Dwell-Time; » Augmented Public Space

Place and Locality in Augmented Public Space

ptallen — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:21:33 +0000

The Cyberworlds ‘09 paper – now in preparation – continues to develop the same themes that have come out of the paper presented at the MeCCSA Conference in January 2009. It continues the case study on Locality in Augmented Public Space but is presented for a different audience and for a different set of research objective. I am endeavoring to make the material appropriate for the IEEE/ACM research community. Wish me luck with this!

Cyberworlds ‘09 Paper: Abstract

ptallen — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:15:41 +0000

This paper looks at the growing phenomenon of large-scale LED screen in prominent city centre locations and asks fundamental questions about the nature of the spaces and locations in which they are placed. In this investigation three key themes come to light that have a critical impact on the experience of urban space:

• The mediation of place and locality

• The distinction between the real and the virtual

• The body as a frame of information

The work presented here is based on a long-term study of the BBC’s Big Screen network, a unique network of connected screens across the UK. The case study that forms a central part of this paper is drawn from the analysis of content designed specifically for presentation on the BBC’s Big Screen in centre of Bradford. Whilst they key focus of the paper is the transformation in the experience of urban space as a consequence of the introduction of the screens into prominent city centres locations, many other issues come to light in respect of the management of media content designed with the locality in mind and the ways that key partnerships develop that means that the screens have a distinctively local quality. In addition, more general issues are discussed in relation to the rapid rise in augmented public space and the role played by the interaction of a number of media technologies. Finally, this paper will briefly consider some innovative ways in which large-scale LED screens have been combined with other technologies such as mobile gaming and social networking in ways that transform participant’s engagement with the locality.

Cyberworlds ‘09

ptallen — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:06:03 +0000

Allen (2009) “Place and Locality in Augmented Public Space: a case study on the site specific nature of Urban Screens”

This link goes to the latest draft of the paper submitted to Cyberworlds ‘09.

[7-11 September 2009, University of Bradford, UK, Sponsored by IEEE Computer Society and organised in-cooperation with ACM - link to conference website]

MeCCSA 09: presentation slides for research paper

ptallen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:00:40 +0000

Allen (2009) “Dwell-Time: Urban Screens, Ambient Media and Augmented Public Space.”

This link goes the presentation slides for the MeCCSA 2009 Conference (pdf format), hosted by the University of Bradford and the National Media Museum, January, 2009.

A book chapter on Augmented Public Space

ptallen — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:10:46 +0000

Allen, P. (2008) ‘Framing, Locality and the Body in Augmented Public Space’, in Aurigi and De Cindio (eds.) Augmented Urban Spaces, Ashgate, UK.

The Mediation of Place and Locality

ptallen — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:51:00 +0000

The mediation of place and locality is one of the key aspects of the advent of urban screens especially in the way that they have been deployed throughout major city centres the UK. Their site specific qualities, for example, the physical location of the screens (location and proximity to key features in public space, architecture, other forms of display etc.) and the structures employed in their management and maintenance (the partnerships that occur to support this, programming, curatorial practices etc.) as well as the actual design and delivery of content of urban screens are all features that give rise to the mediation of place and locality.

This is especially true when considering the evolution of the BBC’s network of screens. To date the BBC’s network of screens amounts to 18 across the UK all located in major city centres. The fact that they are networked makes them unique in that there is no such similar network elsewhere. What follows is a brief case study based on the consideration of the BBC’s screen in Centenary Square, Bradford and considers the site specific nature of the screen – its local context – and in the light of this the way in which place and locality are mediated via these screens as part of the overall experience of the cityscape.

Consideration of the actual physical context of these screens is critical and each one is unique in the sense that the physical location in each case is itself unique in its design, evolution and the variable nature of the local environmental context. Even relatively simple physical features such as the height of the screen can have an impact on its reception. Its position in the built environment and its relations to passers-by will also have an impact and will be determined by features in the landscape such as the position and direction of pedestrian walkways or the location of bars and cafes, as in the case of the Bradford screen.

Screen management and curatorial practices are also often determined by the local context. The BBC’s Big Screen network – aka “Public Space Broadcasting” – involves partnerships between the Broadcaster, local authorities, hardware developers. Programming of content is now managed centrally by Locog and supported by local content managed by individual screen managers across the network. In addition to this local partnerships for content providers and artist groups have enabled more informal and home grown content to be provided for these screens.

Site for video art

Similar to the rest of the network then in Bradford, the screen is owned by the local authority, managed by the BBC and maintained by Phillips. In addition, many local organisations are involved in presenting content. Similar arrangements occur across all of the screens where local organisations, schools, universities and arts organisations can influence, to some extent, the nature of at least some of the content and in many instances there is a local flavour to these offerings. A local arts development agency – Fabric – regularly screens content created by local artists in regular curated ’slots’. In addition, the screen is used for projecting content for live events, including public art.

: BBC’s Screen, Bradford

In addition, with the framing of content and it formal arrangement and composition on these screens clearly marks of the locality in each instance and there are, therefore, many cues to indicate location.

Framing location on screen

There are other ways of applying the concept of locality to Augmented Public Space. For example, as discussed in Allen (2008), the site specific nature of place and locality and the fixed and contextual nature of all media representations – as true of augmented public space as any other place – rests ultimately on the location of the body and the body will always be located in real space-time however much it might be in interaction with representations outside of the physical location. The body in many discourses, especially those generated largely across visual, spatial and tactile modalities, is the ultimate frame for information.

To add to this, “both the building upon which an urban screen is placed, and the space in which a building is located can be considered to be a form of multimodal text“, and the consequence of this is that it “leads to considering how only a blurred distinction seems tyo exist between space and information, as elements of space increasingly are powerful conveyers of information, whilst information – materialised into them – becomes more and more spatially related”.

Another important distinction here is that between the Real and the Virtual.

Some Characteristics of Augmented Public Space

ptallen — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:18:57 +0000

The opening scenes of Ridley Scott’s film Bladerunner (1982) - oft cited for its portrayal of Los Angeles in a starkly post-modern future world – provide a fictional impression of what, if taken to an extreme, augmented spaces might look like in the future. Harvey (1990, p. 308) discussed this film as both a visual expression of post-modernity and as an emblem of postmodern culture and representation: as a discussion of current ambiguities relating to time and space in contemporary culture as well being useful for its articulation of the components of the urban environment that constitute what is now called augmented public space. Many features of this film contain components of this highly visual and electronic landscape. For example, the entire face of high-rise buildings is taken up by massive digital screens displaying advertising and other forms of media. The striking aspect of these scenes is the sheer scale and saturation of media spaces in the cinematic version of this futuristic urban environment albeit via a somewhat dystopian vision. Yet many of the features of the contemporary built environment already contain features that bear out this vision. Manovich (2006, p. 219) gives a further impression of these spaces, listing major international economic centres such as, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul. But one could easily add New York’s Times Square and major European cities such as London and Berlin to this list. However, the advent of urban screens in many city centres in the UK and the sheer pervasiveness of a wide variety of mobile communications – including cell phones, PDAs and laptop computers – means that augmented spaces have now become a distinctive reality in the majority of city centres in the UK. What has happened with mobile media is a notable overlapping of media content onto the urban environment. A similar phenomenon is to be found in the combination of architecture and forms of display technology, from large LED screens being the most prominent example, to smaller scale digital signage and so forth. Representations that are available in alternative modalities, say, for example, those that are provided by mobile communications devices are one of the many layers of representation implied in the notion of augmented public space – that is, the “overlaying of physical space with dynamic data” (Manovich, 2006, p. 223).
The overabundance of information and events in this environment has the effect of disassociating the person from the space as a real or authentic experience. Thus, the individual is not only distracted from the living space, but is caught up in a world of private messages which are not connected to any single location or scene. Transformations in the experience of public space form an important historical backdrop to current investigations of augmented public space (Manovich 2006). Such transformations also emphasise the visual nature of the urban environment from the placement of advertising hoardings to the existence of large cinema sized digital screens. These transformations are distinct from what, over the last decade, has been labelled “Augmented Reality” (Haller, Billinghurst and Thomas, 2006). This can be expressed as an experienced reality, combined with some form of computer generated simulation or modelling in which technological artefacts are adopted because of their ability to provide adjuncts to the real. In contrast, attention here is given to the physical experience of urban environments and space that is overlaid with dynamic information and media content (Manovich, 2006, p. 219). Augmented public space is dominated by information spaces and for the most part these have been an integral part of the built environment ranging from simple street signage, advertising, pedestrian and traffic control systems, to more sophisticated electronic display mechanisms and the current use of “digital signage” (Latta, 2006). A relatively new feature of the urban environment is the large LED screen placed in central locations within the city that provides another layer of information and media content. Add to this the use of personal communications devices in the form of PDAs, mobile telephones and so forth, and you have a rich layering of signs, information and media that is superimposed onto the urban scene.