Bill Gerba blogs about DOOH, which stands for "Digital-Out-of-Home", focusing on displays and kiosks in public spaces that offer dynamic and/or interactive content, usually for the purpose of advertising and marketing. If this is an area that interests you, take a look at Bill Gerba's most recent post, "Does TV Content Work on DOOH? Maybe, Maybe Not" - WireSpring: Digital Signage Insider (9/24/10)
Gerba refers to a "Marketing Funnel" graphic to illustrate some of his points. Six of the seven concepts represented in the graphic, shared below, might be useful to think about for people working in the field of public displays for purposes other than advertising or marketing:
Most of us have noticed that there are many more large-screen displays around. Some displays intrusively attempt to grab your attention through loud and garish informercial-like content. Some are designed to be interactive and pleasant, but go un-noticed by passers-by at all!
I love the concept of interactive, networked public displays! The PD-NET project has a fairly new website and a Facebook page. If this interests you, take the time to learn about the PD-NET project, a collaborative effort between researchers from several different universities in Europe. I'd like to see this take hold in the US.
To create enabling technologies for large-scale pervasive display networks through the design, development, and evaluation of a robust, scalable, distributed and open platform for interconnecting displays and their sensors.
To establish Europe as the international centre for work on pervasive display networks.
To address key scientific challenges that may inhibit the widespread adoption of pervasive display network technology: Tensions between privacy and personalization, situated displays, business and legislative requirements, User Interaction.
Here is a list of participating universities and researchers, taken from the PD-NET website:
J. Müller, F. Alt, D. Michelis, and A. Schmidt, "Requirements and Design Space for Interactive Public Displays," in Proceedings of the 18th annual ACM international conference on Multimedia (Multimedia 2010), to appear, 2010.
COMMENT
If you are familiar with this blog, you know that I am passionate about interactive displays, especially in public spaces. I've devoted numerous posts to this topic on this blog, and also on The World Is My Interactive Interface, a blog I started a few years ago when I was working on projects for large interactive displays.
I am interested in how interactive displays, of any size, can be accessible and universally designed, especially those that can inter-operate with mobile devices, including devices that support communication for people with special needs.
I was fortunate to see some of these interaction techniques and interfaces when I attended CHI 2010 this past April, and plan to share some of my photos and video clips from the conference on this blog soon.
Totally Unrelated
Online connection for foodies
Eatocracy is a new website within the CNN pages that provides news- and more- about all things related to food. The categories on the site include "main", "news", "bite", "sip", "make", "think", and "buzz". The best part, in my opinion, is the heirloom recipe collection index, where people can upload and share family recipies and the stories behind them.
Here is the description of Eatocracy from the website:
Eatocracy "is your online home for smart, passionate conversation and information about food news, politics, culture. We'll highlight regional and family recipes, dive into restaurants and food shopping, chat with celebrity and local chefs, and show you what's for dinner around the world tonight. Grab a place at the table and read with your mouth full."
As I took a peek at Lieven's video links, I noticed an interesting video mash-up Lieven created from the open-source code from the RadioHead's House of Cards music video and his One Million Particles app. I'll post them soon.
I'll try to get video, pictures, and commentary about EVA 2010. EVA stands for Electronic Visualization and the Arts. "Electronic Information, the Visual Arts, and Beyond.
FYI
I'm in the process of sorting through and re-organizing my blogs, which have been around for over four years! During this time, my blogs have attracted a growing number of readers. Because of this, I'd like to make things a bit user-centered. So expect to see little changes here and there. I promise I'll give my readers warnings in advance if I make any serious changes!
If you are new to this blog, you should know that my blogs started out as on-line filing cabinets, open to the world. Although there is a bit of overlap of material and some cross-posting between the blogs, they are arranged to serve as a paper-less way of keeping track of things that I've learned through my coursework, conference attendance, readings, and research. Since emerging technologies are high on my list of interests, I also use my blogs to share interesting things that cross my path.
I changed the name of my World Is My Interface blog to The World Is My Interactive Interface."Off-the-desktop natural user interfaces, interaction, and user experience" are the main topics of the blog. It sometimes includes information about ubiquitous computing and DOOH, otherwise known as Digital Out Of Home.
I plan to tinker with my TechPsych blog later on. It focuses on topics that are useful to psychologists, educators, special education teachers, speech and language therapists, health and wellness professionals, and parents.
Feel free to leave comments, as I welcome your input.
I was at the Southpark Mall in Charlotte yesterday and noticed that screens of all sizes were everywhere I went. I happened to have my little HD video camera with me and thought I'd share what came across my path.
Most of what I saw wasn't too innovative or interactive. Many of the smaller video displays were located on the market karts in the main traffic areas of the mall. Scattered about the mall are cozy living-room like areas, with comfy couches, WiFi access, and in on spot, a few large-screen HD televisions, perfect for watching sports or the news while other members of your social/family network do some serious shopping. I especially liked the infomercial about North Carolina's beaches around Wilmington.
I wasn't too excited about the information display about the mall, which provides what looks like a version of the Southpark Mall website, shown at :44 on the first video clip. Located about 20 feet from a static mall directory, not a single soul looked at the screen or used the keyboard and mouse to find out more about what the stores in the mall had to offer. The static directory, on the other hand, had groups of people looking at it all of the time as I observed. (I added screen-shots and pictures of the keyboard-and-mouse display near the end of this post.)
At the end of the first video clip, you'll see a new interactive touch-screen Coke vending machine, but the one featured at the end of the first video is out of order.
Not to worry. I stopped to rest in another area of the mall, and in right in my line of sight was another Coke machine, just as a young man was trying to figure out how to get a Coke out of the machine. It took him 93 seconds. That might not seem like too long, but if you watch the second video, you'll see that it was almost painful to watch.
As the young man finished purchasing his soda, a family with two young children were nearby and figured out that the display wasn't just for ads. The second video clip has a few shots of the younger child playing with the touch screen, and later on, his dad. The little guy probably would have played with the touchable spinning Coke bottle for a long time! The dad commented, "They should have something like this for the home!", and mentioned that his kids liked the SMARTboards at school.
In my opinion, the interactive Coke Machine didn't know what it wanted to be. An eye-catching, attention grabbing infomercial? A useful interactive information display? A fun toy to touch and play? A system to make it difficult to quickly reach your goal of getting your thirst quenched, better to get the ads into your brain?
Marketers, designers, and developers, listen to this:
A lot of people still do not know about larger interactive touch screens. Even if they have an iPhone!
I told the parents about touch-enabled all-in-one PC's, touch-screen netbook/laptops, and the rumor that Apple might come out with a touch-screen tablet. They'd never heard of such things. This mall is very upscale, and the families that come to shop there have money. They still can buy shoes at Nordstrom and drink specialty coffees, and of course, crowd around in the Apple Store.
The Videos
Note: The participants in the following two videos gave permission for me to video. The videos were not staged.
A Young Guy and an Interactive Coke Machine
A Kid and an Interactive Coke Machine
RELATED
Below is a picture of the web-connected directory at the Southpark Mall from about a year ago. No-one used it then, and at the time, the display was not working. If you look closely, you'll see the keyboard and mouse set up. Although this display contains a lot of information about the mall, via the web, it does not meet the needs of most shoppers, who travel in pairs, groups, families, and extended families during the holiday season.
Below are two screen shots of the SouthPark website, which can be accessed by using the keyboard and mouse on the information display, as I previously mentioned.
In my opinion, there is enough screen space on the touch-screen Coke machine to provide interactive information about the mall. Ripping content from the mall's website won't do, since it is text-based, boring, and oh-so WIMP-y!
Better yet, the mall should transform the large static directories into something useful, keeping in mind that most of the time it will need to support two or more people deciding where to go and what to do while they are at the mall. Beam a mini-map of the mall to the shoppers to use on their iPhones/Smart phones, and give them a shopping advisor app while you are at it.
Psssst....
There are too many talking head screens in the mall. Make them interactive, add some value, and see what might happen, especially if you want to target reluctant shoppers like myself.
For fun: I Want the Giant iPhone! (Short Glimpse of the Apple Store)
"Shoppers will come upon the units in high traffic locations and can use the large format touch screen displays to interact with and buy Coca-Cola products. People will also be learning about specials and promotions available at the mall and will be able to purchase the beverages using Simon Giftcards.
"The flat screen is set in the vending machine doors and is divided into three sections. The machines feature functionality similar to an iPhone. For example, the mid section of the screen is where people can buy drinks. Clicking on a product lets the shopper rotate the bottle to see the label. The top and bottom sections of the screen are used for running commercials for Coke and other Coca-Cola brands and for Simon Mall promos...This is just preliminary to see how the functionality goes," Coca-Cola spokesperson Ray Crockett said. Next-gen models of the machines will offer mobile phone downloads in the form of music files, ringtones and wallpaper, along with cashless payment and more, Coca-Cola said...The machines were first Introduced at the Summer Olympics last year in Beijing and one the Simon dTour...The new machines incorporate sight, sound and motion video to take the vending experience from transaction to true interaction,” Anthony Phillips, global brand manager at Coca-Cola said in a release. “We wanted the machines to be eye-catching in a way that would turn heads and command attention.” The new venders were developed by The Coca-Cola Co. in partnership with Samsung and interactive marketing agency Sapient".
Digital Signage Screen Placement: Modeling Consumer Behavior http://bit.ly/4oXPWM
Digital Signage Screen Placement: Angle, Height and Text Size http://bit.ly/7hG6NZ
Making great digital signage content: A quick reference guide http://bit.ly/74rNL5
"Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising is a dynamic, fragmented, and rapidly evolving space. It's one of the fastest growing media channels, with year-over-year growth pegged in the double digits through at least 2011....as with many emerging media channels, DOOH is a bit of a gray area in terms of what type of agency should own strategy, planning, and buying. A traditional agency because TV spots can berepurposed? The OOH shop because it's just a digital version of a billboard? The interactive shopbecause it's digital, often interactive, and highly measurable? Or will a new class of DOOH specialtyshops emerge to deliver services explicitly for the channel? This lack of clarity creates uncertainty and hesitation in advertisers." -Jeremy Lockhorn, ClickZ 7/13/09 Digital Out-of-Home Landscape Brief (pdf)
This is an industry that is beginning to take off, just as internet-based advertising and web-design/user experience did during the 1990's. The number of players, and potential players, is growing.
Danoo: "Location scouting and scalable web technologies combined to create a targeted DOOH experience".
If you are tech-savy and a member of the digital signage/interactive display/AV end of things, you probably know what this means. If not, you should. Things are pairing, merging, and converging in the world of "out and about" technology.
Technology, especially digital signage, is ubiquitous, and has targeted you and your neighborhood.
So what's the fuss? A company from Danoo, from China, is ramping things up in the Digital Signage/DOOH (Digital Out of Home) arena. Fast.
Danoo has rapidly up with exisiting companies, such as National CineMedia, Blue Bite, Electronic Arts, and the HISTORY channel to create and push off-the-desktop and off-the-TV content and interactive user experiences.Bill Gerba, of Wirespring, and Manolo Almagro, CTO of Show + Tell in NYC (think Times Square digital signage experiences), and others have recently written about this phenomenon, right after Danoo released the following press announcement:
Danoo Inc Announces a Breakthrough in Mobile Content Delivery(7/11/09, Business Wire) "Danoo partnered with mobile technology company Blue Bite to enable the campaigns, and is actively rolling out its mobile interactivity capability to all of its venues. The first 200 Danoo locations will be live in Los Angeles and New York by July 1st. At full deployment, Danoo will give advertisers the ability to get their content into the hands of more than 200,000 consumers in an average two-week campaign. In addition to content downloads, Danoo offers multiple ways to pair its screens with mobile interactivity to maximize campaign effectiveness, such as SMS call-to-actions, social gaming and mobile application promotion."
"Visitors to Danoo locations viewed video content on Danoo’s digital screens accompanied by an on-screen prompt to download exclusive content such as sneak peeks and ringtones from their Bluetooth or Wi-Fi-enabled devices via the Danoo network."
Here are a few related articles: How Significant is the Danoo-IdeaCast-National CineMedia Deal? (7/14/09, Bill Gerba, Wirespring) A Watershed Moment for DOOH Media (7/12/09, Bill Collins, Daily DOOH)
Pictures from Danoo's Website:
Danoo's IdeaCast- "Captive TV".
I've probably encountered Danoo's technologies numerous times, judging from my archive of pictures of displays and related technologies that have crossed my path. The TV screen on the treadmill looks just like the one I saw on a treadmill in the fitness center of a Princess cruise ship last year. The picture in the middle looks like it was taken in an airport. The picture on the right is of a system in a coffeehouse. According to information on the Danoo website, the system is interactive and includes "content downloads, social gaming, mobile couponing and more via SMS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi".
Blue Bite's website is worth looking at. It demonstrates their concept very well through animation:
Things are ramping up in my region, too. T1 Tapas, a restaurant north of Charlotte, N.C., in the Birkdale Village in Huntersville, has majority owners with a technology background. Mike Feldman and Jim Morris started up Digital Optics Corporation, which focused on optics for computers and imaging, and after they sold their company, they teamed up with Denise Feldman to establish their company.
T 1 Connection Booth with Multi-User Touch Screen, HD TV, Sound System, Computer, & more: "T1 Connection Booth seating gives you access to music, photos, and videos through built-in touchscreen tabletops, brilliant monitors, speakers, and computers."-Picture and taken from the T 1 Tapas website
The restaraunt serves as a test bed for T 1 Visions to try out their software and hardware designed to enhance the digitally connected dining experience.The restaurant was featured in May of this year on CNN:
"Here’s a dilemma: The guy (”Hacker Croll”) who claims to have accessed hundreds of confidential corporate and personal documents of Twitter and Twitter employees, is releasing those documents publicly and sent them to us earlier today. The zip file contained 310 documents, ranging from executive meeting notes, partner agreements and financial projections to the meal preferences, calendars and phone logs of various Twitter employee".
I think issues related to privacy, security, ethics, and emerging/social technologies need to be discussed more extensively among academicians, industry leaders, students, and the general public. We don't know what we don't know.
