Simply put, I wanted to use the phone as a gateway into something different, yet still very social, and enjoyable. Slot cars have existed in one form or another for many years now, and whilst simple, they invoke a great sense of play.

I want to see how the incorporation of the telephone as a controller alters this play. Will people try to collaborate or compete to crash the cars? (most likely) Will people try to chant to keep a steady pace? Will adults enjoy it as much or more than children?

Ultimately I hope people leave the project thinking differently about play and the telephone, as well as having a great smile on their face.

The Weekend Guide

Penultimater
What: Take part in the “greatest mobile novel ever attempted” by texting the next line of the story (just subscribe and you’ll be prompted).

See what it is all about for yourself: Penultimater

Jury Hahn’s Thesis Project MegaPhone is featured in this month’s Wired Magazine: Making Cell Phone Games a Public Spectacle

Next time you’re in Times Square, put on your game face. You may be able to challenge the weirdos around you to a videogame on MTV’s big-screen billboard. The controller? Your cell phone.

This service allows ITP Gallery visitors to \”tag\” projects and save information for later. It pulls project information from the ITP Project Database via an RSS feed and returns a text message with the project title, associated student names, and the project\’s link. The information is automatically shortened by limiting the title to 30 characters, replacing full names with first initial+last name, and using http://is.gd to make a small URl. Additionally, a user can pass her email address, and an HTML e-mail is sent with a lot more information. To tag a project, a user simply texts the projectID to the Textmarks service (41411) like this:

itpedia gallery XXXX [email@address.com]

(Remember, the email address is only required if they want to get an email back.)

For example, you can retrieve information about my project, The Naked Pixel, by texting \”itpedia gallery 1988\” or \”itpedia gallery 1988 your_email@address.com\” to 41411.

This service allows ITP Gallery visitors to \”tag\” projects and save information for later. It pulls project information from the ITP Project Database via an RSS feed and returns a text message with the project title, associated student names, and the project\’s link. The information is automatically shortened by limiting the title to 30 characters, replacing full names with first initial+last name, and using http://is.gd to make a small URl. Additionally, a user can pass her email address, and an HTML e-mail is sent with a lot more information. To tag a project, a user simply texts the projectID to the Textmarks service (41411) like this:

itpedia gallery XXXX [email@address.com]

(Remember, the email address is only required if they want to get an email back.)

For example, you can retrieve information about my project, The Naked Pixel, by texting \”itpedia gallery 1988\” or \”itpedia gallery 1988 your_email@address.com\” to 41411.

The idea that an autobiography can not only be of a person but also of data, ideas, concepts or other inanimate objects is of interest to us. We are interested in looking at how certain ideas have prevailed on the web over the years.

The generative book attempts to be a narrative object that elicits such ideas/concepts/identities that have existed on the web for years and that which continue to be produced or appended to by people in present day cyberspace. The book uses an entered word to expand and search for related content on the web. It uses a lexical database to expand the entered word into many more related keywords which are then used to query data from the internet using public APIs and scraping. Some our sources of information are blogs, social networking sites, color directories etc.

The program then graphically lays out the contents into PDF books which can be printed. Every time the program is run it produces a unique book. No one book produced by this program is the same. It renders layouts, spreads, colours, type and other graphic elements depending on a set of relationships built from the queried data.

Bintel Vox is a prototype for an interactive application for Bluetooth enabled mobile phones. Bintel Vox, \”bundle of voices\”, is a fantasy word based on Yiddish and Latin.

Listen to voices of the past asking you for directions. The real life owners of these voices are at a crossroad of their lives in early 20th century New York, often in emotional distress. Listen to them and get immersed in their stories. Follow the prompts on your cell phone to leave a message with your advice. Voicemails are collected on the bintelvox.com website.

We invite people to use our application for bluetooth enabled cell phones at historically charged locations on the Lower East Side. Our goal is to provide a mobile educational tool and prompt playful empathy with voices of the past.

The original \”Bintel Brief\” letters, sent to the editor of the Jewish Daily Forward from 1906, are dated documents. The texts reflect personal and social problems, religious, political and cultural difficulties of new immigrants in the early 20th century. While the content of these letters may seem strange for today\’s listeners, with their tone of intimacy they can still reach out and connect with listeners of our time.

Bintel Vox is a prototype for an interactive application for Bluetooth enabled mobile phones. Bintel Vox, \”bundle of voices\”, is a fantasy word based on Yiddish and Latin.

Listen to voices of the past asking you for directions. The real life owners of these voices are at a crossroad of their lives in early 20th century New York, often in emotional distress. Listen to them and get immersed in their stories. Follow the prompts on your cell phone to leave a message with your advice. Voicemails are collected on the bintelvox.com website.

We invite people to use our application for bluetooth enabled cell phones at historically charged locations on the Lower East Side. Our goal is to provide a mobile educational tool and prompt playful empathy with voices of the past.

The original \”Bintel Brief\” letters, sent to the editor of the Jewish Daily Forward from 1906, are dated documents. The texts reflect personal and social problems, religious, political and cultural difficulties of new immigrants in the early 20th century. While the content of these letters may seem strange for today\’s listeners, with their tone of intimacy they can still reach out and connect with listeners of our time.

What: A physical installation in Union Square, New York City, as well as an accompanying website. The physical installation consists of an electronic display, a microphone & speakers, and a laptop running a special software application. The event will have three methods of interaction.

1) Speaking: Speakers get three minutes to talk. They will also have a portion of the display showing their name, their chosen topic/subject/question/whatever, and their time remaining.

2) Voting: The crowd is prompted to vote (via cellphone) on whether the speaker should have more time, or if it is time for a new speaker. As long as a speaker keeps a (growing) majority of the votes, he keeps the mic. The software makes it so that speakers have to win an increasing majority each round, in order to tip the scales towards new voices. But, if a speaker is compelling/interesting, it’s possible he could retain the mic for 15 minutes or more.

3) Live Response: Between one speaker and the next, there will be an opportunity for audience members to respond to the speaker (or talk about whatever they want) live, for up to 30 seconds at a time, by calling a designated local number using their cellphones (or a phone provided onsite).

This event is open to any member of the public who wishes to speak. The allowed formats, topics, and any other rules of the event (including whether or not there should be rules) are going to be debated & determined on the website during the two weeks preceding the event. All are welcome to participate.

When: The event will occur on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, from 4-8pm. The debate about content & formats is ongoing. The intent is to hold recurring events approximately every two weeks all through the summer, leading up to the election in November. This, however, depends on NYC Parks’ Department permission.

Where: Union Square (map), New York City. Online at www.AskUnionSquare.com

How: The software application is a collection of PHP scripts that interact with Asterisk, an open source PBX (Public Branch Exchange). Asterisk routes incoming phone calls to different extensions, and depending on the desired interaction, actions a different PHP script to execute it.

What: A physical installation in Union Square, New York City, as well as an accompanying website. The physical installation consists of an electronic display, a microphone & speakers, and a laptop running a special software application. The event will have three methods of interaction.

1) Speaking: Speakers get three minutes to talk. They will also have a portion of the display showing their name, their chosen topic/subject/question/whatever, and their time remaining.

2) Voting: The crowd is prompted to vote (via cellphone) on whether the speaker should have more time, or if it is time for a new speaker. As long as a speaker keeps a (growing) majority of the votes, he keeps the mic. The software makes it so that speakers have to win an increasing majority each round, in order to tip the scales towards new voices. But, if a speaker is compelling/interesting, it’s possible he could retain the mic for 15 minutes or more.

3) Live Response: Between one speaker and the next, there will be an opportunity for audience members to respond to the speaker (or talk about whatever they want) live, for up to 30 seconds at a time, by calling a designated local number using their cellphones (or a phone provided onsite).

This event is open to any member of the public who wishes to speak. The allowed formats, topics, and any other rules of the event (including whether or not there should be rules) are going to be debated & determined on the website during the two weeks preceding the event. All are welcome to participate.

When: The event will occur on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, from 4-8pm. The debate about content & formats is ongoing. The intent is to hold recurring events approximately every two weeks all through the summer, leading up to the election in November. This, however, depends on NYC Parks’ Department permission.

Where: Union Square (map), New York City. Online at www.AskUnionSquare.com

How: The software application is a collection of PHP scripts that interact with Asterisk, an open source PBX (Public Branch Exchange). Asterisk routes incoming phone calls to different extensions, and depending on the desired interaction, actions a different PHP script to execute it.