Jonathan Jarvis: Crisis of Credit Animated Short; Interactive Oracles

Jonathan Jarvis created a series of animated shorts as a project for his work as a graduate student in the Media Design Program at Art Center College of Design. He started exploring the concept of system diagrams and integrated them into motion interactions.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

(Note: Someone commented about the negative way the family who represents sub-prime mortgage holders was depicted in the short.)

Related Economic Sounds:
The short was influenced by information from the following "This American Life" radio broadcasts.

Click on the following links to listen to the broadcasts:
Another Frightening Show About the Economy
Transcript (pdf)
The Giant Pool of Money
Transcript (pdf)


More about Jonathan Jarvis:
Crisis of Credit Project Page
The back story behind Jonathan's work on the Crisis of Credit Project, with story board scenes and his research sketch of the Crisis of Credit system diagram.
Jonathan's Website
Jonathan's Global Storytelling Project (pdf)

Jonathan worked on concept development, interface design & content development with a team for a multi-touch project, Interactive Oracles, for Acura:


(Some of the information is cross-posted on the Economic Sounds and Sights blog.)

More Multi-Touch and Surface Computing...

The concept of multi-touch/gesture/surface computing is spreading.

Here's more evidence:

Panasonic Touch Air Hockey


The game was demonstrated at ISE 2009 (Integrated Systems) Amsterdam. The interface was developed by UI Centric, a Soho, London company.

Microsoft's SurfaceWare at the Tangible Embedded Interactions Conference (TEI 2009):

SurfaceWare is a level-sensing software that alerts waitstaff when glasses need refilling.


Photos from Nachiket Apte, via Ru Zarin

More to come...

Ready for the SMARTTable?

The Smart Table is now available for purchase!



Here is the plug:

"The world's first multitouch, multiuser table for primary education - the SMART Table - is now available for purchase.Order the SMART Table"

"As a collaborative learning center, the SMART Table enables engaging and motivating small-group learning experiences. Up to eight students can use their fingers intuitively to sweep, slide and spin objects on the interactive screen. The SMART Table's ready-made activities help primary students gain and further their skills in areas like counting and reading."

"The SMART Table also makes an ideal complement to whole-class activities on the SMART Board^™ interactive whiteboard. It helps reinforce concepts in a small-group setting and ensures students can participate in interactive and creative learning experiences."

(Cross-posted on the TechPsych and Technology-Supported Human-World Interaction blogs.)

Interactive Displays 2009 Conference: Tuesday, April 21 -Thursday April 23, Hilton San Jose, California

The Interactive Displays Conference, sponsored by Intertech Pira, will highlight an interesting mix of existing and emerging interactive display technologies and applications. The conference will be held at the Hilton in San Jose, California, from Tuesday, April 21st through Thursday, April 23rd.

The pre-conference seminar will feature Sakuya Morimoto, of CANESTA, who will present his company's innovative single-chip 3D image sensor technology that supports gesture interaction.
Keynote speakers will be Jeff Han, of Perceptive Pixel, and Steven Bathiche, of Microsoft US.

Some Highlights:

Pre-conference Seminar: Gesture Navigation in the World of Digital Contents, Enabled by a Single-Chip 3D Image Sensor Presenter: Sakuya Morimoto, Senior Director, Business Development in Asia, CANESTA, Japan

Related:
Hitachi at CES 2009: Use of Canesta's 3D sensor to control television and home systems using hand gestures.


"With the wave of a hand, with the shake of a hand, you can control volume, you can actually change the channels, watch your favorite program...the most exciting thing, I think, is that you can actually control your temperature and the lighting in the room, the environmental lighting. So..it is very unique technology that is out there.."

Another demonstration of Hitachi's gesture interaction using the Canesta's 3=D Depth camera:



When a TV Remote is Just Too Much Effort, Wave -Jennifer Bergen, PC Magazine
CANESTA Corporate Fact Sheet (pdf)

How does Canesta's Electronic Perception Technology Work?
"Canesta’s electronic perception technology forms 3-D, real time moving images in a single chip through patented methods which use light photons to “range” the image, similar to radar. The silicon sensor chip develops 3-D depth maps at a rate in excess of 30 frames per second, and then performs additional processing on these depth maps to resolve the images into application specific information that can easily be processed by embedded processor(s) in the end-use device or machine. Since Canesta’s software starts with a three-dimensional view of the world, provided immediately by the hardware, it has a substantial advantage over classical image processing software that struggles to construct three-dimensional representations using complex mathematics, and images from multiple cameras or points of view. This dramatic reduction in complexity makes it possible to embed the processing software directly into the chips themselves so they may be used in the most cost-conscious applications."


I will highlight some of the featured presentations in future blog posts:

Steven Bathiche, Director of Research, Applied Sciences Group, Entertainment and Devices Division MICROSOFT, US
Guillaume Largillier, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder, STANTUM, France
Jeff Han, PERCEPTIVE PIXEL, US
Mark Fihn, Publisher, VERITAS ET VISUS, US
Derek Mitchell, Conference Producer, INTERTECHPIRA, US
Vinita Jakhanwal, Principal Analyst, Small/Medium Displays, ISUPPLI CORPORATION, US
Joseph Carsanaro, President and CEO F-ORIGIN, US
Tommi Ilmonen, CEO MULTITOUCH OY, Finland
Stephen Sedaker, Director of Component Sales WACOM TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION, US
Brad Gleeson, Managing Director, Business Development TARGETPATH GLOBAL LLC., US
Henry Kaufman, President and Founder, TACTABLE, US
Christophe Ramstein, Chief Technology Officer, IMMERSION CORPORATION, US
Mary Lou Jepsen, CEO, PIXEL QI, US
John Newton, Chief Technology Officer, NEXTWINDOW, New Zealand
Herve Martin, CEO, SENSITIVE OBJECT, France
Scott Hagermoser, Gaming Business Unit Manager 3M TOUCH SYSTEMS, US
Bob Cooney, Vice President, Business Development, ECAST, US
Brent Bushnell, Chief Technology Officer UWINK, US
Stephan Durach, Head, Technology Office, BMW GROUP, US
Jeff Doerr, Senior Manager, Business Development Self Service Solutions Group, FLEXTRONICS, US
Andy Wilson, Senior Researcher, Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group, MICROSOFT, US
Mats W. Johansson, Chief Executive Officer, EON REALITY, US
Lenny Engelhardt, Vice President for Business Development, N-TRIG, Israel
Dr Paul Diefenbach, Director, RePlay Lab, DREXEL UNIVERSITY, US
Andrew Hsu, Technical Marketing and Strategic Partnerships Manager, SYNAPTICS, US
Dean LaCoe, Business Development Manager, GESTURETEK, Canada
Keith Pradhan, Global Director of Product Management, TYCO ELECTRONICS, ELO TOUCHSYSTEMS, US
Jerry Bertrand, Managing Member/Acting CEO, MICROSCENT, LLC, US
Frederic Kaplan, CEO and Co-Founder, OZWE, Switzerland

Related

Visionary Jeff Han and Microsoft's Steven Bathiche to Keynote at Interactive Displays 2009

Tangible Embedded Interaction '09 Conference - Wish I could go!

I really wish I could attend the Tangible and Embedded Interaction '09 conference in the UK! All of the sessions look intriguing:

Session One: "Embedded Artifacts, Garments, and Environments"
Session Two: "New Perspectives and Theories on Tangibility"
Session Three: "Tangible and Embedded Interaction - in the Lab and in the Wild"
Session Four: "Tabletop Tangibles and Augmented Surfaces"
Session Five: "Enabling Technologies and Design Techniques"
Demo and Poster Session 1
Demo and Poster Session 2

Keynote Speakers
Tom Igoe (Physical Computing, NYU) (I'd love to take Igoe's Physical Computing class.)

Tom Igoe on Physical Computing at Ignite NYC


Durrel Bishop (Luckybite)

Durrell Bishop's interview in Bill Moggridge's book, Designing Interactions, Chapter 8: Multisensory and Multimedia

Invited Talk
Ayah Bdeir
Bdeir's littleBits Intro:

littleBits intro from ayah bdeir on Vimeo.

Tangible Embedded Interaction '09 Program Guide (pdf)

Update on Accessibility and Interactive Games

It has been a while since I shared information about accessible games. If you are a parent of a child or teen with a disability, if you have a disability, or if you hope to keep on gaming through your golden years no matter what ails you, keeping an eye on innovations in this field is worth your time.

The following descriptions are from the IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group blog:

Global Assisitive Technology Wiki - AbilityNet Gate

Via One Switch:
"AbilityNet have put together a wonderful open project called the Global Assisitve Technology Wiki or GATE for short. In their words:

"GATE is actually a Wiki, which is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. It's a little like Wikipedia, but just concentrating on assistive technology. GATE is very simple to use, with a control panel enabling you to add content and more. More about Wikis . . .

This wiki has been created by AbilityNet, the UK's largest provider of advice and information on all aspects of Access to technology. The purpose of the wiki is to provide live and up to date information on all aspects of Assistive Technology."

"A really good place to start is their Switch Systems entry here. They are lacking their own accessible games section so hopefully someone (maybe me) will take up the gauntlet for that soon."

Mystic Mine Multi-player One Switch Game

"Just released this February - Mystic Mine is now available to buy on-line at Koonsolo for $19.95 (use www.xe.com for a currency conversion). It is massive fun as a multi-player game and highly recommended by OneSwitch.org.uk. If I had an all time top 10 list of one-switch games this would be a strong contender to make the list. Free demo version available here. Sweet." -posted by One-Switch Games on the Game Accessibility blog

Subtitles: Increasing Game Accessibility (Link to GamaSutra article)

Sip/Puff Mobile Phone Games?

"Pantech is one of three giant mobile phone manufacturers in Korea, among them Samsung and LG. Pantech sold over 10 million phones internationally in 2008, and under the "Sky" brand in the local market. Now, it's about to launch a blow-controlled mobile phone, the IM-S410K, which is also known as the Sky Wind." "Looks like it's got potential for some fun accessible games using sip/puff control." Link Via: Thomas Westin at IGDA GASIG Mailing List, via OneSwitch Games

Stevie Wonder calls for accessible technology

"Stevie Wonder is calling for greater access in technology: "[technology] being more accessible is always a plus and I think really, for various companies ... making it exciting and accessible for people who can see, it would take very little to make it accessible to everyone. So I encourage all the manufacturers to do that."

"When you can ... make it accessible and make it possible, you should just include that in the overall picture. ". Link via: Mike Taylor of Excitim.

Accessible Games Controller Video



Games for Health Trailer

GASIG Links

• IGDA
• IGDA GASIG
• IGDA GASIG Mailing List
• AbleGamers
• Accessible Gaming Shop
• AGRIP
• Audio Games
• D-Gamer
• Deaf Gamers
• Game-Accessibility.com
• Games[cc]
• Help You Play
• OneSwitch.org.uk
• OneSwitch.org.uk Blog
• Pin Interactive
• Retro Remakes
• Robert Florio
• UA-Games
• 7-128 Software

Game Accessibility Forums

• AbleGamers
• Audio Games
• Deaf Gamers
• Eye Tracker Forum
• IGDA GASIG
• Game-Accessibility

Other Links from the GASIC blog:

• Alt-Controls.com
• AssistiveGaming.com
• COGAIN
• Future Making Serious Games
• Game Forward
• The Gaming Kitsune
• NAMCO Rehabilitainment
• Special Effect
• Tera-Kirk Blog