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.

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

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.

There has been a significant impact on the visual appearance and experience of the urban environment as a consequence of the emergence of augmented public space. What follows is an attempt to capture at least some of the reality of this transformation in the inherent structure of urban spaces, where the virtual forms inherent in the interaction with media content are experienced simultaneously with the real structure of the built environment. Such a transformation has occurred primarily through the integration of the built environment with the, so called, “media layer” in that a range of digital display technologies and communications media now coexists with architecture. At the most basic level, one key argument is that, due to the application of display technologies such as large LED screen displays into city centre environments and the pervasive use of personal mobile communications devices, the majority of city centres in the UK now fall into the category of augmented urban spaces rather than this being confined to major international and global cities as suggested elsewhere (Manovich 2006).

A Case Study on the site-specific nature of Urban Screens

Themes:

1. The Mediation of Place and Locality
2. The Distinction between the Real and the Virtual
3. The Body as a Frame of Information

Abstract

Research into “Augmented Public Space” attempts to formalize how new media technologies are superimposed onto the built environment (Manovich 2006, Allen2008). It is in this context that new research on the consumption of media texts and a wide variety of media forms – including public art – that are now integral to the experience of real urban spaces is being developed here.

The consumption of media in urban and public space from the point of view of small-scale devices has been considered (Moores 2000, 2004). In addition, the very useful concept of “ambient television” (McCarthy 2003), has provided detailed case studies on the reception and consumption of television in public space as opposed to television’s more tradition as being located in domestic and private spaces. These theoretical perspectives provide the starting point n the investigation of how large-scale LED screens have become an integral part of many city centres in the UK. The argument being developed, in the first instance, is that, as a consequence of this integration, that so called, “augmented public space” and the co-existence of large-scale media displays with architecture, as well as the integration of other forms of communication technology, have become an ordinary part of the contemporary urban experience.

In this context, the advent of large-scale media displays, sheds new light onto ideas relating to the mediation of place and locality; the destinction between virtual and real; the body as a frame for information. It also develops important ideas relating to the “site-specific” nature of media content in many urban situations. These issues form the basis of an investigation of augmented public space within the study of media texts in more general terms.