The influence of locative media on social information sharing: a review

Mobile phones and social media enable people to share information with others whenever they want, wherever they want. More recent developments allow people to augment their sharing experience by geo-tagging their information through GPS enabled phones. These 'locative media' can be used to facilitate navigation, way finding or to obtain information about a physical place or object. Other services let the users tag, rate public spaces and recommend them to other people. Furthermore, people can tell their stories by attaching their own context to a physical location. This report is a literature review in the field of locative media. In order to get a complete overview of the research that is done on location-based social networking, the most recent developments in the field are investigated. We also look at research methods used to test the user experience of this type of social media systems. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of location based media on the sharing habits and social practices of the users of these systems. The conclusions of this exploration in the field of locative media research lead to design guidelines and research methods that will be used in a user evaluation of a system for location based smart photo sharing

Interactive Experiences in Public Spaces: A Novel Floor Display System Based on Luminous Modular Units

We describe the design of an interactive concrete floor display for public spaces and discuss its implementation and areas of application. The primary purpose of our system is to provide new forms of collaborative interaction in long-term installations in both indoor and outdoor spaces. Our design is an expandable system of interconnected tiles, which control an array of RGB Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) based on user input. The LEDs are built into the tiles and arranged in a manner that simulates pixels on a computer screen, providing a natural visualization mechanism. Each tile acts as an independent node in a network, where motion sensors trigger specific actions and provide interactivity to the surface. A series of applications are illustrated, including promotional advertising and interactive games. The system was installed and evaluated on a university campus for four weeks where hundreds of visitors successfully interacted with the floor

Beyond the blandscape:utilizing aesthetics in digital cartography

Despite the rich design history within the field of cartography, the majority of digital maps exhibit a dominant aesthetic that is primarily designed to serve the usability and utility requirements of turn-by-turn urban navigation producing a so-called ‘blandscape’ of map design. In this research we consider not only how to produce more visually appealing digital maps, but also how the cartographic decisions made in the production of maps can influence behavior, particularly with regard to the encouragement of explorative experiences. Novel cartographic and technological solutions are therefore presented, which address exploration using digital maps in the context of location based gaming and tourism. These examples demonstrate the potential of digital cartography to influence behavior and the importance of aesthetics in the cartographic process

Strategies for Subverting the Tyranny of the Corporate Map: An Interview with Babak Fakhamzadeh

A discussion on using a range of solutions to subvert corporate control of our experience in understanding and relating to our urban environment

Evolutionary Subject Tagging in the Humanities; Supporting Discovery and Examination in Digital Cultural Landscapes

In this paper, the authors attempt to identify problematic issues for subject tagging in the humanities, particularly those associated with information objects in digital formats. In the third major section, the authors identify a number of assumptions that lie behind the current practice of subject classification that we think should be challenged. We move then to propose features of classification systems that could increase their effectiveness. These emerged as recurrent themes in many of the conversations with scholars, consultants, and colleagues. Finally, we suggest next steps that we believe will help scholars and librarians develop better subject classification systems to support research in the humanities.NEH Office of Digital Humanities: Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant (HD-51166-10