> Event
Flaneurs: The network is the city
A creative workshop on mobile urban services for the 2012 Games
> Took place
Thursday 27 March 2008
> At
BOX, London School of Economics, 5th Floor, Tower Three, Clements Inn, London WC2A 2AZ
BOX map (including transport information) | Google Map
> And cost
There was no cost to take part
> Booking details
To facilitate a working atmosphere we limited attendance to only 50 participants
> Notices
This event is not endorsed by or affiliated with the The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd (LOCOG)
07 April The event mentioned by Sascha Haselmayer is the First European Matchmaking Summit on Mobile and E-Technologies, which takes place in Stuttgart, 15–16 May, 2008. If this event is relevant to your organisation you are encouraged to take part.
28 March The event was very productive, with a smart group of people developing some though-provoking concepts. An interesting dynamic was created between the participants, who work across disciplines and industries around mobile services. Many thanks to our wonderful and engaging presenters. Meanwhile, we are working on how to document the event and outputs. Information on participants, including Web/log URLs, can be found on the event registration page. Photos on Flickr with the Upcoming.org event tag.
| www.flickr.com |
> Outline
The potential for mobile services is enormous. To the extent they have been realised, the possibilities of mobile technologies in the UK have been harnessed to Congestion Charge settlement and parking meter payment.
Meanwhile, London 2012 has often been discussed in terms of challenges rather than opportunities. Worries about budgets and architecture, the fate of the Lea Valley and post-2012 reuse of the site, edge out excitement about the biggest opportunity for London since the Festival of Britain and the wonder of the world’s greatest athletic event. And, in the context of the 2012 Games, design is still considered by commentators only in terms of identity, architecture and the built environment, rather than interaction, experience and service design.
Yet for Beijing 2008 mobile platforms are being deployed in roles such as multi-lingual information systems and non-Chinese to Chinese translation for transport services, building on around remote sensing technologies, geographical information systems (GIS), and global positioning (GPS). The 2012 Games presents an inspiring, novel and high profile opportunity to explore and experiment with mobile services for positive ends, and to research applications that might be commercialised on a larger scale. London could and should be a testbed and a showcase for new services in this area.
Living Labs Europe and the mCluster initiative are hosting the mobile urban services creative workshop. This will be a half day event at BOX, a bespoke space for collaborative working at the London School of Economics in central London, bringing together some of the smartest people working in mobile services in the UK, across disciplines and industries.
The workshop will investigate the possibilities for service design and creation around mobile platforms, through the presentation of exemplary work in these areas, and will explore how mobile services might enhance the experience of the 2012 Games. Participants will work together to conceive and present potential new services, combining disciplinary skills and design visualisation. These concepts will be visually documented and described, and subsequently published as a booklet to inform and inspire people working in the mobile industry, involved in the the 2012 Games, and otherwise shaping communication futures.
The event will conclude with an informal reception.
| 13:30 | Registration | Coffee will be available |
| 14:00 | Introductions and scene setting | Interlace–Invent |
| 14:15 | Concept and project presentations | For presenter information (see below) |
| 15:45 | Break | Coffee and biscuits |
| 16:00 | Parallel workshops | Made up of people with complementary roles and skills |
| 17:00 | Present and critique workshop output | Short show and tell to all participants |
| 17:45 | Reflection on concepts, wrap-up and next steps | |
| 18:00 | Event concludes | Decamp to local bar |
Matt Adams
Co-founder
Blast Theory
Matt co-founded Blast Theory in 1991, an artists’ group renowned for its multidisciplinary approach pioneering the use of new technologies within performance contexts. Since 1997, the group has collaborated with the Mixed Reality Laboratory at the University of Nottingham. Works such as Desert Rain (1999), Can You See Me Now? (2001) and Uncle Roy All Around You (2003) have been nominated for four Interactive Arts BAFTAs and won the Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronic. Blast Theory is a partner in the Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming (IPerG) and in Participate, a mass participation science project. Matt has co-authored over a dozen papers with the University of Nottingham, is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Exeter and a Visiting Professor at the Central School of Speech and Drama
Rory Hamilton
Head of Insights
Live|Work
From a background in sculpture, multimedia, interaction design and user research, Rory Hamilton leads the Insights team at Live|work, a pioneer of service innovation and design, helping organisations to create new services and improve existing ones. Some of the methods used by Live|work Insights include ethnographic user research, co-creation workshops, cultural probes. These and other design-led techniques are used to engage users and inspire clients. Rory’s work spans the public and private sectors, and recent clients include Nokia, Orange, the BBC, Baltic, Experian, Norwich Union, the NHS, The Cabinet Office and the Design Council. He was course leader of Computer Related Design/Interaction Design programme at the Royal College of Art for many years, specialising in user-inspired and participatory projects. Much of his recent work involves engaging a client’s staff in the process of gathering insights, idea generation, development and prototyping, in order to create service design capability within organisation. Read on...
Sarah Robinson
Account Director
Future Foundation
Sarah has been with the Future Foundation for five years, and her experience to date has been split between generating new business for its online subscription-based service, nVision, throughout Europe and, more recently, putting together consortia for syndicated research programmes such as ‘European Entertainment Futures’. In March 2008 Sarah was appointed account director for clients in the digital media, broadcasting, telecoms and consumer electronics sectors. As well as overseeing the day-to-day running of her clients’ accounts, she is responsible for winning and delivering bespoke consultancy across the full range of Future Foundation services. She is also responsible for developing and communicating new ideas and analysis to the sectors she manages. Sarah has over ten years’ experience in business development, conference production and consumer research, and has a strong interest in the issues surrounding media and technology. She graduated from the University of Warwick with a BA (Hons) in English & American Literature in 1997. Read on...
Neil Churcher
Head of Design, Design
& Usability
Orange Group (Global)
Neil runs the design team of the global Design & Usability at Orange Group. He is responsible for design consistency of the Orange experience across the full range of Orange’s products and services. Previously he was Academic Director at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. Originally a graphic designer and typographer, Neil completed an MA in Graphic Design at the Royal College of Art in 1991. Following his interest in emerging digital media he worked with BT, designing interface, digital media initiatives, and advising on design, going on to work with Wolff Olins to create the first BT guidelines for the design of visual interfaces. With Rodney Edwards Neil co-founded digital media company Edwards Churcher in 1996 to deliver user-centric design for complex information systems, working initially in the financial information, information delivery, banking and telecommunications sectors.
Tobi Schneidler
Founder, Maoworks
Tobi Schneidler has a background in architecture and emerging technologies and is the founder of Maoworks, a strategic design consultancy for Rapid Innovation Prototyping. The Office for Mediating Architecture and Objects is helping leading organisations to turn nascent ideas and pet projects into tangible reality for real world evaluation. Clients include Barclays Plc, Vodafone and the DTI.
Nico Macdonald
Innovation Forum
Nico founded the Innovation Forum in 2006. His company Spy has been consulting in the media sector since the late 1980s, with recent clients including BBC Future Media & Technology and BT plc. He writes about design, technology and innovation for publications including The Register, silicon.com, and spiked-IT. He is author of What is Web Design? (RotoVision).
Solon Sasson
Maoworks
Solon is an MA student at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design. Prior to this he was a project manager at Kantor Management Consultants, based in Greece, working on IT and change management projects.
- What are the key characteristics or heuristics of mobile devices in the context of mobile services?
- What may be technically possible by 2012, at the levels of materials and displays, core functions, device types, networks and protocols standards and coding models, performance and reliability?
- What social trends are driving and shaping the use of mobile devices?
- How might we overcome the organisational, industry and regulatory barriers to the development of ambitious mobile urban services?
- What infrastructure, and business and technical developments, are needed to support innovation in mobile urban services?
- What are the best practices in researching users needs and desires and prototyping services?
We may develop the workshop element of the event around the following scenarios:
- A non-English speaking visitor to the 2012 Games arriving in the UK
- Someone traveling to the event site for the first time and on arrival also needs to find their seat
- A the 2012 Games attendee finding out about concurrent events, deciding which to follow, and finding the event
- A the 2012 Games attendee following one or more events and enhancing the experience using a mobile device
- A the 2012 Games attendee gathering references to information to review later
- An attendee trying to meet up with someone they know who is at a the 2012 Games event
- A the 2012 Games attendee making a purchase of food or memorabilia
- Someone who has attended a the 2012 Games event who wants to share their experience with friends and family
- A the 2012 Games attendee interested in discovering the areas of East London around the site
In preparation for the event, you may be interested to read or review:
Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing by Adam Greenfield (Peachpit Press, 2006)
[Further references to come. We will also solicit references from participants.]
See also articles tagged mClusterLondon on Ma.gnolia
If you want to share photos taken at the event via Flickr, please tag a public Flickr photo with: upcoming:event=460705
If you have queries about the event please contact Nico Macdonald For enquiries about Living Labs please contact Pili Colom
Living Labs Europe is the pioneering initiative to create a marketplace for mobile services driven by European citizens, firms and cities. Members include cities such as Helsinki, Copenhagen-Oresund and Barcelona and the event will include participants from those cities, including city officials, entrepreneurs and researchers. The mCluster network is part of the European Sixth Framework Programme, whose aim is to encourage co-operation among leading and developing clusters in Europe throughout wireless information and communication technology.