Media Lab Demo Day 13.12.2001 in the Studio Theatre, Lume #
12.00 Guided Tour to Media Lab UIAH Activities and Facilities (starting from Lume, follow the signs) Jon Nykänen
13.00 Demo space opens
ON STAGE
13.15 WELCOME Philip Dean
13.25 EXPERIMENTAL INTERACTION WORKSHOP 2001 Presented by Jukka Ylitalo
ILMATILA by Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski (see On Demo Floor)
KUKAKUMMA MUUMAASSA (QuiQui’s Giant Bounce) by Perttu Hämäläinen, Johanna Höysniemi (see on Demo Floor)
13.35 Pause
13.55 ÄMG
- a tool for playing soundscapes and ambient music
Presented by Antti Ikonen and Rasmus Vuori
14.00 WATCH IT! image- and value-questioning practices on the web
Presented by Eva Saro, visual artist and initiator with Minna Tarkka, professor
Image-reading today is as fundamental as reading and writing was yesterday. But how to make this skill accessible? WATCH IT! brings some answers on the web.
It started in Brazil. Eva Saro and student groups transformed existing billboard advertising as a way of investigating contents. Experiences gathered served as a starter to several Media Lab workshops, co-led with Minna Tarkka. Web-based practices took form. From the pilot site www.mlab.uiah.fi/watchit (March 2000), we moved to the European Netdays supported www.youwatchit.net (2000-2001), offering easy material for teachers and museum art mediators. Also check out www.you-watch-it.de.
contact Eva Saro
14.10 SubTV WORKSHOP Presented by Teijo Pellinen
The aim of the workshop was to experiment and discover new ways of expression with digital TV. The course consisted of practical work, analysis and lessons in fields of image, sound, interactivity and studiowork.
The outcome of the workshop was three programmes that will be boradcasted on television channel “SUB-TV” on 25:th and 26:th of December. The fourth project, “An Inner Hero” is conceptually more advanced in interactivity and will go for further development.
The practical exercises and the outcome of the course is presented on a DVD.
Contact: Kati Åberg, Teijo Pellinen
14.30 Pause - coffee
14.50 SHIFT PRODUCTION & MYTH AND DIGITAL MEDIA SEMINAR Presented by: Mika Tuomola (Introduction to the Myth and Digital Media seminar and the Shift production) Hanna Harris & Simona Schimanovich (Dialogue, Dramaturgy and Dealing with the Other) Riikka Puustinen & Egon Randlepp (Expanding Software) Ville Eerikäinen & Kari Kanto (Impact of Shared Psychology and History) Sami Haartemo & Sami Pekkola (Follow Your Bliss) Markus Norrena & Juhani Tenhunen (Shift)
The “Myth and Digital Media” seminar investigated the relevance of mythic (narrative) patterns and images to globally networked digital media, its culture and narrative. “Shift” is an experimental production based on the themes and issues that arose during the seminar discussions. “Shift” was realized to simulate the discussion and give flesh to it through the means of moving image (featuring “existence”-dancer Aki Suzuki), music and two voices engaged in discussion. http://www.mlab.uiah.fi/myth
Seminar participants with production contributions: Ville Eerikäinen (script-writer), Sami Haartemo (video editor), Hanna Harris (script-writer/editor, voice director, Woman’s voice), Kari Kanto (script-writer/editor), Petri Kola, Markus Norrena (program designer, programmer), Sami Pekkola, Riikka Puustinen, Egon Randlepp (graphic interface designer), Simona Schimanovich (graphic interface designer), Juhani Tenhunen (producer)
Seminar teacher: Mika Tuomola (director, script-editor)
Production contributors: Sari Aaltonen (cinematographer), Minna Nurminen (video editor), Arttu Peltomaa (light designer), Niina Saarelainen (composer, sound editor), Aki Suzuki (coreographer, Dancing Buddha, Woman, Man), Mika Tarvainen (stylist)
Produced in: UIAH MediaLab, LUME Centre, Sibelius Academy Contact: Mika Tuomola, Juhani Tenhunen
15.00 SOFT COMPUTING INTERACTION GROUP (SCIG) UPDATE + DUMAS PROJECT Presented by Kristiina Jokinen, Jyrki Rissanen and Antti Kerminen
The Interact project aims at developing models for human-computer interaction and at building pilot systems which allow users to interact with the computer in a natural and robust way. The goal of the research is to enable natural language interaction in a wider range of situations than has been possible so far, and in situations where its use has not been functional or robust enough. The project deals with both speech and text communication, interfacing with the user by telephone, web- and wap-applications. Various application types such as intelligent question-answer systems, automatic call-centers, and other services that would benefit from flexible natural interaction will be investigated within the project.
The innovative goals of the project are:
- to develop a generic and implementable model of natural language interaction
- to test and compare various soft computing methods for interaction modelling and for development of a working system
- to develop a working system which can be intergrated into various applications that require natural language interaction
Dumas
The DUMAS (Dynamic Universal Mobility for Adaptive Speech Interfaces) project develops multi-lingual speech-based applications, focusing on intelligent and ambient interaction management with a special emphasis on naturalness that takes into account the user’s personalised needs. Future communication with mobile electronic systems requires dynamic and adaptive capabilities: systems that can learn via interaction and adapt their functionality to different users, situations and tasks, as opposed to the current state of affairs where the systems require the user’s adaptation to the system. DUMAS addresses these challenges by integrating research on robust text processing, flexible dialogue management, advanced user interface techniques and dynamic user modelling.
The main ambitious goal in the DUMAS project is to furnish electronic systems with intelligent spoken interaction capabilities. Especially, we will investigate adaptive multilingual interaction techniques to handle both spoken and text input and to provide coordinated linguistic responses to the user.
Contact: Kristiina Jokinen
15.10 BLOP Presented by Kai Lappalainen
Short animation made for the 3-minute competition (subject:“bubble”) at Kettupäivät, the annual screening and festival of finnish short films. Launch date: 30.11.2001
Project group: story and animation Kai Lappalainen, Laura Neuvonen sound design Christer Nuutinen music Silmu sound mixing Oskari Martimo, Anne Tolkkinen directing Kai Lappalainen
contact: Kai Lappalainen
15.20 Pause - glögi
15.40 LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR PROGRESSIVE INQUIRY RESEARCH GROUP Presented by Giedre Kligyte and Teemu Leinonen
- Fle3 Knowledge Building Tool - http://fle3.uiah.fi (next software release on 14.12.2001)
- ITCOLE project (Innovative Technology for Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Building) - http://www.euro-cscl.org/
Fle3 Knowledge Building Tool (http://fle3.uiah.fi) is an Open Source software for knowledge building, theory building, dialogues and debates. The Fle3 is designed for schools and universities interested in to carry out progressive inquiry learning and problem based learning projects.
ITCOLE project (http://www.euro-cscl.org/) is European research and development project funded by the European Commission in the Information Society Technologies (IST) framework; ‘School of Tomorrow’. The project has three key scientific and technical objectives: (1.) Develop pedagogical models of collaborative knowledge building for European education; (2.) Develop a modular knowledge-building environment to support collaborative learning; (3.) Evaluate, test and disseminate the environment in European schools in order to build meaningful pedagogical practices and to advance the use of collaborative learning technology.
Project group: Learning Environments for Progressive Inquiry Research Group Bo Granlund - software developer Ilkka M Kekkonen - software designer Giedre Kligyte - interface designer Teemu Leinonen - coordinator, project manager Samu Mielonen - interface designer Janne Pietarila - software designer Tarmo Toikkanen - software designer
contact: Teemu Leinonen
15.55 ARKI RESEARCH GROUP Presented by Andrea Botero
Update and News of our research: The ARKI research group (formerly Future Media Home) studies the positive and negative potential ofdigitalization (long term implications), with a multidisciplinary approach, prioritizing social responsibility and the point of view of people. We are interested in ways of influencing and developing designs for future applications in context of everyday life. http://arki.uiah.fi/
Project group: http://arki.uiah.fi/arkipeople
contact: Kari-Hans Kommonen
16.00 THANKS AND GOODBYE + SURPRISE
16.10 Pause - the end
17.00 Demo space closes
ON DEMO FLOOR
KUKAKUMMA MUUMAASSA (QuiQui’s Giant Bounce) Presented by Perttu Hämäläinen, Johanna Höysniemi
Kukakumma Muumaassa, Perttu’s and Johanna’s final thesis project, is a physically and vocally interactive computer game aimed at 4 to 9 year old children. The user’s body movements and voice are sensed using a webcam and a microphone. The game is based on research on children’s physical development, augmented with usability tests and interviews. The game can be downloaded at www.kukakumma.net, online since 6/2001.
Project group: Perttu Hämäläinen: Game & concept design, technology, sound Johanna Höysniemi: Game & concept design, child-centered design and usability, graphic design Teppo Rouvi: Character and visual game design Laura Turkki: Scriptwriting
contact: Perttu Hämäläinen
ILMATILA
- Air Space (installation)
Presented by Jukka Ylitalo (on stage) and Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski (in the set-up)
Air Space is a motion sensitive environment inviting you to become aware of the air surrounding you. (Experimental Interaction Studio / Affective Interactions)
Project group: Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski / teacher: Jukka Ylitalo
Contact: Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski
THE CREATURE
- touches on a stage
Presented by Satu Lavinen and Katriina Lahtinen
The Creature has been done for the children play called “POW - kun arki räjähtää silmille” (in english something like “POW - when monday blows up) directed by Soila Valkama. The Creature is an abstract device which generates sounds when you touch it or move on it. The EMFiTECH Ltd has been responsible for the electronics of the Creature. The program of the Creature has been done on ground of the Experimental Interaction -course. www.mlab.uiah.fi/~slavinen/Olio
Project group: planning: Katriina Lahtinen, Satu Lavinen, Riikka Puustinen programming: Satu Lavinen, Katriina Lahtinen programming support: Jukka Ylitalo
Contacts: Katriina Lahtinen, Satu Lavinen
ÄMG - a tool for playing soundscapes and ambient music
Project group: programming: Rasmus Vuori sounds & music: Antti Ikonen contact: Antti Ikonen
VÄLIMERKKI / PUNCTUATION MARK Presented by Lotta Partanen
Final project for the masterclass in furniture design. Small containers are enveloped by the bussum of a spatial divider. Punctuation Mark radiates a feeling of warmth and pleasure. It invites people to apprach it and touch it. http://www.mlab.uiah.fi/~lpartane
Contact: Lotta Partanen
MEDIASPACES Presented by Susanna Koskinen and Kari-Hans Kommonen.
Mediaspaces is a research initiative that studies the transformation of our media environment brought about by digitalization, global networks and convergence. The study project is the first Mediaspaces activity.
The project lunched in October/2001 and is in it’s initial phases. Check the website at mediaspaces.uiah.fi
Project manager Susanna Koskinen, Kari-Hans Kommonen /ARKI research group Marja Honkakorpi, Sanna Marttila, Minna Nikola, Jussi Pasanen, Sami Pekkola, PŠivi Puntila, Juha Rantanen, Simo Rouhiainen
Contact: Susanna Koskinen
MIXED REALITY PONG (VIDEO)
Mixed Reality Pong by Kiia Kallio is a mixed reality version of the classic “Pong” game. The aim of the game is to score goals by hitting a virtual ball over the other end of the game area protected by the opponent player. The game counts the goals the players have scored, and they can agree to play either for a limited amount of time, or until either of them has scored a certain amount of goals.
The players can play the game with their hands or other real-world objects. The game physics simulate the behaviour of a real ball, except that the virtual ball doesn’t slow down at all.
The computer is completely hidden in Mixed Reality Pong. The system runs on a normal PC, but the input is handled only by a web camera capturing the playing table. The output is handled by projecting the computer-generated image onto the game area. No specially marked objects are required, so any objects with enough contrast to the background can be used in the game.
Mixed Reality Pong started as a technological experiment, but it has proven to be an enjoyable game, both for kids and adults. Mixed Reality Pong is written in C and C++, and runs on Windows platform using DirectX. The game also uses Allegro game programming library and a video capture library by Perttu Hämäläinen.
contact: Kiia Kallio
ARKI
SCIG
SHIFT
WATCHIT!
FINAL THESIS SPOT
FLE
SUBTV DEMOS:
SISÄINEN SANKARI
Sisäinen sankari is an interactive tv-program. The viewer can call to the program and adapt the role of the main character by speaking his inner monologue. This monoloque will be part of the live tv-program. The callers’ main task is to create different versions of the character and the story. The characters’ feelings and actions are edited live according to the monologue using pre-made movie clips and a special live editing system. In the demo version the viewer can play the part of an incompetent vacuum cleaner salesman.
Project group: Mikko Lindholm, Petri Kola, Minna Nurminen
Contact: Petri Kola
KÄPYLEHMÄ Presented by Hanne Kiiveri, Tiina Knuutila, Teriina Lindblom, Tommi Tienhaara
Käpylehmä is a TV show in three parts. Its aim is to serve as a source for inspiration for its viewers what comes to the making of pine cone cows and the management of their personal relationships.
The host of the show is Mäxä, an urban and trendy young man. He likes girls and especially a certain Mira· To Mäxä relationships consist of the elements of stressing, dating and jealousy. In the three episodes of his show, Mäxä deals with these issues through the hobby inherited from his grandmother, the making of pine cone cows.
We all can make pine cone cows but can we play with them?
Käpylehmä has been produced in the context of the SUB Workshop, Autumn 2001. The Käpylehmä web site can be found in: http://mlab.uiah.fi/~ttienhaa
Project group: Hanne Kiiveri, Tiina Knuutila, Teriina Lindblom, Tommi Tienhaara
Contact: Teriina Lindblom