Daniel Burnett

Providing both physical and perceived affordances using physical games pieces on touch based tablets

Whilst capacitive touch screen phones and tablets, such as the iPhone and iPad, are increasingly becoming one of the main forms of gaming platform, the nature of the touch interface and the lack of physical feedback are seen as limitations. In this research we investigate how physical game pieces can be used to augment tablet games to provide both physical and perceived affordance through direct tangible interaction. After devising a scheme for the creation of such games pieces that can support both static and dynamic interaction, the concept is demonstrated through the creation of an air hockey game that uses an iPad as the table and is played with physical air hockey mallets that interact with the iPad surface and a virtual puck. Not only are the physical hockey mallets perceived to add considerably to the enjoyment of the game, such game pieces can be easily created using 3D printing and conductive cloth to provide a range of functionality..

CheckinDJ using check-ins to crowdsource music preferences

The paper introduces a novel approach for crowd curation of ambient music played in venues using physical Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled check-ins. The CheckinDJ jukebox system uses NFC enabled objects that are linked to individuals social network accounts. CheckinDJ can thus be regarded as a crowdsourced DJ that curates an evolving music playlist based on the musical preferences of those present at a location at any given time. In this paper we present the design and operation of the currently deployed system along with highlights of the promising potential of this novel concept.

Perceptive Media – Adaptive Storytelling for Digital Broadcast

Storytelling techniques within traditional broadcast media have not made major advances in recent years due to the linear and relatively rigid approach to narrative despite advances in the technology that delivers the content. This research proposes the concept of ‘perceptive media’ in which the content creators have at their disposal different tools and sensors to allow for the subtle adaption of the narrative without any direct interactions from the audience members. The concept is demonstrated through the creation of a ‘perceptive radio’ that is able to play specially designed content that adapts to the physical and social context in which the radio resides.

Visual abstraction for games on large public displays

From its earliest developments video game design has arguably been closely coupled to technological evolution particularly in relation to graphics. In very early games the limitations of technology led to highly abstracted graphics but as technology improved, abstraction has largely been left behind as developers strive towards ever-greater realism. Thus, games are generally drawing from conventions established in the mediums of film and television, and potentially limiting themselves from the possibilities abstraction may offer. In this research, we consider whether highly abstracted graphics are perceived as detrimental to gameplay and learnability by current gamers through the creation of a game using very low-resolution display that would accommodate a range of display options in a playable city. The results of trialing the game at a citywide light festival event where it was played by over 150 people indicated that abstraction made little difference to their sense of engagement with the game, however it did foster communication between players and suggests abstraction is a viable game design option for playable city displays.

Working with young people at the margins of society to design hybrid physical/digital objects to portray their experiences of support services

Abstract Telling the stories of people that have come through the care system is an important task, not only to let the wider public understand the issues that these people face but to help those on their way into the care system as well. These transformative stories written and researched by those same young people that have traversed the care system, required a novel method of portrayal. To that end the young people were given tools that enabled them to help in the design of physical/digital hybrid objects that would allow people to truly interact with the stories. This paper discusses how the research team approached giving the young people those tools and the outputs that those people then produced. By enabling the young people as co-researchers a further depth of discovery was achieved that wouldn’t have been possible without that same input.

Physical Playlist: Bringing Back the Mix-Tape

To those of a certain age the concept of the mix-tape holds fond memories, and generally not of the musical content they contained, but rather the emotional and physical connection they represented with either its creator or recipient. They provided an embodiment of the time and effort it its creation and thus presented the same qualities of other handmade gifts. The advent of digital content, and particularly the mp3, for storage and streaming meant that audio content could be shared more quickly and easily than ever before. However, the creation of a digital playlist does not embody the same qualities present in a mix-tape and thus has not gained the same cultural significance. This research re-imagines the mix-tape for digital content as physical customizable jewellery that can once again embody values not generally attributed to digital content. Through a discussion of the design process and the results of preliminary evaluation, the potential benefits on the user experience of sharing digital content through physical objects have been highlighted.