twitter :: journeys in real-time

Twitter is fast becoming the social networking site and real-time commentary of what people are doing. Twitter is used not only to connect to others for business purposes, for similar interests or to follow a certain social topics - but also to comment on what is happening in their neighbourhoods, cities and the traffic -- right at this moment!

The best example for real-time "tweeting" or "tweets" is from New York city providing its citizens with a twitter page to chart the transport system. 511NY.

People can sign up for traffic and transit twitter updates:


People can also follow tube lines and follow progress for specific regions.

I blog this because the use of - social networking technologies - can be an effective and inclusive way to engage with people of all ages to participate in a project. It gives people a space to voice their own opinions and to make comments as well as to link the project into other interests they may have.

New Cultural Journeys

Imagine!!! Capturing the rain or changes in the weather and turning this into a sound space of information, a local narrative or participatory game space! The idea would be to use transmitters to network the public into a common art experience along the coast of Lancashire.


Hertzian Rain by Mark Shepard - is a live sound project which filters multiple sound and is streamed from a set of wireless transmitters placed in an urban space. The transmitters broadcast the live audio stream locally on the same radio frequency to participants who are wearing wireless headphones tuned to this frequency.

This event is designed to raise awareness of issues surrounding the wireless topography of urban environments through audio experiences based on sound and movement.

Participants carry umbrellas made of electromagnetic field (EMF) shielding fabric that enable them to actively shape the surrounding environment of radio waves. By orienting the umbrella in different ways, one is able to filter the interfering radio signals and select a single audio stream to listen to. The movements of the crowd are sensed by accelerometers attached to the umbrellas and this data is broadcast locally to the sound makers via an ad-hoc wireless network, who in turn use these data streams to modify the sound streams.

Sound sources might include real-time ambient sounds produced by a sound artist, a spoken word performance or live music from a local or remote location mixed in real-time by mobile DJ, for example.

This is one of many exciting projects by Mark Shepard.

SMARTcode, SemaCode and Tagging

Semacode is a type of barcode. Instead of parallel lines, Semacode looks more like a jumbled pattern of black and while squares - like a crossword puzzle. The coded information can connect users to the Internet to get more information including images or directions.

Until now, Semacodes have been used with mobile phones with built-in cameras! The user can capture a semacode while on a journey through the city, access a website with information about where they are and download the info back to their phones.

Data Matrix Symbol

Active Audiences // Engaged Public

Creative potential of mobile devices are a significant emerging media platform that can be used for innovative projects across cultural actives. Tools such as navigational technologies such as GPS, messaging services via SMS and digital image exchange via MMS - provide an interactive network between artists, audiences and the world around them. Mobile and wireless communication devices - in the hand of the public - allow their involvement in the creative process and to actively shape their own art experience.

Mobile communication devices can be used for projects that involve:
- Episodic narratives; text messaging
- Cross-platform production; image, sound and video up-loads
- Digital audio spaces; using GPS or RFID tags
- Mapping virtual and physical spaces; location aware technologies, Smartcodes

Rider Spoke: Urban explorations

"Rider Spoke is a work for cyclists combining theatre with game play and state of the art technology."

Rider Spoke is an artwork by Blast Theory investigating how games and emergent communication technologies can bring together new social encounters both on and offline.

The work invites people to cycle through the city in search of interesting, secluded places and to record a short message there. Equipped with a handheld mobile phone people leave messages but also cycle in search of other peoples hidden messages.

Mobile Sound: Walking and Listen

AURA, is project by artist Steve Symons, which allows people leave a digital audio trail as they move and walk through their physical surrounding.


People take a backpack and headphones on a walk and in a defined radius the walker experiences sounds at specific areas anchored by GPS points.

Short Shap Shorts - NW of England

Short Shap Shorts was a ground breaking mobile phone film making competition commissioned by North West Vision+Media in 2007. The competition was open to 18-24 year olds to create stand alone films by just using the video function on their mobile phones. The idea for Short Shap Shorts was for the NW screen agency to identify, meet and support hot new young talent in the region and to engage them in the latest of film making techniques - using mobile media devices!

To see the selction of winning flims please visit the short sharp shots myspace site.

This project followed a growing trend for exploring new broadcasting models to reach new audiences especially those of younger people. Example of film festivals exclusively for mobile film content are now creating a new strand of digital entertainment and creative talent forums all over the world.

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