Media Sandbox 2008 Journal Entries | pervasive media studio

Media Sandbox 2008

The theme for 2007/2008 call was pervasive media and awards were made to six research projects exploring this cutting-edge theme. Media Sandbox is designed to encourage business growth, share knowledge and reinforce the reputation of Bristol and the South West as a centre for cutting-edge research and development. Media Sandbox is managed by iShed working with South West Screen with support from South West Regional Development Agency, and Watershed.

Who was commissioned in 2008?

In 2008 Media Sandbox awarded six catalytic investments to innovative Research and Development pilots which exploit the opportunities presented by pervasive media and wireless technologies:

Physical Cartooning | HMC Interactive and Aardman
Bringing the illusion of cartoons into the real world through explorations in face tracking and digital puppeteering, resulting in a 'Magic Mirror'.
Project overview | Project blog

Harmonize | Licorice Film
A site-specific collaborative team game exploring the dynamics of team play across physical and virtual worlds.
Project overview | Project blog

Happy Town | BDH and Plot
An exploration of wearables as reminders of the things people do that make them happy.
Project overview | Project blog

Power To The People | Altern8
Etch-a-Sketch projected metres high on a building in the centre of town. PTTP enables people to control installations in public places by mobile, hand held or laptop.
Project overview | Project blog

Swarm | Simon Evans and Simon Johnson
Researching swarm theory and game dynamics, Simon have developed Comfort of Strangers, a street game using wifi and handheld devices to be presented in London and New York.
Project overview | Project blog

Happy Packages | Thought Pie
Using SMS, Bluetooth and GPS to deliver a smile to Bristol's media users.
Project overview | Project blog

Media Sandbox participants for 2008 were selected by Toby Barnes, Owner and managing Director of Pixel lab, Paul Bason, Digital Media Innovation Director at University College Falmouth, Mark Leaver of South West Screen, Clare Reddington of iShed and Nigel Charman of Business Link.

2008 Evaluation

Media Sandbox 2008 Evaluation | An evaluation of the success of this new collaborative working model | Alibi

Which widget for what? Examining the use of free web 2.0 tools to facilitate community building | Clare Reddington and Ed Mitchell

Read more about the 07/08 selection criteria.

Projects

Power To The People | Altern8

The PTTP project came from three ideas and one event. At first, we wanted to give the public flexible, comprehensive control of the fountains in Bristol City Centre.

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Swarm | Simon Evans & Simon Johnson

Games are our thing, games outdoors with loads of people. Interesting games.

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Happy Town | BDH and Plot

BDH and Plot have been exploring the potential of pervasive media to support people being happy.

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Happy Packages | Thought Pie

Bristol based companies Thought Den and Mobile Pie teamed up to explore the world of Pervasive Media with a project called Happy Packages. The project is a collaborative effort from Thought Den, who have been creating digital content in the city for three years, and Mobile Pie, a multi-award winning mobile content development studio.

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Harmonize | Licorice Film

Harmonize is a site-specific collaborative team game designed by Jon Williams, where one player takes the role of ‘the seeker’ on the street armed with a PDA and a two-way radio and the other memb

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Physical Cartooning | HMC Interactive and Aardman

Merging animation with real life video footage on screen is something that has been done for years. Classic films like ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ have spellbound adults and children alike. What if this could happen in real life? Can a cartoon reality become part of our reality, creating an augmented hyper-reality?

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