I have really enjoyed this module because I have had to stretch my creativity to try to make an interactive artefact. I struggled for while to think of a way to make my artefact interactive, but in the end I think I made the right choice. I started out with four routes, or journeys, and I had to choose the one which was the most interesting and the most accessible to me. These four routes were:

1. My route to work
2. The route from my bedroom to my car
3. The route from our holiday villa at Center Parcs to the Main Plaza
4. The route from the car park to the Ricoh Arena on matchday

After careful consideration on each, I dismissed idea three, mainly because of the issue of accessibility. I was going to Center Parcs only for a weekend in November, meaning that I had to get all of my footage whilst there with no option to reshoot. As much as I would have liked to used this as my final artefact, it just wasn’t plausible. My route to work was an interesting one. I did learn a lot about the route I take to work during our first exercise where we had to make a derive. When I stopped to take pictures and record sounds, I was quite amazed at what I saw and heard that I don’t normally see due to having my head set to get to work and wearing headphones on the way. However, I felt that I had covered most of this route in the derive I created and there was not much else I could do with it in the terms of interactivity. My second idea was thought up mainly for me to test Microsoft’s Photosynth program. I had heard of it but never actually used it so I thought up a very short and easily accessible route for me to take images of and implement them into Photosynth. I was quite impressed with the results, however if I was more skilled at photography, I could use this program to my advantage. However, I still didn’t think I could use Photosynth as my final artefact, which left me with my final idea, which was the one I was favouring over the rest from the start.

I am a season ticket holder at the Ricoh Arena so I know the route from the car park to the Arena very well, as I take it most weekends. Using what I had available to me, I used my mini tripod and DV camera in my car to record the road route of the journey on a non matchday. I then used a HD handheld digital camera to record the actual walk part of the route on a matchday. This gave me the chance to show the difference between a matchday and a non matchday. When using the handheld camera, I had more flexibility on where I could film, for example in places where the car cannot get such inside the Arena concourse, up the vomitory (horrible sounding posh word for the steps up into the stadium area), the scoreboard and the teams coming out of the tunnel.

Once I had all of the required footage, I edited it together into the 21 separate video files for each section of the journey as shown in the Google Map posted on the blog. This is where I encountered my first problem. I was going to try to make a navigable flash file incorporating buttons and action scripts. To do this, I converted the 21 video files into the .flv flash file format that is compatible with Adobe Flash. Having used flash last year for the first time, I could only remember the very basics. I knew what I wanted to do with my artefact, but I couldn’t quite tweak the setting to match my artefacts needs. It then occurred to me that once I have imported all 21 flash video files into one navigable flash file, it was going to have a large file size, which would take a very long time to load over the internet. It was for that reason that I decided to change the medium for my final artefact and use a HTML based website using CSS to style each page and image hotspots and hyperlinks to link between each video. I am confident with Adobe Dreamweaver having used it before coming to University,  last year in 112MC and for my Advantage Module last year. I made a webpage for each flash video, embedded the video and included hyperlinks to the video that preceded it and followed it.  I gained confidence in my final artefact when I was asked to show it to the rest of the seminar group, as a good example of interactivity. Overall, I think I made the right choice to use HTML and am very pleased with the outcome of my final artefact.

I have also been asked by my peers for assistance on this module, and I am happy to have been able to help:

The video I created to help:

The video I created to help:

I have learnt a lot on this module and I am happy that I have also been able to help out others with their problems. I have tested both the offline and online versions of my final artefact to check that all of the links work and direct the user to the correct places. All in all, I am happy with my final artefact and this blog and I look forward to getting my result.

Here is the Final link for the online version:

WWW.RK212MC.FREEHOSTWEBS.COM

http://rk212mc.freehostwebs.com

First Augmented Reality Browser for Symbian

Out now: The first Augmented Reality Browser is available on the Nokia Platform Symbian. The Symbian version follows closely along the lines of the existent Wikitude versions for Android and iPhone…

Wikitude on the Symbian platform for Nokia

Wikitude website: http://www.wikitude.org/

It is obviously too late for me to try to implement this software into my final artefact, however I think it is worth mentioning it on the blog now I have access to it. I think that this kind of software will, albeit still being at a very early stage, definitely be developed into something more accessible and useful in everyday life. There are new technologies being developed all the time with a range of platforms to work with so it is only a matter of time before these augmented reality programs become the norm.Wikitude relies heavily on user input, as it is the user who set the placemarks within the augmented reality it displays. It is a similar process to the inputting of placemarks into Google Earth, but Wikitude interprets and displays them in a different manner. Using the mobile phones inbuilt camera and GPS system, it places the placemarks geographically from the point of view of where the camera is pointing, displaying the distance to the placemark, and information about it. Here are some examples from my phone (click on the images for a bigger version):

Looking towards Bedworth Library on Wikitude

Looking towards the Tesco supermarket, as seen in my first derive – ‘My Route To Work’

Click Here for the website (Link no longer works – see above post for updated link)

Using the knowledge of the software that I already have and by uding some online tutorials, I hope to create an interative HTML website with flash video elements and are styled with CSS. I will check each hyperlink and image hotspot to check that they direct you to the correct place, before uploading the website.

I have split up my journey from the car park to the Ricoh Arena into 21 sections:

1. Ricoh Arena Car Park
2. Welcome To Coventry Sign
3. Walking Down Wilson’s Lane
4. Continuing Down Wilson’s Lane
5. Rowley’s Green Lane
6. Walking Down Rowley’s Green Lane
7. Bridge To Industrial Esate
8. Bollards
9. Walking Through Industrial Estate
10. Burger Van
11. Path To Ricoh Arena
12. Walk Across Car Park
13. G Casino
14. CCFC Superstore
15. Programme Seller
16. Turnstiles
17. Vomitory
18. My Season Ticket Seat
19. The Ricoh Arena
20. Scoreboard
21. Tunnel

Each section will have a flash video of that part of the journey embedded into a webpage. The pages will be hyperlinked and image hotspotted together.

Here is my Google Map with all of the Placemarks added:

View Larger Map

Flash Screenshot:

Here is some of my first attempt: Click Here

I have only put scripts on the buttons on the first few clips and there are some issues with sound I need to resolve.

I am putting a code on here, just so I don’t forget it – Pause Code:

stop();
var interval:Number = setInterval(
function():Void {
play();
clearInterval(interval);
},
15000
);

Journey From Car Park To Ricoh Arena on Matchday:

Inside the Ricoh Arena, Pre-Match Entertainment and Teams Coming Out:

Journey From Ricoh Arena to Car park after Match:

ImageShack Photo Slideshow: Click Here

ImageShack Photo Album:Click Here

I Dreaming, (Stan Brakhage, 1988):

Mothlight, (Stan Brakhage, 1963):

Both of these videos do not have a linear narrative and leave the audience to make up their own conclusions and interpretations. In my other module, 200MC Genre, Meaning and Production, we are looking at the theory of filmic techniques. We were asked to produce a derive, but to try and use a non linear narrative. I produced a derive of Coventry Cathedral Using a combination of moving image, stills and sound recordings. This was the final piece:

I think that there is no specific narrative in this video, however, you become aware that you are in the grounds of the Cathedral and are taken on a journey through it. I like the idea of a non linear narrative, but I am unsure as to how I will fit it in with my final artefact.