creative dutch government implements an integrated reality billboard in amsterdam to educate and shame passers-by.
Wondering if this really works: Passing by an interactive billboard playing out a violent street crime. It probably causes your head to spin for a few hours while looking over your shoulder. What would you do if it was really happening in front of you? Whatever you do, if you’re going to act on behalf of the victims be safe and smart, do it at a distance.
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In the Netherlands, it’s apparently not uncommon for public employees to encounter aggression and even violence while carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities. And Dutch citizens, it would seem, would rather not get involved in somebody else’s altercation.
So the Dutch government got creative with a public service ad aimed at urging citizens to stand up for their public workers, using augmented reality to place people on the street in the middle of a violent confrontation.
An interactive billboard placed above crowded Amsterdam and Rotterdam thoroughfares displays, in real time, a view of the street below. Passers-by can see themselves live on the massive screen, but though the curb space in front of them is empty, on the screen there’s a tense confrontation unfolding as they stand there and gawk.
The idea is to more or less shame citizens for their inactivity when they see a violent confrontation taking place. By making citizens aware of what they look like when they ignore a wrong being committed right in front of them, the government hopes to engender a sense of shared responsibility and a willingness to come to victims’ aid.
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new application for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for How It Is –
the new unilever series commission for tate modern’s turbine hall by polish artist miroslaw balka.
The How It Is application for iPhone™ or iPod touch® is an interactive interpretation of Miroslaw Balka’s epic work in The Unilever Series, How It Is. Drawing on Balka’s own handwritten notes, playlists and interviews about his Turbine Hall commission, it allows you to immerse yourself in a dark and mysterious 3D world. As an added bonus, if you can get to Tate Modern, opening the How It Is App on your iPhone there will unlock a secret game.
The How It Is application works with iPhone 3G and iPod touch (though the location service will only work with iPhone 3G). It is available on the App StoreSM. The App Store lets you browse applications and download them directly to your iPhone or iPod touch.
customer review: “While I have found apps often distracting (trenches) or addictive in short bursts (doodle jump), this is the first time I have experienced a fully immersive app. Play it with your headphones in the dark and allow yourself to be impressed with how you deal with the unknown. If you have no interest in what is an experience not a game then don’t bother, but I thought it was utterly brilliant.”
Resources:
tate modern
itunes app store
app designer: champayne valentine
venice, italy is sinking. to save it, rachel armstrong says we need to outgrow architecture made of inert materials and, well, make architecture that grows itself.
she proposes a not-quite-alive material that does its own repairs and sequesters carbon.
via ted – ideas worth spreading
Apple introduces world’s first wireless multi-touch “Magic Mouse”.
Apple delivers minimalist design with no buttons, scroll wheels or “nipples” on display. Instead, the entire top of the aluminum-based mouse is a seamless hard acrylic multi-touch surface that lets users navigate using the finger gestures made popular on other Apple devices, such as the iPod touch, iPhone and Macbook trackpads.
Touch-sensitive surface enables familiar mouse controls: left and right mouse buttons, full 360 degree scrolling. Bottomline, the whole surface is, in fact, a clickable button like the original clear Apple mouse.
However, does not pinch zoom – instead, a screen zoom is accomplished by holding the Control key on the keyboard down while scrolling with one finger. Swiping across the touch surface with two fingers lets users flip through web pages in Safari or photos in iPhoto. You can also add custom touch controls.
The new Magic Mouse will be included with every new iMac and is available separately for $69 USD.
Producer: Apple
Fascinating essay in NYT on the consequences of living in an age of perpetual distraction. The benefits of over-stimulation. Another addiction. via nyt [PR]
creative dutch government implements an integrated reality billboard in amsterdam to educate and shame passers-by.
