Digital Cities: London’s Future

November 17, 2008 by · Comments Off on Digital Cities: London’s Future 

Proboscis is exhibiting works from SnoutFeral Robots and Social Tapestries and our film, Play to Invent in a group show curated by architect and masterplanner, Sir Terry Farrell,

“Digital Cities looks at how digital technology helps us understand and improve the planning and experience of our city. It will look at the impact on movement in cities: how communication and information technologies enhance a persons experience of place; how people interpret cities with the use of technology; and how mapping influences the design and planning of cities. It will also discuss some of ‘the big brother’ issues such as privacy and security. “

Digital Cities: London’s Future is on from November 21st 2008 to January 24th 2009 at The Building Centre, Store Street, London WC1E 7BT.

Download the Exhibition Leaflet (PDF 6.9Mb)

UrbanSense08 Workshop

November 6, 2008 by · Comments Off on UrbanSense08 Workshop 

The third in a series of workshop on the theme of urban sensing, UrbanSense 08 took place in Raleigh, North Carolina in November 2008. The workshop explored ideas, prototypes and realised projects around participatory sensing. Karen Martin made a presentation of ‘Participatory Sensing for Urban Communities’ which described the Robotic Feral Public Authoring and Snout projects which Proboscis had created in collaboration with Birkbeck College, University of London.

Read the paper ‘Participatory Sensing for Urban Communities‘ (PDF 650Kb) by Demetrios Airantzis (Birkbeck College, University of London); Alice Angus (Proboscis), Giles Lane (Proboscis), Karen Martin (Proboscis), George Roussos (Birkbeck College, University of London), Jenson Taylor (Birkbeck College, University of London)

Here is the workshop abstract:
Sensing is going mobile and people-centric. Sensors for activity recognition and GPS for location are now being shipped in millions of top end mobile phones. This complements other sensors already on mobile phones such as high-quality cameras and microphones. At the same time we are seeing sensors installed in urban environments in support of more classic environmental sensing applications, such as, real-time feeds for air-quality, pollutants, weather conditions, and congestion conditions around the city. Collaborative data gathering of sensed data for people by people, facilitated by sensing systems comprised of everyday mobile devices and their interaction with static sensor webs, present a new frontier at the intersection between pervasive computing and sensor networking.

This workshop promotes exchange among sensing system researchers involved in areas, such as, mobile sensing, people-centric and participatory sensing, urban sensing, public health, community development, and cultural expression. It focuses on how mobile phones and other everyday devices can be employed as network- connected, location-aware, human-in-the-loop sensors that enable data collection, geo-tagged documentation, mapping, modeling, and other case-making capabilities.

http://sensorlab.cs.dartmouth.edu/urbansensing/

Feral Robots

November 3, 2008 by · 1 Comment 

Robotic Feral Public Authoring was a collaboration between Proboscis, Birkbeck College’s Pervasive Computing Lab and Natalie Jeremijenko. Combining Proboscis’ Urban Tapestries public authoring platform with Natalie’s Feral Robot concept (first commissioned by Proboscis for Private Reveries, Public Spaces) to create a pollution sensing and mapping tool for local communities to discover more about their environments and correlate it with other local knowledge.

Working with local residents and users of London Fields in Hackney we built a feral robot to sense air pollution in the park, uploading the data via Mesh WiFi to the Urban Tapestries platform where it could be seen mapped against local knowledge about the park shared by residents. Space Media Arts provided a base for a bodystorming workshop and access to a local mesh wifi network.

Project website

Team: Demetrios Airantzis, Alice Angus, Camilla Brueton, Dima Diall, Natalie Jeremijenko, Giles Lane, Karen Martin, George Papamarkos, George Roussos & Orlagh Woods.

Partners: Birkbeck College (University of London), Space Media Arts.

Funded by EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)

Everyday Archaeology

November 3, 2008 by · 1 Comment 

A week long workshop exploring children’s relationship to the environment with Year 4 students at Jenny Hammond Primary School in July 2006. Part of Social Tapestries research programme.

Activity Report (PDF 1.6Mb)

Team: Loren Chasse, Giles Lane & Orlagh Woods.
Partner: Jenny Hammond Primary School

Social Tapestries

November 3, 2008 by · Leave a Comment 

Social Tapestries (2004-08) was a five year research programme of projects that grew out of our original Urban Tapestries project. The focus of Social Tapestries was to create a series of experiments in public authoring in challenging environments and with local communities that could begin to reveal the potential for emerging mobile media in enabling change through the mapping and sharing of knowledge and experience in everyday settings. We developed projects with two social housing groups (a residents’ committee and a short-life co-op), schools (a secondary near Hull and a primary in North London), residents/users of London Fields and people who lived and worked in Hoxton.

Project Website

Team: Alice Angus, Camilla Brueton, Kevin Harris, Giles Lane, Karen Martin, Sarah Thelwall and Orlagh Woods.

Partners & Collaborators: Birkbeck College; London School of Economics; Jenny Hammond Primary School; HIRO (Havelock Independent Residents Organisation); St Marks Housing Co-op, Kingswood High; Getmapping.com;

Funded by Arts Council England, Ministry of Justice, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)

Everyday Archaeology Report

September 15, 2006 by · Comments Off on Everyday Archaeology Report 

Social Tapestries Everyday Archaeology Report (September 2006)

Download PDF 1.6Mb

Order Hard Copy

Public Authoring and Feral Robotics

March 30, 2006 by · Comments Off on Public Authoring and Feral Robotics 

Cultural Snapshot No.11 March 2006

Social Tapestries: Public Authoring and Feral Robotics by Giles Lane, Natalie Jeremijenko, Camilla Brueton et al

Download PDF 456Kb