More on the 'Real' as the 'Virtual'

Okay, so there's video games and real games, right?

Britvic wants to change all that, and, by doing so, underscore the cutting edge of digital as dispensing altogether with such facile distinctions as that between 'virtual' and 'real'.

Britvic's Champion of the Playground is an online game/competition directed at kids, and intended to interweave a product message about their juices with encouraging kids to exercise more ('really', not virtually).

Kids register and receive a 'skill kit' to use. As The Drum puts it, "Skills kits contain a kit bag and a web cam, as well as a digitised skipping rope and a digitised hackysack that contain micro-chips which record a code when the child practises certain skills. Children can enter the recorded code online to receive further skills points and see how they compare against their friends in their friends league'.

The activity takes place virtually and really, rendering the ol' division between 'virtual' and 'real' increasingly irrelevant. 

Blurring the Line Between "Virtual" and "Reality"

How often are campaigns and promotions thought about as linking a separate "virtual" with a separate "reality"?

A number of recent efforts highlight how limiting this is.

Another recent effort that doesn't simply make a "virtual" anything, but instead maps the "real" onto/within the "virtual" is the mixed-media project/proposal "110 Stories," pitched through Kickstarter by Brian August.

By visually reproducing a view of the absent World Trade Center towers to anyone looking at Ground Zero through an iPhone, it not only helps people see/remember what once was at that site, it helps them share that experience with others.

Just as the virtual makes tangible what once was real, the real provides the impetus and substance for the virtual.

These and other efforts are remaking what we mean by "digital."

My Current Favorite

In terms of meeting "really new media," few I've seen recently can top Nokia's effort it titles the "World's Biggest Signpost."

The installation is strategically very sharp, with the user involvement not simply a standard contest or game, but rather is directly contributing to delivering/enacting the key message. What's more, the monumental scale  underscores the power of a user's finger digitally enabled, while the sheer fun you can see on people's faces (rather than stress, as in many competitive games) sets this one quite a ways apart.

Finally, this project also demonstrates what to me is the next frontier in digital thinking: Namely, that digital isn't simply what happens virtually as opposed to in the "real world," but it's how the virtual becomes mapped onto the real.

And Now for Something Completely Different

(I've been looking for a chance to use that Monty Python line for a title...)

While the point of the blog is to highlight fully-realized examples of really new media, it's also a good idea to highlight those that aren't so fully realized, if for no other reason than they have a great potential as yet to be figured out or realized.

One is augmented reality using Bing maps. Blaise Aguera y Arcas (at this time, at Microsoft of all places, but who knows where he may be now) did a TED talk last year on this project. Imagine Google Maps and Google Earth integrated with video, and that almost captures what this is all about.

A second is laser tagging--as in, instead of using cans of spray paint and getting arrested for vandalism, using digital mapping and a pen laser to draw.  Our friends at the Graffiti Research lab have it all worked out.

When measured up against "really new media," these are, of course, incomplete. But that means they and others like them are ripe for thoughtful creative development.

Near Misses, Near Hits

Integrating this blog into my teaching has its plusses and minuses. While it encourages students to initiate their own search and investigation into new media (a plus), it also tends to be repetitious and ultimately safe (a minus), due to how the grading system encourages students to play it safe.

This helps explain the over-reliance in student postings on smartphone apps (easy to search in iTunes, other postings have apps so that seems to boost chances of acceptance) and on Facebook apps.

So, for next academic year, I won't accept any submissions of free-standing smartphone apps, and any pitches for Facebook-related things had better be good!

It also takes me away from posting things I encounter, as does the crazy Maymester teaching schedule. But, now that that's done, time to re-engage.

How Energy Efficient is your Hohm?

With the economy in poor shape, everyone is trying to find ways to save a couple of dollars. And, by living more eco-friendly, people are not only helping the environment but also helping their wallet by cutting their utility bills.

Microsoft recently released an online power management application designed to help users save money by allowing them track their home energy consumption. And it's free.

Hohm allows users to keep track of the amount of energy their homes use. After providing information about heating, cooling, lighting, and other energy consumption, Hohm tells them where exactly their energy is going.

Hohm also gives users energy-saving recommendations such as installing new caulking on windows, removing air leaks, and installing a programmable thermostat. All recommendations are based on what appliances users have, and the characteristics of each users’ home, as well as their energy expenditure patterns.

And, if you’re tired of watching reruns on your DVR, Blue Line's PowerCost Monitors give you a chance to watch your energy consumption and expenditure in real time.

Rather than require you to have an engineering degree and keep tedious records, Hohm puts the onus on itself. And isn’t that what new media should be for?

[Contributed by Andrew Chang]

Gas-Go-Round

Don't these prices make you a bit nostalgic?

One, two, three….FOUR?!?! As prices at the pump reach a new high of four dollars a gallon, people all over feel the pressure to save as much as possible.

For some people, a full tank of gas may soon cost a $100 now, more that a week’s worth of groceries or a nice new pair of shoes.  Unfortunately in today’s hectic society people are on the move more than ever, which means more travel, not less. Which means more gas to buy, which means … you get the point.

However, hope’s on the way. Cheap Gas is a smartphone app that uses your phone’s GPS to see where you are, then to show you how much gas costs at the gas stations closest to your current location. Cheap Gas even plots the quickest route to reach your choice of station.

Imagine not eating up gas to find out where to get more. Now you can use your expensive fuel for what it was meant to do.

[Contributed by Andrew Chang]