MomoSho: Mobile technology: art or science?

The second Mobile Monday Shoreditch (and my first). I think Helen (@technokitten) is aiming for these sessions to have an edgier, less corporate feel than the bigger Mobile Monday London events. The sofas for the panel certainly made it feel more intimate — and there were many fewer suits in the audience than at the typical Momolo. I’ll be coming back!

Vic Keegan

http://www.victorkeegan.com/ @vickeegan

• used to write technology for the Guardian
• now focussing on poetry and other creations
• http://www.shakespearesmonkey.com
  
  • been going for 15 years!
  • still hasn’t come up with any poetry :-)
• SMS poetry competition at The Guardian
  
  • got people writing who had never written a poem before
• artwork in Second Life & Inworldz
  
  • re-enacting Da Vinci’s Last Supper with avatars of women
  • garden with artistic trees

Alfie Dennen

@Alfie

• QR codes feel clunky
• Layar is pretty but do you use it after the first couple of times?
• Google Glasses
  
  • hipster nightmare - being followed by a million bots
• bionic contacts
  
  • closer than you think: a man already has an electronic camera eye!
• makies
  
  • can extend with arduino & raspberry pi
• the whole of human history has been about craft
  
  • we’ve stopped crafting in the last couple of generations
  • 3D printing may be bringing this back
• Bus Tops
  
  • computer art in local context
  • project unfortunately coming to an end
• Big Art Mob
  
  • attempt to catalogue all public art in the world
• Street Ghosts
  
  • take pictures of people from street view and paint them on the wall of the actual place
• mobile is more an extension of computing into ubiquitous technology than anything different by itself

Panel

• Chair: Helen Keegan, @technokitten
• Vic Keegan
• Alfie Dennen
• Andrew Bennet: Mobile Lead @ Burberry
• James Nash: Symbian > Nokia > Accenture / Developer > UX @c1rrus
• Brett King: Head of Tech @ a•mo•bee

Creativity

• AB: agile & lean seem to get rid of creativity - it’s seen as waste
• JN: coding is creating too, not just visual
• BK: anyone can create something now
• AD: it normally just starts with a stupid idea!
• BK: always looking to innovate within boundaries
  
  • would love to start with just a crazy idea but would probably get lynched!
• JN: boundaries & constraints often inspire creativity
  
  • demoscene, 5K awards
• AB: a creative person should know their tools
  
  • just coming up with an idea and having no idea how to make it doesn’t work as well

Alfie: “All mobile art is shit!”

• AD: the art for mobile should involve using the sensors that make mobile different from desktop — otherwise just digital art
• VK: not completely true: using a phone to draw & zoom in to add detail
  
  • also poems made for phones — short and fit the screen
• JN: Japan has lots of book written for and on mobiles
  
  • Jürgen Scheible mobispray: virtual spray can using a projector and an N95
• AB: for me, art is in a room with lighting
• BK: guy using darts to recreate a Jackson Pollock style piece of artwork that others can join in to create

Creativity

• BK: iAd platform hooking into gestures & gyroscope
  
  • improving engagement
  • recent project — recreating a universe with gyroscope: achieved 90s engagement per unit
• AB: brand slickness can get in the way of creativity — afraid to show things internally without making the UI slick
• JN: a lot of people have a hard time imagining low-fi mockups as the real thing

Ilicco Elia: has anyone seen any decent mobile ads?

• Mobile is like TV advertising at the beginning — started as presenters reading out adverts on air
  
  • seems to be web ads squeezed down into mobile screen
• JN: South Korea — lunchtime sun sculpture
  
  • at noon, the shadows made a QR code that gave you a voucher
• BK: hooking in to where am I and what is my context?
  
  • how can consumers create content that feeds into the campaign?
• AB: don’t want banners — haven’t clicked on one for years
  
  • create a service, a site, an app that does something useful to engage people
• VK: people don’t want banners on mobile
  
  • location-based advertising full of potential — and will be full of potential for years to come…

What in the last week, created by mobile that stuck in your head?

• AB: lenticular image, move the device to see around
• AD: art spotter
  
  • not focussed on selling stuff
• JN: robot game that just looked so beautiful
• BK: creatives project — james alloban
  
  • using your voice to select objects and create art

Social input?

• HK: Tracey Moberly — artwork from instagram
• AD: Normalize: the de-instagrammer app
• BK: ascii art through twitter — playing out a car journey
• VK: making art out of the spare bandwidth in QR codes
• HK: social is reinvigorating arts & crafts
  
  • we can share the learning — it’s on the internet
• JN: open source & creative commons
  
  • created an open source RPG with various international collaborators

some of the best art comes from taking a poke at society

• harder in mobile? squandered due a need to monetize
  
  • flashmobs one counterexample
• HK: rich people sponsoring art?
• VK: certainly, but other sources of revenue available
  
  • last column in Guardian: can you make an app cheaply?
  • cost £300 in total
  • profit share is an alternative (Ed: but still profit driven)
• JN: lot of people just create stuff for fun or a hobby
• AD: technology has decimated artistic creativity
  
  • artists left behind by technological development
  • arts trying to address it through Digital R&D fund
  • trying to retrain visual artists digitally
  • my projects funded by people who will give me money for them!
  • starting with friends
• BK: technology is not expensive, ideas are free, the hurdle is learning
  
  • “just learn enough to get you over the next hurdle”

gamification & serious games?

• AD: Jane McGonagall turns the whole world into a game
  
  • academically led premise
• AB: contextual tips as you’re playing are a great way to learn
• VK: toby roland games manufacturer
  
  • learning maths by playing a game — http://mangahigh.com & http://king.com
  • people need to learn to pay again…
• AD: game where you play a real guitar at the device to progress (Rock Prodigy?)

iOSDev UK: Designing multi-user, single device interfaces on the iPad

Kate Ho, interface3, @kateho

• Started by designing for Microsoft Tablet
  • kids started saying “this would be really cool an iPad…”

Example multi-user apps

Multi-user (sharing a single device at the same time)

• Versus Games:
  • Examples: PaddleBattle, Dorfball(?), Table Twister, Touch of Fun
  • Very simple games: you’d think people would get bored, but people get very competitive
  • “You can only play for 30 seconds at a time without killing each other” — playing with 8 year-olds can be very bad
  • Best place to find inspiration for these games are the Wii mini games (Raving Rabbids, etc)
• Co-op Games:
  • Complete an objective together
  • from interface3: iHave (just released)
  • who has the maths answer?
  • collectively get as many points as possible
  • SliceHD — maybe not meant for multiplayer, but great for kids!
• Games with a twist:
  • one idea: two people playing on an iPad, and another player on a
• Creative
  • Singing Fingers — just watch the video!
  • haven’t seen any specifically collaborative drawing apps, but perhaps regular drawing apps are ok
• Exploration scenarios
  • Topsee — can have a look at something and pass it over to someone else
  • interface3 interactive mortgage guide on a Surface
  • multitouch is better than keyboard since you don’t have to ask permission from the other person — just reach in a grab
• Small group interactions
  • one person in charge and two to three people learning over the same device
  • interface3 built CoachAssist

Tips

• design without orientation
  • circular buttons with both-way-up text
  • rotate the text every now and then
  • draggable, rotatable objects
• try to avoid one player’s actions getting in the way of others
• design for short interactions
  • around an iPad people are sharing personal space
  • especially if they have to put their head over the screen
• make sure players aren’t kept waiting
• don’t have too many complex gestures
  • “gestures are like the 21st Century command line”
  • you shouldn’t spend too much time explaining yourself
• create shared experiences
  • what could two people do together that they couldn’t do by themselves

iOSDev UK: iPad-native Game Design: Exploring a New Gaming Interface

Gareth Jenkins, @36peas

• iPad specific — using the iPad interface as primary interface to game mechanic
• Multi-touch interfaces don’t work when you can’t see what you’re interfacing with
• The iPad is more likely a shared device
• iPad player more likely on the sofa than the toilet :-)
  • i.e. usage is more purposeful rather than filling time
• areas of focus:
  • take advantage of space available
  • think about appropriate gestures
  • think about gaming context
  • think outside the (phone) box
  • iPad specific does not mean exclusively iPad — take the idea elsewhere as well
• examples:
  • Hyperion: d7
• iPad provides more room for dedicated interaction areas
  • e.g. left hand & right hand controls on edges + general interaction in middle
• ways to think about it
  • play lots of iPad games
  • play iPhone games scaled up and work out what’s wrong
  • look at the fingerprints on your device!