Talk at USC – What is The New Ecology of Things?

phil — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:16:17 +0000

On April 25th 2008, Anne Burdick (MDP Department Chair), Nik Hafermaas (Dean of Communication Design @ Art Center) and I gave a talk at the USC Interactive Media Arts and Practice Program to discuss the MDP’s New Ecology of Things research initiative. This talk was webcast, and the web recording of it can be seen on Adobe’s education site.

Acura Oracles, round multitouch table

phil — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 00:32:00 +0000

The Acura Oracle project was initiated by MDP alumni Nikolai Cornell at George P. Johnson for the Acura stand at the international auto shows (including Detroit, Chicago, New York, and LA) for the 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 exhibitions. It’s a 4 foot round multitouch table that enables a social experience for a group of people.

I participated as a consultant in the initial creative brainstorming and technical definition. I brought in Moto Development to create the multi-touch technology and optics, coordinated Moto with the creative team, advised on interaction design issues, and developed test projects and tools exploring different interaction possibilities. In the summer of 2007 GPJ loaned an Oracle for use in my class, and student Jonathan Jarvis made demos that became the design basis for the second version that was at the 2008 auto shows.

Video after the break

One of the Oracles has been permanently donated to the MDP

See also a page put up by Bill Buxton, one of the original people to implement multi-touch systems back in the ’80s.

Philip van Allen » ios

Talk at USC – What is The New Ecology of Things?

Acura Oracles, round multitouch table