Integrating of other contexts into my work

(click on the above images to see a large version)




(e.g. social, globalization, politics, etc)

Social

The technologies i have suggested could course certain physiological issues such as:
• Fear of being singled out of a crowd

• Advertising saturation: over advertising because of constant intrusions into personal space.

• Big brother: who has access to your information and is someone tracking you, and knows exactly where you are at all times.

On the other hand, the technologies could provide increased comfort. With an all seeing big brother computer network, will it be able to keep track of people with criminal records, track paedophiles to make sure they stay away from any children.
They could detect the tell tale signs of human emotion in relation to violence or even the tell tale signs prelude to murder. GPS could keep track of our children so we will never be able to lose them and know exactly who they are with and where they are. Intelligent systems in homes could alert family members and emergency services if an elderly family member or patient has fallen or about to or having a heart attack etc etc.


Politics

The ability to interact with voters ANYWHERE. No longer just on TV or posters. New political views, opinions, policies etc could be constantly stream to the public. Perhaps via a holographic representation / recording of that political leader narrating off all their views. Would a better informed public make a better informed vote. Or will they be put off politics with a 24 hour, saturation campaign from political parties battling for votes out in public for everyone to see.
What would propaganda campaigns of WW2 look like if it had some of the new technologies I’ve been discussing? What form would it take today? Can their be political propaganda in a world where even today that if someone dies in Iraq, or a political leader commits adultery, the whole country knows about it almost within the same hour, sometimes quicker. And with this almost instantaneous access to real time information excising along side and within the same medium as political propaganda or campaigns, would they have the same effect or


Globalization

Globalization is the increasing interconnectedness of people and places as a result of advances in transport, communication, and information technologies that cause political, economic, and cultural convergence. As technology continues to become more prevalent and changing the way they live and interact, and as this same technology becomes common place in many different countries and societies, will their become a common set of conventions, common to all people, regardless of culture or country. And with no sign of technological slow down, will it one day form a united global culture, a single technological oriented society that goes beyond culture, language or place of birth. But would this remove diversity and human individuality, or will the technologies actually encourage this, allowing for far more creativity and diversity while in a unified context?

On the other hand, for every positive action there is an equal or opposite reaction. Will some people then go the opposite way, casting of the shackles of technologic globalisation and leading a simpler life, or fighting to maintain such things like cultural diversity & human individuality?

Star Wars Style hologram experiment

Tree Experiment

Some more holographic experiemts

Researchers develop a 360-degree holographic display

Researchers at USC have taken another step towards that holiest of sci-fi dreams: the 3D holographic display. Using a spinning mirror covered with a "holographic diffuser," a special DVI implementation, and a high-speed projector, the team's device can project a three-dimensional image that can be viewed from 360 degrees -- regardless of the viewer's height and distance. That's impressive, but that spinning mirror looks pretty dangerous. Check a video of the system in action after the break.

Digital Wallet

Big Brother security

Holo-Sphere

Floating images projected onto compressed air

Current Program of study

Title: Located Consumer Media: an investigation into how retailers could use new technology to interact with consumers as they go about their daily lives.

Brief Description of research: My research will cover a wide range of themes & topic areas covering mainly secondary research to begin with before moving into some primary research as the work begins to develop.

Some of these research areas will include looking at:

• Research papers (on technology, predictions, human interaction, interactive displays, advertising etc)

• Futurologists

• Science fiction ( a look at various mediums and influences)
• Technology magazines and websites

• Discussions by academics (podcasts, interviews etc)


Aims: By use of the above research, formulate a hypothetical prediction for the future.

Use the aforementioned hypothesis to formulate a range of technologies and techniques that could be implemented by future advertisers and retailers to communicate with consumers.

Develop a range of design ideas and concepts that show how the technologies and techniques would work & look.

Present this visual representation of the future in an appropriate format.


Methods: The broad scope of the research will require many hours of sifting through a range of different mediums and documents to find relevant and useful information.

The formulation of my own vision of the future will require a level of intellectual strategic foresight which can be accomplished by collating the relevant research .

Rather than simply coming up with a random outcome I’m going to take a certain type of technology(s) that are currently available, analysing what they are currently capable of at present, and then predicting how the technology could advance over the next ‘x’ amount of years. I’ll do this so an outside observer to my work has a good idea of what the technology is currently capable of and so have a context of which to view the technologies evolution.

At this stage, the potential and capabilities will be clear in my head which will aid me to accurately and better visualise the designs and concepts. It’s around this point that I will look at context, and how best these technologies could be implemented and where. Their location could greatly influence how they look and operate. Depending on the concepts, I may mock up a simple version that people could interact with so i can test my outcomes as I go along.

For this project I intend to look more at the visual aspect of the how retailers could use new technology to interact with consumers rather than the technical and electronic side to it. So my final outcomes and presentation will have to reflect this. Interaction is quite an integral part so many of the final images will have to show people interacting with my designs, be this 2D images or a short video or 3D animation clearly showing the interaction. Other aspects of the project which will include research, development, blog & multimedia will also have to represented in a very visual way. So perhaps a digital catalogue of all this information will have to be produced.

Current tech starting point

Rather than simply coming up with a random outcome I’m going to take a certain type of technology(s) that are currently available, analysing what they are currently capable of at present, and then predicting how the technology could advance over the next ‘x’ amount of years. I’ll do this so an outside observer to my work has a good idea of what the technology is currently capable of and so have a context of which to view the technologies evolution.

Im gonna look into the following:

Military target enhancement and real time image filtering: - the ability to identify multiple targets on the battle field from a distance. The system also has the capability to identify friend from foe as well as pick out individual targets like a tank via advanced real time image filtering, and nicely outlining and flashing them.
Virtual tagging of physical space: Websites like dodgeball.com and socialite.com allow people to virtually tag people or places via their mobile phones. Leaving messages in a virtual location. Also allowing users to find out where other users are.

3D printing: Rapid prototyping and personal desktop 3D printers allow people to print out 3D objects.

Cultural rituals of interaction: hugging, handshakes, physical brushes, random/chance meetings, hand gestures and body language.

Desktop personalisation: The ability to change an interface to be more visually appealing. Be it the background, the size, the sounds, the access etc

Personal media consumption: More and more people are getting their news and people’s opinions over the net, and typed and video blogs.

Video filters: the ability to filter an image to make it more visually appealing or enhancing it to make it clearer to see or understand.

Digital paper & electric fabrics: - also known as interactive paper, is patterned paper used in conjunction with a digital pen to create handwritten digital documents. The printed dot pattern uniquely identifies the position coordinates on the paper. The digital pen uses this pattern to store the handwriting and upload it to a computer.

Bio metrics: biological data kept digitally.

Located media: conveniently places interactive media like touch screen information in the back of taxi cabs.

New Project Idea

(Above are some pages from my note book, these lead to the formation of the below idea. Click on the images to see a larger images)



Located Consumer Media: an investigation into how retailers could use new technology to interact with consumers as they go about their daily lives.

Breif Description of research:

My research will cover a wide range of themes & topic areas covering mainly secondary research to begin with before moving into some primary research as the work begins to develop.

Some of these research areas will include looking at:

• Research papers (on technology, predictions, human interaction, interactive displays, advertising etc)

• Futurologists

• Science fiction ( a look at various mediums and influences)

• Technology magazines and websites

• Discussions by academics (podcasts, interviews etc)


Aims:

By use of the above research, formulate a hypothetical prediction for the future.

Use the aforementioned hypothesis to formulate a range of technologies and techniques that could be implemented by future advertisers and retailers to communicate with consumers.

Develop a range of design ideas and concepts that show how the technologies and techniques would work & look.

Present this visual representation of the future in an appropriate format.


Methods:

The broad scope of the research will require many hours of sifting through a range of different mediums and documents to find relevant and useful information.


The formulation of my own vision of the future will require a level of intellectual strategic foresight which can be accomplished by collating the relevant research .

In the development of my ideas and concepts i will have to have a firm grasp of not only the basics of the technologies but also their potential and evolution.

At the same time I will have to keep a firm grounding in relation to the user involvement and experience of the potential concepts. It is a good idea to keep track and not loose site of the users.

At this stage the final presentation is hard to gage, however I can imagine that the outcomes will be predominantly digital and conceptual in nature so strong images and a possible all digital presentation might be needed.

Some cool tech vids

Some examples of some cool tech that we can do now. If this is the level we are at now? What about in 20 / 30 years?

ELEMENTS OF BRANDING

Built by Kolbrener, corporate branding experts