BraydonLee

=**Technological Interventions In Public Places**=

Can technology allow us to solidify and improve our use of public space through intervention type installations and activities. Can it allow us to interface more effectively with others inside these spaces?



As a wide thesis for my system I want to investigate the way of improving street level interpersonal communications of people traversing the urban jungle. I would like to investigate how technology can through different avenues enrich public spaces. Many people believe that technology has destroyed human interaction through the convenience of instant messaging and other communication technologies. I would like to look into this to see if it is actually true. I personally believe that instant messaging technologies can in fact solidify public spaces by allowing people to plan meetings more effectively. Other avenues I'd like to investigate are intervention type installations like Nuit Blanche, and the capacity for technology to coordinate radical change in public spaces in the form of "flash mobs" or "smart mobs"

=**IMPORTANT QUESTIONS**=
 * What will help people feel comfortable in interfacing with others publicly
 * Why do people avoid it?
 * Why do some people seek it?
 * How much does technology hinder public interaction?
 * What types of technology draw interest?
 * Can technology help strengthen "real" verbal interaction in public spaces?
 * What capacity does technology have to stage interventions in public spaces?

Types of public technological interventions

 * Flash / smart mobs, organized over the internet / social media ([|Toronto Pillow fight])
 * Interactive art pieces that command the attention and participation of people within the space.
 * Art / design pieces that incite congregation and conversation of the piece within the space.
 * Conversations that spur from common proximity (using wifi near someone)

Types of possible research

 * Field research which will include analyzing and cataloging examples of technical interventions throughout toronto.
 * Assessing effectiveness of said interventions
 * viewing how people interact with technology in the public realm
 * see how many people are on cell-phones or using wifi access

=Technology in the public space realm= __**important quotes from research.**__

__**Websites**__
//**Adobe.** <[|http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/jenkabat/>.//]//
 * __//"The People Will Be Heard: Interactive Technology in Public Spaces."//__**
 * “The most expensive interactive device is a person.”
 * //No one wants to see themselves as just a consumer, where you’re just a convenient passive model, the blip at the end of a production line. Now there are tools for being a participant for being part of the conversation, [a] a two-way dialogue"//
 * "The best interactive exhibits are open-ended. They encourage visitors to be active participants in the experience rather than passive consumers of information. "
 * //“It’s important for designers to make you feel that what you are contributing is relevant,”//


 * __"Case Studies: Technology Enhanced Public Spaces."__**
 * Kaleidoscope.** <[|http://telearn.noe-kaleidoscope.org/warehouse/frutos-2006-D38-03-01-F.pdf>.//]
 * “play is universal, and thus a good way for all to learn about themselves and the world. Shared play experiences are important in building mutually beneficial relationships”

//**__"Where for Art Thou, WiFi."__**
 * Spacing.** <[|http://spacing.ca/work-wifi.htm>.//]//


 * "[as the] widespread availability of Wi-Fi networks in nearly all major cities spawns a level of Internet use in public that is unprecedented. People are sitting in cafés, parks, and public squares, reading weblogs and e-mailing documents to their colleagues. These nomadic Wi-Fi users are able to feel part of one community (the usual crowd at the local park) at the same time as they feel part of another (instant messaging with colleagues at work). Wi-Fi users move from hotspot to hotspot, engaging in their online business as well as enjoying unexpected encounters like my conversation in the park."

__**Books**__
Miles, Malcolm, and Tim Hall. **__Interventions: Advances in Art and Urban Futures__.** UK: Intellect, 2005.
 * "Technology does not replace the role and contribution of the individual. The artist and we shall always need them, combine through the use of the whole range of human skills such as extra elements as proportion, difference, originality and the ability to work with the grain or the particular unique characteristics of the material they work with."
 * "Technology infiltrates as a bureaucratized consciousness ands transforms people and ideas into tools employed to achieve a goal."

Nye, David, E. **__Narratives and Spaces: Technology and the Construction of American Culture__.** University of Exeter Press, 1998.
 * "Technology causes change"
 * "[I take] Technology to be part of an ongoing conversation between generations and between social groups over their differing conceptions of what is desirable possible or even real."

Miles, Malcom. **__Art, Space and the City: Public Art and Urban Futures__.**
 * The breadth of public art now extends through the interactive potential of electronic technology and the free access of the Internet.

=Flash/Smart Mobs= A technology assisted public intervention that turns the space into a giant breathing art piece. Without technology planning a "flash mob" would be almost impossible. The connection between people using cell phones, instant messaging and social network sites is unparalleled.

__**important quotes from research.**__

__**Websites**__

 * "Flash Mob."** <[|http://www.flashmob.com/>.]
 * A site for connecting with other people world wide to stage public intervention activities. Exploitation and perversion of public space. Users can enter their location and the nature of their "mob" concept and it is posted. An email is attached where willing participants can contact the organizer.

__Wired__. <[|http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2003/07/59518>.]
 * "E-Mail Mobs Materialize All Over."**
 * "There's a real desire for something like this out there," he said. "Community has always been a big buzzword in the Web space, and I think the smart mob concept helps to bring the virtual community into real space. No matter how good our devices become at allowing us to communicate, I think we're always going to need some real face time with folks."
 * "There seems to be something inherently political about an inexplicable mob," he said. "People feel like there's nothing but order everywhere -- even crowds these days are forecast and managed -- and so they love to be a part of just one thing that nobody was expecting."

__CNN__. <[|http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/04/flash.mob/>.]
 * "'Flash Mob' Craze Spreads."**
 * For some people, it is purely funny. For others, it is social -- they like being out with people. For others, it is political -- just getting out in the streets is a political act. I personally like it because it is aesthetic -- I love seeing all the people come together, seemingly out of nowhere."
 * ^ speaks on a certain aesthetic that is created within the public space when the intervention occurs. Also mentions how some people enjoy just being around other people.
 * "Arranged via Web sites and e-mails, flash mob members voluntarily and simultaneously converge to the venue mentioned in a general e-mail and then collect detailed instructions for the event. They partake in a silly and harmless activity and then disperse at a given time."

__**Books**__
Ezell, Bobby, Mary Anne Bell, and James L. Van Roekel. **__Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds: a Book About Technology and Ethics__.** The Hayworth Press, 2007.
 * "Todays answer to “happenings” is the flash mob. Participants show up in response to an email and cell phone summonings, converge upon a predetermined location and briefly and in unison perform some unexplained act then quickly disperse. "

=Examples of flash mobs=

Toronto Pillow-Fight 2007 media type="youtube" key="B62Uo8d9Xis" width="425" height="350" German Pillow-Fight media type="youtube" key="Nh-I7sfjQhA" width="425" height="350"

Vancouver Zombie Walk 2006 media type="youtube" key="JpvLQpIyLbY" width="425" height="350"

=Interactive Art= Interactive art has a tendency to engage people in ways that traditional art can't. Technology plays hand in hand with interactive art, expanding the possibilities of the medium. Interactive art has a natural place in the public domain as interactive art requires human interaction to function.

**TERMINAL ZERO ONE**
__Digital Art Exhibition at Toronto Pearson International Airport__ "Terminal 01." <[|http://year01.com/terminal01/>.]
 * "Airports are networks, and information is increasingly networked. The T01 exhibit examines people as data, motion as trajectories, and the symbiosis of virtual and actual through the lens of contemporary air travel.The public is invited to experience the projects via touch sensitive screens, SMS text messaging, a webcam, and as a 3D avatar navigating through a simulated terminal. Track real-time flight activity originating from Pearson International Airport through a live data stream. Reinterpret the familiar by manipulating universal airport symbols and flight information screens."

ADIGARD, ERIK. __Dual Term__. Toronto. __Dual-Term Project__. <[|http://www.madxs.com/dualterm/project.html>.]

**NUIT BLANCHE**
__Toronto__

Collections of interactive and non-interactive art pieces were collected on the streets of Toronto for the publics enjoyment.

"For one sleepless night, experience Toronto transformed by artists. Discover art in galleries, museums and unexpected places. From alleyways and demolition sites to churches and squash courts, explore more than 195 destinations. One night only. All night long." "Nuit Blanche- About." . <[|http://scotiabanknuitblanche.com/home.html>.]

"Through Scotiabank Nuit Blanche you can participate in these discussions and become a part of the contemporary understanding of visual art, culture and the social consciousness of our communities."

**CITYWALL**
__Finland__ "Citywall - About." __Citywall__. <[|http://citywall.org/pages/about>.]

"The CityWall is a large mutli-touch display installed in a central location in Helsinki which acts as a collaborative and playful interface for the everchanging media landscape of the city."

"The CityWall is designed to support the navigation of media, specifically annotated photos and videos which are continuously gathered in realtime from public sources such as Flickr and YouTube. "



=__VISUAL ESSAY AND SUPPLIMENT__=

media type="custom" key="224097"

Slide notes : __**1**__ **-** title screen

2 **-** Dundas square LED screen. This photo represents the ability of screen based technology to intervene in daily life in public spaces. This screen as a purely technological (non advertising) tool has the ability and potential to proliferate immense amounts of information. The size of this sign alone is enough to cause people to stop and look at it. As I was photographing it, I actually interested another photographer to approach and take the same photo I was.

3 - Motion Activated Fountain - This photo represents technology's ability to turn an extremely bland public space into an interactive, crowd drawing piece of art. This fountain sprays in random patterns until someone approaches (it then will fire the fountain closest to them). Even from the photo you can see that the empty piece of concrete that used to be there doesn't compare to the enjoyment these people are getting from this technological intervention in their daily lives, in their normal daily space.

4- Daily unnoticed interventions - These photos (of a railroad gate arm) and a security camera represents the idea that technological interventions exist everywhere in public spaces, but some are so normalized that you no longer realize them. Wether it be electronic signs or signals or mechanical devices you obey them and they indeed change your life in a very small way.

5- These photos are of lights around Toronto. These represent how the purely aesthetic nature of technology can enhance and change a public space. They can draw crowds because of solely how they look (no interaction with the device is even required). Reguardless of the fact these are affixed to private structures their facades still make up the perimeters of public spaces.

6- This photo is of a video game. Video games placed in outdoor arcades or in public buildings (such as museums) can generate immense interest by turning that small section of public space into a realm of play and enjoyment. These technologies could be used to increase traffic to and enhance enjoyment in public spaces.

7- Eatons Centre Fountain - this photo is of the eatons center fountain that projects water several stories in the air. This rather simple technology has the capacity to draw huge crowds into a relatively uninteresting center core of the mall to watch it operate. This fountain has the ability to create a congregation point for wandering souls, a place where they can discuss just how awesome this water cannon is.

8- Distillery District Lights - This photo is of lights strung above walkways in the distillery district. These lights are very nice to look at, and their existance brightens a somewhat gloomy and depressing alley between structures. A very simple device can effect how this space looks and even physically operates (because of the emitted, the look changes). Small projects like this can spur conversation and even make people stop walking for even a second to look at them.

9- diagram explaining the effect of a technological intervention on the public

10- T01 photos. Terminal 01 is an art installation at Pearson's newest air-terminal. This is a shining example on how technology and intervention typed art can influence traffic flow in a space and increase the enjoyment and aesthetics in an empty transfer space between areas. Some of the devices in this set are interactive and command the participation of the people who view it. This directly removes them from their normal path and gives them something new to process within this space.

11- City Wall in Finland. - This citywall is an interactive art piece in finland that allows passers by to interact with photos and videos taken around finland. This wall is mounted on the outside of a storefront, placing it in the space of the public. Devices like this, though menial and unproductive can change the function of an area. The citywall turns a sidewalk into an art gallery and interactive technology space. More citywalls are being developed and will be linked through the internet so that the public spaces will become linked to one another.

12- Nuit Blanche is a shining example on how technology and intervention can radically transform public spaces. It included several interactive pieces as well as purely visual pieces. Nuit blance transformed multiple rather bland public places into havens of discovery and interaction. Toronto was transformed into a giant art gallery, drawing massive crowds and filling usually sparsely populated (as for time spent) spaces with people.

13 - The Boston Mooninite Scare. This is one very concentrated example of how technology and intervention disrupted a massive area of public space and changed it for several hours. These devices were placed throughout public spaces as guerrilla advertisements for a television show. Many people loved the quirky changes made to spaces during the night, they flocked out to see what these devices were. Quite quickly the government took notice and began an investigation by closing down the city core and rendering most of the public spaces unusable by people. It changed the context of the public space from non threatening to "threatening" in the eyes of officials. When that ended, hunts began around the city to try and find more of these devices. This effectively drew more people into the public relm, turning it into one giant easter egg hunt.

14 - Social networking, cellphones and instant messaging - These technologies have the capability to inform, change and populate public spaces. These avenues of communication connect large networks of people. Through Flash Mobs, meetings, picnics and parties these devices allow people to interface and effectively plan their trips into the public realm. Flash mobs especially create massive change in public spaces by creating massive groups of people at once, throwing off the entire function and capacity of the space.

=//CONCEPT MAP FINAL VERSION//=

FINAL MAP - CLICK FOR LARGER

=CONCEPT ROUGHS= development of concept and focus

//which allowed me to flesh out some ideas on human interaction and narrow my focus.

//

=//__REVISED CONCEPT MAP__//=

//I took the verbal interaction aspects of the initial map and built upon them to narrow my focus. This map deals specifically with all aspects of verbal interaction between humans in a public space.//

__**CLICK FOR LARGER VERSION**//__