SPENT is an online serious game that is a result of a collaboration between the ad agency McKinney and Urban Ministries of Durham, N.C. The game was launched this month to help increase community awareness about the needs of people who have been negatively impacted by the on-going economic crisis - people who have lost jobs, the under-employed, and the homeless.
The factoids provided in the game are based on data (see link below). One goal for presenting this information is to help players sift through the myths they might be carrying around in their heads about poverty and the realties that many people face every day.
The game offers players the opportunity to take on different roles, make tough decisions, and see the results of these decisions.
"Interaction and interface designers can learn practical lessons from the interfaces in Science Fiction films and television. Though lacking rigorous engagement with users, production designers are nonetheless allowed to develop influential "blue-sky" examples that are inspiring, humorous, prophetic, useful, and can be incorporated into "real" work to make online, mobile, and ubiquitous interfaces more interesting and more successful. This book will share lessons and examples culled from imaginative interfaces free from traditional constraints. In addition, the authors will outline their process of investigation and describe a toolkit for others to make similar explorations into other domains."
Nathan Shedroff is the chair of the new MBA in Design Strategy program at California College of the Arts. Chris Noessel is an interaction design director at Cooper.
Scott Sona Snibbe, an interactive artist, created a large-scale video installation on twenty-nine connected HD displays that curved around at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at the LAX airport in 2010. The video tells a story of groups of people traveling through an airport who eventually begin dancing in interesting ways.
Francesca Penzani was the choreographer for this project. Noah Cunningham was responsible for the cinematography, editing, and post-production.
RELATED SNIBBE INTERACTIVE The Snibbe Interactive website has lots of great photos and videos of the company's work.
"It’s easy to forget that the computer mouse is over 45 years old."
"What’s not as easy to forget is that we’re now collectively getting used to interacting with computers via means and interfaces that have moved way beyond the keyboard and the mouse — the iPhone and Wii being the most prominent examples."
"The truth is that we stand on the verge of a major revolution in the models of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). A revolution that will fly right past academic and into a world of retail, medical, gaming, military, public event, sporting, personal and marketing applications."
"From multi-touch to motion capture to spatial operating environments, over the next 10 years, everything we know about HCI will change."
"Blur is the only conference that is exploring the line of interaction between computers and humans in a substantive, real-world and hands-on way."
"At Blur, vendors, strategists, buyers and visionaries assemble to not only discuss the larger issues of HCI, but also to lay their hands on the latest in HCI technology. Blur is the only forum for a focused, hands-on exploration of the varied technologies evolving in the HCI."
"Come play, investigate, learn and apply at Blur — where we’re changing how you interact with computers forever." -Blur
BLUR Conference Agenda (Note: I added the links to conference participants and/or their organizations. Feel free to leave a comment if you know of any corrections or better links!) Keynotes:
Neuroergonomics: How an Understanding of the Brain is Changing the Practice of Human Factors Engineering - Dr. Kay Stanney, Design Interactive
When I saw the new Radiohead video, Lotus Flower, featuring a dancing Thom Yorke, I wondered how his moves might play out in a dance application for the Kinect or Wii.
Wouldn't it be fun to figure out a way to represent the dance "steps" in this video? Just a thought.
"The Web of Things is a community of developers, researchers, and designers that explore the future of the physical Web. We explore how to leverage Web standards to interconnect all types of embedded devices (sensors, mobile phones, etc), in order to make them easier to use and to integrate in classic Web applications. We aim to build a future Web of devices that is truly open, flexible, and scalable, and we believe Web standards are the best way to do it."
