I came across the video of the following "5 Rules" presentation on Long Zheng's "I Started Something" blog. This presentation created by Duarte, a company that focuses on visual stories and corporate branding. The presentation can be found embedded in the public beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 Microsoft Office 2010. The new version of PowerPoint features a DirectX-powered graphics engine, which supports smooth animations.
The concepts shared in the presentation are useful for students, teachers, and anyone else who has the challenge of creating an engaging and meaningful presentation. At the end of the video, the last slides provide more specific "how-to" information regarding the nuts and bolts of putting together a quality presentation. You'll probably need to view the presentation Office 2010 Beta in the PowerPoint format if you have the urge to dig deeper. You can find it in the Sample Templates section.
Duarte's Five Rules for Creating World-Changing Presentations
A recent post by Tracy Swedlow, an owner/author at Interactive TV Today, highlights how it has been used to shoot video of hockey as well as music experiences in her article: Immersive Media Powers 360 Degree Interactive Video for CBC/Radio Canada and MTV Networks (12/8/09) Tracy also mentions that the recent MTV-U Woodie Awards performances were filmed in 360 degree video by Immersive Media, and can be viewed on-line.
It is worth taking a look at the videos, even if you aren't interested in the performers!
At any point in the 360 video, you can pan around to see that moment as it happened, from every direction. You can look at the excited audience, the video art backdrop, the lights bouncing off the drum-set, parts of the ceiling or the floor of the stage. Each time you view the video, you can have a different experience.
Below are a couple of screen shots of the performances, with links to the MTV-U Woodie Awards website, where you can watch the videos. The first screen shot shows is a picture of the lay-out. Viewers can choose their point-of-view by clicking and dragging on the video as it is in motion, or by moving the point-of-view selection box in the panel below the video.
Note: I stopped the video to look around the 360 panorama as a still picture, but when clicked to view the rest of the performance, the music kept playing, but the video did not continue. This is probably a kink that needs to be worked out. Panning around the video during the action was not a problem.
In the Charlotte Observer today, I came across an article about the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra- via the New York Times:
Musicians push edge of computer music with iPhone Stanford orchestra turns popular songs into elaborate electronic renditions
I remembered that I'd posted about this previously nearly a year ago: Play a flute by blowing on your iPhone! In that post, I discussed an iPhone app by Smule called "Ocarina". (If you follow the link to the post, you can view a video of some folks playing a version of Stairway to Heaven on their iPhones.)
Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra (MoPhO) A bit of background information:
Smule is company started by Ge Wang, an assistant professor of music at Stanford who is the director of the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra. He also directs the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk), and previously was involved with the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, known as PLOrk. (Perry Cook, the author of Real Sound Synthesis for Interactive Applications, is one of the directors of PLOrk.)
Ge Wang's Ph.D. work was on ChucK, an audio programming language for "real-time synthesis, composition, performance, and analysis, supported on Mac0S X, Windows, and Linux. To celebrate Ge Wang's thesis, Perry Cook wrote Everybody Hack ChucK Tonight (.mp3), to the tune of "Everybody Wang Chung Tonight". The lyrics explain what the ChucK program is all about.
Ge Wang is teaching Mobile Music (Music, Computing, and Design II) at Stanford during the Spring 2010 semester. His department is affiliated with CCRMA, the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. (CCRMA offers non-credit week-long workshops each summer, open to the public. Maybe there will be a workshop on mobile music next summer!)
A study in January of 2005 by Nokia indicated that there was a demand for interactive mobile multimedia services. That study was conducted about five years ago, before anyone had heard of the iPhone! The technology to support interactive mobile multimedia has come a long way since then, and many of the new applications support multi-touch, or at least duo touch interactivity.
I'm very much interested in figuring out how to design web-based interactive content (and apps) that can be optimized for touch (and multi-touch/gesture) screens of various sizes, from SmartPhones/iPhones to the large interactive whiteboards that are now in a multitude of classrooms.
From my experience as a school psychologist, I know that there are many teens who have graduated from traditional cell phone to the next level. If they don't have an iPhone, they have a smart phone. I don't have the statistics on this, but my personal observations tell me that there are teens who come from families who are from lower economic status who are somehow able to own 3G smartphones.
What a great opportunity to provide casual interactive multimedia educational games to support student learning! The games and activities could be assigned as homework from time to time, and with the appropriate LMS (Learning Management System), the teacher would have instant access to student progress. In addition, the students would be provided with immediate feedback about their "work", which we know is an important factor in learning.
It is difficult to figure out the best path to forge, since nearly every week someone announces a new platform, technology, and programming approach!
At any rate, here are a few interesting things related to this topic that I'd like to share. Many of these concepts are in the experimental phase, but are worth some attention.
SciLor's Comments: I have manged it to get Multitouch running in an vb.net app :)
There are still some bugs, which have to be resolved:
-Stop auto alignment!
-Identify the "Touches"
Google I/O 2009: Mastering the Android Media Framework
AT&T Interactive Mobile Website
Satellite-Terrestrial Network Delivering Mobile Video with Interactive Services - ICO mim
"Urban Screens are dynamic digital displays and visual interfaces located within urban public spaces. They include LED screens and signs, plasma screens, information terminals and projection surfaces as well as intelligent architectural surfaces and media facades...Urban Screens transform the capacity of public spaces to serve as a platform for user-generated civic and cultural expression, community building, multiculturalism and public engagment in issues related to social, cultural and environmental sustainability....Through networking, content sharing and joint broadcasting, they constitute a rapidly expanding and still largely experimental global multimedia infrastructure for commercial and cultural exchange.""The IUSA aims to inform and support the ‘worldwide Urban Screens movement’: the expanding use of dynamic digital displays in public spaces; their considerate and sustainable integration in the urban landscape; and the ability for screen communities to collaborate in the digital space to share content, experience, ideas, innovations and emerging possibilities." Book:Media Facades: History, Technology and Content, M.Hank Haeusler
