2008 ITP Thesis » Wilson, Kathy

Michael Dory

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Cities are filled with information — every street bleeds data in every conceivable form, emanating from taxis, sirens, conversations, not to mention the data flowing from every cell phone, laptop and music device. This sort of flood can’t possibly be parsed, leaving city dwellers to develop mental walls to protect themselves from the fire hose of data they’re bombarded by every day. But what do they miss? What’s happening in their immediate area that they can’t even become aware of?
This information deluge has sparked a push to visualize data in recent years, leading to some beautiful maps, diagrams and videos of areas and the facts they hold. Complex programs have been written to emulate the passage of data in nearly all walks of life. However, in nearly every case, these expressions exist only on paper and in computers — the average city-dweller has no reasonable access to this data; certainly not in their daily routine. What good is data that can’t be used?
My project aims to address this need with a series of small personal devices for interpreting the city. My objects are small, pocket-sized items that monitor for sounds we miss in our everyday lives, and display in real-time the audio events around us.

Tamara Olson

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Since well before the Hippie Trail of the 1970s, Bohemian twenty-somethings have wandered continents in search of low-budget lodging, scintillating conversation and the adrenaline rush that only exploring the unknown induces. But in addition to extra pairs of socks and the requisite Lonely Planet travel aid, today’s backpackers are devoting significant space in their packs to technological goodies. Meet the contemporary flashpacker: the technologically savvy Generation Y traveler who takes to the road seeking adventure, new friends—and Internet cafes.

The social networking boom and “Web 2.0” fostered an unprecedented relationship between people and computers as on- and off-line worlds blur into one. Ubiquitous social networking sites like Facebook are not merely virtual reality; they reflect and are intertwined with the concrete world around us.

Wanderlust is an online social networking space for backpackers that provides tools to plan and document trips and connect online with other travelers, as well as friends and family back home. With an aesthetic that reflects the authentic, kinetic, romanticized tenor of the culture in order to create a seamless integration of the site with real life, Wanderlust seeks to enrich the backpacker’s travel by encouraging both introspection and the social sharing of experiences.

Jong-Hwan Baek

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Whatever its form, much of today’s storytelling uses image in a variety of ways. Consider how movies, Flickr, television and the user-generated content on YouTube have changed the visual language of storytelling. Let’s imagine there are ten random images in front us, lined up in random order. If asked to make a story by assembling them into a narrative, could an average person in our visually-inspired culture do this? Will the story make sense? Probably yes. But images can tell only so much of a story. If we want to help them make the narrative more effective, we could add a more traditional storytelling tool: text. If they can now write text to each image, their story will make much more sense. Thus, by allowing people to combine images and text, they have the tools to create an image-driven story for modern tastes.

By keeping the image content simple, having the text content attached to each image, and allowing people to self-assign to their own groups, Interactive Storyteller seeks to maximize users’ collaborative ability while minimizing the incoherence resulting from other collaborative story processes.

Aislinn Dewey

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

A ubiquitous game interface, GOQuest, is designed to encourage children to participate in active play in supplement to traditional screen-based gaming. By connecting a child with a virtual avatar that is one of several animals, the child learns the impact of his/her physical exertion as it relates to his/her character’s game performance. In addition to motivating a child to participate in regular daily physical activity, GOQuest incorporates a parent’s participation. This unique element address the growing trend of obesity and its correlation between a parent and a child.

According to the American Obesity Association, nearly eighty percent of children with one overweight parent will also be overweight. Providing an input device, a lightweight heart-rate monitor, the users activity is recorded both independently and while participating in a shared physical activity. The child’s avatar is given energy faster if the child performs collaborative fitness activities with his/her parents, friends and peers.

If a child meets the daily fitness milestone that GOQuest has set (dependant on the age and weight of the child) they are able to use their earned energy in a virtual online game environment. In order to discourage prolonged static gaming in front of a computer screen, each gaming session is time restricted based on the amount of energy a child\’s avatar has. When the child is inactive and does not meet their milestone, their virtual avatar has no energy and therefore cannot compete competitively with other players online.

The portable heart-rate wristband that the child wears is an indication of his avatars energy status, game level and special abilities. The bracelet is equipped with a Bluetooth receiver so that the child’s recorded physical activities can be sent to an online database and then reflected in the gaming environment.

Connecting a child to a game avatar that reflects his/her physical performance teaches the benefits of being active while promoting healthy peer-to-peer gaming. GOQuest harnesses the viral appeal of virtual pets, online gaming and peer-to-peer social communication to motivate children, and in part their parents, to incorporate daily physical activity into their gaming habits and rituals.

Younghyun Chung

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone has the desire and the right to express themselves. People can draw pictures, play music, sing songs, move their bodies, write compositions or poems to express their feelings and emotions. However, not everyone can use these methods. There are many people who want to express themselves but cannot to do so because of physical disabilities. In this project, assistive technology including electronics, mechanics, and computer programming is applied to help those people to express themselves, and moreover, to provide an opportunity to be an artist.

Dave Gordon

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Using as my soul source material the 19th century still photos of Eadweard Muybridge I will create an animated original short (3 to 5 minute) narrative film exploring a woman\’s descent into her subconscious. Upon its completion this will be the oldest film ever made. I will also create a free, high resolution, online archive of all 781 photographic plaits of Muybridges \”Animal Locomotion\”. This will be the first time that this seminal work will be made easily available to the general public.

Scott Corrigan

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There is a subset of workers in the “creative class” who focus on creating new unique properties in the arts, film, gaming, fashion or advertising sectors. Creative thinking allows them to thrive. I think technology can assist these creative workforces in their thinking processes. I want to create a user-generated “concept association” database specifically for the advertising creative developer that requires each user to contribute their own unique creative associations to the database before they can use the system to help them meet their own creative needs. When fully functional, the system will grow in creative knowledge as it’s used to assist in creative thinking.

Neilson Abeel

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Vinegar Hill Dispatch is an Internet television show/videoblog that combines offbeat humor, personal stories and educational segments about the structure and history of the United States government. In addition, the show discusses current political events and links these to the historical/educational segments to help the viewer understand these events more fully.

Shin-Yi Huang

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mobile Karaoke is a mobile application using a Nokia phone and the J2ME programming language that allows users to sing karaoke with their mobile phone devices in a playful way. It requires players to sing along with the music in order to score points. In this application, a user can choose between three main modes: regular singing, shout out singing and recording music video.
In the regular singing mode, the user follows the song\’s pitch displayed as dots on different positions like a music staff. The singing should also correspond to the lyrics shown on the bottom of the screen. This application analyzes the player’s pitch and compares them to the original song track. The player gets scored based on how accurate the singing is. A high or low score determines the qualification to get into the next level.
In the shout out singing option, the user follows the regular singing\’s rule and has a chance to shout out some of the lyrics at different parts of the song. When the song comes to the shout out part, the player is scored base on how loud the singing is.
The game records videos of the player when they choose the recording music video function. This option is only available on phones with a built-in camera. Once the recording is complete, the video can then be saved to the cell phone memory and sent to friends or uploaded it to the Mobile Karaoke website. On the website, users can rate each others performances and choose the best singer and leave comments on other people\’s profiles.
Mobile Karaoke makes singing more playful and on the go. Not only does it let players sing when they are happy, but the shout out mode can also let players sing a song in a pressured or depressed moment to help them release their stresses. Moreover, with the video clips uploaded by users and the social networking components (rating/ voting/commenting the video) on the website, Mobile Karaoke seeks to bring the relation between people closer through sharing their feelings and experiences.

Amanda OBrien

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project based learning creatively incorporates all areas of study, both academically and artistically, into one collaborative, comprehensive project that fosters teamwork. The production of a claymation movie, falls under the umbrella of project based learning. Throughout the claymation process, children learn to: collaborate with one another, perform research, build authentic sets, design and create clothing, write scripts, complete storyboards, play music and/or select soundtracks, build and animate armature figures, organize and plan a project and complete an entire production cycle.

ClaymationForCurriculum is a blog that instructs teachers on both how to create a claymation film and how to incorporate claymation filmmaking into academic curriculum. The blog provides teachers with a detailed resource for implementation of this project and also provides a space for teachers to network and share.