limited Internet access, you are not alone. Kay, the author of the "Teaching Students with Multiple Special Needs", on a recent post, shares a way to use FireFox to use internet resources online. You can check out my recent TechPsych post on the topic, or access Kay's original post here.

Virtual Field Trips and Interactive Web Quests

I'm compiling a new list of interactive multimedia resources suitable for virtual field trips and web quests. Here are a few I've recently found:

The Virtual Human Project: University of Michigan



The Virtual Human Project has been around for quite some time. What's new? A variety of browsers have been developed that allow for viewing high-resolution images. Take a look at this video demonstration:

Virtual Dissections, Labs, and Field Trips

The Cell Visualization Project


CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Museum Web Activities (Funded by the National Science Foundation)




Web Adventure

CSI: The Experience

About: Ubiquitous Computing- Grandpa and grandkids use a webcam and Skype across the miles; "EMR: The Movie".

A close relative was recently in the hospital that offered free WiFi. The youngest grandchild, my niece, brought out her flute and played Grandpa a tune.



The instant access to the Internet made it possible to quickly look up medical information as the doctors spoke, which made it easier to ask informed questions later on.

To make the time go faster during the 9 hour wait in the emergency room, YouTube comedy clips from old Johnny Carson shows really helped. All of the laughing during an otherwise somber situation caused a bit of a stir among the medical staff, other patients, and their families.

Why not put a few Wi-Fi enabled displays around the emergency room?

A new hospital near Grand Rapids, Michigan, has taken this concept a step further. The hospital will be offer patients Internet access from wide-screen displays in their rooms:

"Each room is private, with windows, and offers a foldout couch for overnight guests, individual temperature and lighting adjustments and a 37-inch TV screen that can show any of 30 recently released movies. The video component also provides Internet access and a portal to view a person's electronically stored medical records, even results from tests taken just the day before."

UPDATE (3/29/09)
Information about the hospital, Metro Health:
"Just what the doctor ordered": Metro Health puts video over IP network to educate and entertain its patients

"Because the entertainment system is IP based, Optimal installers were able to connect it to the hospital’s HL7 network, a nationally accepted protocol that allows health systems to talk to each other. By connecting the IP network to the HL7, the system can access all patient records, entertainment, educational videos, even admissions information."

Coincidentally, I found this link in one of my "Google Alerts" messages about electronic medical records, titled "EMR: The Movie".

The author of the post discussed how EMR - Electronic Medical Records - have the potential of providing a snapshot of the patient's medical history. He went on to muse about how EMR should be depicted as a movie- which I think is a good idea.

At least the record system should use a combination of text, icons, video-clips, and interactive 3D medical imaging. Of course, this would have to be displayed on a touch screen display such as a NextWindow Human Touch or Microsoft Surface.....

Quintura Interactive Search -Kid's Version

Quintura is an interactive, graphical web-based search that has a version for children that looks interesting. The screen shot below is the result of a search for "homework help":


If you have used Quintura, please post a comment about your impressions.

About: Interaction Design (off the desktop)

Interaction design is a relatively new field that combines concepts related to human-computer interaction (HCI), mobile, pervasive, and ubiquitous computing (ubicomp), interface design, service design, user-experience design, interactive media design, and more.

According to Dan Saffer, an interaction designer at Adaptive Path, and author of Interaction Design: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices, interaction design is "about people: how people connect with other people through the products and services they use." If you are interested in learning more about designing for interaction, Saffer's book is a great starting point.

Saffer has recently established a wikki about interactive gestures, a site for the "dissemination of gestural interface information such as found on the iPhone and Wii." This is an important resource for those of us who are interested in developing useful interactive applications for emerging technologies.

(Related information can also be found on this blog.)

iPod Touch Possibilities....I want one!

I'd like an iPod Touch...here is the guided tour:



The iPod Touch is WiFi enabled, which opens up a range of creative possibilities for creative multimedia communication. I'd like to create some web-based applications optimized for the iPod Touch for use in education, health, mental health, and prevention - mobile learning and self-help.

UPDATE: 6/08

The new 3G iPhone: Expanding the Possibilities of Interactive Multimedia Communication

Interactive Multimedia Technology: Search data

For a change of pace, I thought I'd post the search words people used to find this blog over the past 3 days. My recent visitors come from over 13 countries, up to 10,000 miles away!

Feel free to use these keywords in your future searches!

Activities for children in counseling for stress and anxiety
Haptic controller novint
Facial expressions game
Touch screen UI design guidelines
Narrative counseling media clips
Interactive multimedia demo
Importance of media
Brain education interactive
The visual literacy development of a 10 year old
Universal design children’s games
Multimedia technology wikipedia
Ppt latest multimedia and interenet technology
Haptic falcon
Visual literacy computer games
Multipurpose multimedia gaming table
Positive technology journal
Multimedia technology
Interactive large displays
Radteach.com
Mind habits games
Multimedia social skills
Interactive multimedia technology
Good interactive multimedia application
Interactive multimedia
Multimedia for psychology
Touch screen technology blog
What is good interactive multimedia?
Interactive self-esteem activities for kids
Math online headsprout interactive
Rome 3D
Bill MacKenty
Interactive social skills aspergers
UK design “learning spaces” multimodal research position
Free interactive social skills game
Ripple Effects interactive
Preschool interactive video
Free resources young people social skills
AS psychology interactive games
Rome 3D project
Interactive whiteboard games special needs
Multimedia and HCI and School
Free online autism interactive games
Rome reborn

Visual and Multimedia Literacy: 500 Years of Women Art

Here is an example of the importance of visual and multimedia literacy, I thought I'd share this YouTube video clip of paintings of women's faces as they morph from one to another, depicting the last 500 years of art. In just under three minutes, the viewer gets a deeper understanding of the concept.