This Exquisite Forest: Join this massive online, creative, interactive, participatory, collaborative narrative animation project, by Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin

"Right here, in your web browser, you may contribute to anyone's creation and steer it in any direction you choose, or start a story of your own, by creating a seed animation for a new tree. Our hope is through the collective creativity of the web, an ever-expanding forest of narrative paths will grow." -Chris Milk/Aaron Koblin

This Exquisite Forest is a collaborative art project by Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin, creators of the online Johnny Cash collaborative project. The Johnny Cash Project was a crowd-sourced music video for Johnny Cash's final album (see below).

What I like about this project is that it provides viewers with the opportunity to create animations that link with those of other people, online.  All of the tools to create animations and music are on the website, along with  clear instructions and FAQs.  You can even curate your own tree.

For those who take a less participatory approach to art, the project's website offers something called "The Endless Theater", where viewers can watch the most popular branches of This Exquisite Forest.



The project makes use of Google's App Engine. Google's Cloud Storage handles the accounts and data storage.   To access the project, you need Google's Chrome browser, as the project takes advantage of JavaScript and HTML5.

RELATED 

This Exquisite Forest Project

The Making of This Exquisite Forest

Sharing the Holiday Meme(s) - Christmas House Lights: 'Call Me Maybe'

It is trendy for people who love dancing Christmas lights and pop music to share their enthusiasm for both with their neighbors - and the world, via YouTube and other web spaces, as mentioned in a recent Mashable post: Battle of the 'Call Me Maybe" Christmas Lights  (Neha Prakash, 12/7/12)


NOTE:
Unfortunately, some of the videos I wanted to share can't be seen on my blog, because the music is UMG restricted.  Some of the other videos require viewers to sit through an ad before viewing.

RP-VITA, Dr. Roboto - Remote Control Telepresence Healthcare

Intouch Health, a company founded in 2002, provides remote presence solutions for health care, in the form of robots.

The latest robot developed by Intouch Health is RP Vita. It has environmental awareness that allows it to move around a hospital without bumping into people or things. The doctor controls the robot through the use of an iPad by pointing to where it should go. The patient sees the doctor's head displayed on a screen perched on the top of the robot, as depicted in the picture below:

It sounds a bit strange, but these robots are in many hospitals, and are useful in rural areas where there are few medical specialists.  

The presentation below explains the key points of the use of tele-robotics in medicine:

RP-VITA: A Glimpse at the Future of Healthcare Delivered Today: WIRED Health Conference, 10/16/12
Yulun Wang: Meet Dr. Roboto, Your New Bedside Caregiver from WIRED on FORA.tv

Augmented Human Conference '13 (ACM CHI) March 7th and 8th; CFP paper deadline Jan 8, 2013

Looks like a fascinating conference!

ACM SIGCHI 4th Augmented Human International Conference

Call for Papers
The 4th Augmented Human (AH) International Conference in cooperation with ACM SIGCHI will be held in Stuttgart, Germany, on March 7–8 2013, focusing on augmenting human capabilities through technology for increased well-being and enjoyable human experience. 

As in previous years, the conference proceedings will be published in the ACM Digital Library as a volume in its International Conference Proceedings Series with ISBN. 

Topics 

• Wearable Computing and Ubiquitous Computing 
• Bionics, Biomechanics, and Exoskeletons 
• Brain-Computer Interfaces, Muscle Interfaces, Implanted Interfaces 
• Sensors and Hardware 
• Smart Artifacts and Smart Textiles 
• Augmented Sport, Health, & Well-being, Training/Rehabilitation Technology 
• Augmented and Mixed Reality, Tourism and Games and Context-Awareness 
• Augmented Fashion and Art 
• Trust, Privacy, and Security of Augmented Human Technology 

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Submission Categories for Papers 

Full papers 8 pages, anonymized, 30 minutes presentation 
Short papers 4 pages, anonymized, 15 minutes presentation 
Demonstration papers 2 pages, anonymized, demonstration at conference 
Poster papers 2 pages, anonymized, presented at conference 
Art pieces 1–2 pages, not published, exhibited at conference 

The four paper categories will be published in the ACM digital library and follow the ACM paper format. We encourage authors to submit supporting video material in addition to the PDF submission. 

Important Dates 

• January 8, 2013      paper submission deadline 
• February 5, 2013    author notification 
• February 12, 2013  camera-ready and ACM copyright form due 
• March 7–8, 2013    scientific conference in Stuttgart 

Art and Exhibition 

Augmented Human 2013 will feature contributions by art researchers and practitioners. Artists participating and exhibiting at Augmented Human 2013 will have to be self-funded to attend the conference. 

All art pieces will be included in a video to be published on the Augmented Human YouTube channel. Additionally, an exhibition catalog will be published on the Augmented Human website, including full-page pictures and the descriptions provided by the authors. 

Submission of Art Pieces 

Authors may choose the format to present their art pieces for submission. The submission should include the requirements of space, light, electricity, and equipment.

Organizing Committee

General Chair:  Albrecht Schmidt, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Program Co-Chairs: Andreas Bulling, University of Cambridge, UK; Christian Holz, Hasso Plattner Institute, Germany

Musings about still-popular Interactive Multimedia Technology blog posts from the past...

I have been blogging for over six years now, and from time-to-time I like to take a look my Google Analytics stats.   A large chunk of the visitors to this blog come from the US, 


I've noticed that the following blog posts still get hits, even though they were written a while ago. I'm not sure why, but I think it would be helpful to revisit each one, clean up any broken links, and provide new information related to each topic.  It might take me a while.

Reader input is welcome!

Games to Lift Stress Away: Flower, flOw (and Cloud), from thatgamecompany (2009)
A number of people who do a search of the word "Flower" or "Flower Pictures"  find this blog post, every day.

Interactive multimedia for social skills, understanding feelings, relaxation and coping strategies, etc. (2006)
This post gets a lot of hits from people who work in K-12 settings, looking for "free online interactive social skills games" or something similar.  

Interactive Touch-Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It". (2008)
This is one of my rare "brain dump" posts. I noticed that in an attempt to update the post, I linked it to another post, written in 2010. 

The Children's Interactive Library: User Experience Design and the Library! (2009)
The Children's Interactive Library was a collaboration between Interactive Spaces, the Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, the Department for Design, Aarhus School of Architecture, and others. 

Yellowbird 6 lens 360 degree video camera creates web-based interactive videos. (2009)
I got the link from Harry Brignull, who blogs at 90 Percent of Everything. 

The 3D Evolution: Part I, Introduction (2010) Hmmmm 3D TV, where are we now? 
To find out, check out the 3D Guy blog.


Teliris InterAct TouchTable and TouchWall: Immersive Collaboration and Telepresence, DVE's Holographic Tele-Immersion Room
Since I wrote this post  in 2008, it has received over 7,000 page views from Malaysia.  Is it possible that I have a secret fan club there?  

Window Shopping in the Web Outside (2011)

William Forsythe's "Synchronous Objects - One Flat Thing, Reproduced" Multidisciplinary online interactive project: Translating choreography into new forms. (2009)
(I like this stuff.)

EpiCollect: A mobile app, useful for photo + data-collection "in the wild".

EpiCollect is an open-source project developed at Imperial College London, funded by the Wellcome Trust.  According to information posted on the project's website, "EpiCollect is a generic data collection tool that allows you to collect and submit geotagged data forms (along with photos) to a central project website (hosted using Google's App Engine) from suitable mobile phones (Android or iPhone). For example, questionnaires, surveys, etc.  All data synchronised (ie a copy sent from the phone) from multiple phones can then be viewed/charted/filtered at the project website using Google Maps/Earth or downloaded. Furthermore, data can be requested and viewed/filtered from the project website directly on your phone using Google Maps." -EpiCollect


(Credit:  EpiCollect Website)

EpiCollect makes use of web API's such as Google Maps, Google Charts, Google Talk, and KML Specifiction, and JavaScript Libraries such as JQuery, script.aculo.us, ExtJS, and Mapstraction.  It runs on the Google AppEngine server, and is available for Android and iPhone.

I think that EpiCollect would be a useful interactive tool for use in education, K-12 and above.  It would be ideal for students working on group projects, such as environmental study.  For young children, a simple assignment might include taking pictures and data about  birds, animals, trees, cloud formations, or even litter, as part of a class project.  Since the data includes photographs, the students could create an end product in the form of an interactive multimedia presentation, available for other students - as well as parents- to view on the web, accessed from any web-enabled device.

HCI research teams could use these tools when observing people using various technologies in public spaces, such as malls, airports, special events, as well as in stores, eateries, and entertainment settings.  

I would be interested in learning more about the use of this application in HCI and K-12 education!

RELATED
EpiCollect Website
EpiCollect Instructions
EpiCollect Instructions (pdf)
The Sight of Road Kill Makes a Pretty, Data-Rich Picture (NPR All Tech Considered)
Note: Audio from the above December 2, 2012 episode can be found on the NPR Weekend Edition Sunday website after 12:00 PM ET on 12/2/12
Mobile app sees science go global  (BBC article)
App for Android Puts Laboratories on Your Phone (Tree Hugger article)
Scientific Data Collection Goes Mobile (Discovery News article)

Paper: EpiCollect: Linking Smartphones to Web Applications for Epidemiology, Ecology and Community Data Collection (PLos One 4(9), 2009)

David M. Aanensen, Derek M. Huntley, Edward J. Feil, Fada'a al-Own, Brian G. Spratt

Conclusion from the above paper:

"Data collection frameworks utilising mobile phones with data submission to and from central databases are widely applicable and can give a field worker similar display and analysis tools on their mobile phone that they would have if viewing the data in their laboratory via the web. We demonstrate their utility for epidemiological data collection and display, and briefly discuss their application in ecological and community data collection. Furthermore, such frameworks offer great potential for recruiting ‘citizen scientists’ to contribute data easily to central databases through their mobile phone."