Fwd: TAG - Video Annotation Game - Try it out now!

Arrived via email:
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Hi,

We are currently performing an usability study of a video annotation game called TAG. The game has been developed within the context of the European project PrestoPrime in collaboration with the Dutch Archive Audio Visual Archive "Sound and Vision".
You might have already seen, played or heard about the Waisda? Video Annotation Game. The TAG game is a follow-up of Waisda? experimenting with some improvements identified from previous tests.

If you are interested to participate in the test you can:

(1) click on the links below (in English):
To play the game TAG:  http://www.few.vu.nl/~aes200/taggame.html
To fill in the Survey: http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=KJLDNG_e60d6fc5

(2) click on the links below (in Dutch):
To play the game TAG: http://www.few.vu.nl/~aes200/tag.html
To fill in the Survey: http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=KJLDNH_76b27254

(3) contact Annelies van Ees <avanees@gmail.com> if you are in the Netherlands and would like to do the F2F usability test


Please feel free to forward this email to anyone interested in participating in this research.

Thanks in advance and we hope you will have fun playing the game! While you are playing you can watch some interesting videos from the Sound and Vision archive!

Best regards,
Lora Aroyo

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====================
http://www.cs.vu.nl/~laroyo
twitter: @laroyo

VU University Amsterdam (FEW Building, U-326 Room)
De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

check out projects i am working on:
--> NoTube:   http://notube.tv
--> Agora:   http://agora.cs.vu.nl/
--> PrestoPrime:   http://www.prestoprime.org/

Exergaming catalogue

Might give you some ideas what is out there already:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=110533702291645&id=95915564396

Cheap way of hooking up treadmill with game

Great video!

Lecture 3: 18Mar2010 Madness

Today you have learned how to do an elevator pitch: present your idea in 1 minute.
You got feedback from the entire class of very smart games people, so make use of it when refining your game!

Next week, Gerard is going to visit, from http://www.bigfriendlyapes.com.au/, and he is a very smart young individual who is both, artistic and technical, so perfect for your needs, and he will give you more ideas how to develop hardware for your game easily and cheaply. Also, second years will come help and support him.

Thanks today for the engaging presentations, I hope you all learned from them.
Next week, there are no presentations, so a break.

Thanks for participating in the Madness session, I hope you got plenty of useful feedback.

My general feedback for all of you would be that you tend to make too much: you are trying to create a game for the hardcore gamer that needs to entertain for 20+ hours. Exertion Games do not need such a design approach, they can be much simpler; because the body is involved, people use their development for bodily skills to make it harder themselves. You need to think more like your 6-year old sister: she does not need much, a simple idea is enough. Ask: why would she play it? You do not need to design a 20-level game, not even a full level, but 1/10th of a level. Keep it simple, try it out, as mentioned last week, the art is to design something where you can add, but can't take anything out.

I have just been to a Fulbright reception, and I met the owner of sykes.com.au and wattbike.com.au, they do work with football clubs and the Australian Institute of Sports, and they have rowing machines and cross country skiing simulators, and they are interested in adding gameplay to them to make it more exciting; if you want to work with them for your project, please let me know and I'll get you in contact with him, I am sure he is happy to show you what they've got, and we could ask for a loan for the duration of the project.
 
Homework for next week:

• Prepare work to do while Gerard is helping other teams!
• Comment on blog
• Report progress on your website

PS: I just had another idea: did you notice how super slow the elevator is? We could make a game that entices people to exercise while waiting for it: if you jog on the spot, the elevator will get there more quickly! How it works: we put another display on top of the 'what level the elevator is on' display, which reads the number via OCR and a camera. Then we always add 1 or 2 to the new display (so if you are on level 2, and the elevator is on 4, the display will say it is on 6), but when you jog, we speed up the numbers, so it appears as if your jogging makes the elevator arrive quicker!

PPS: Come to think about your projects madness again: I really would like to encourage all of you to use your artistic ability to come up with something crazy! Remember, you want to get in the paper/TV, and what they want is not the best game, but a crazy idea that is east to understand (and describe) in 1 minute. And I would also like to encourage to think more about the essence what you want to achieve. Lastly, target groups: it's ok to create a game that is only playable by your little brother, or only for people over 2m, or ...

For example: if you want to create a long-distance jogging game, think about the essence of why you like it. Do you achieve it in the costume game?
If you are after something else (quick turns, sprints), make it 'crazy' by attaching the tails to police officers.
Lastly, if you want to do the hanging-on-bar over animated river with wooden logs passing by game, you can just say that every player must be smaller than 1.7m so you don't have to adjust the bar.
Hope that helps,
keep up the good work,
Floyd

Fwd: 2 Intern Positions at Siemens Corporate Research – Princeton, NJ, USA

These guys have done Fish'N'Steps, an Exertion game to encourage step-count, so if you explain that you are doing this class, they might be super keen!

User Experience
Siemens Corporate Research
Princeton, New Jersey, USA

The User Experience (UX) group at Siemens Corporate Research (SCR) is
seeking 2 additional interns. Recent graduates or students in Graphic
Design, Interaction Design, Digital Media Design, Product Design, or closely
related fields are encouraged to apply. The interns will work closely with
senior staff in designing user interfaces for future Siemens
products/systems, supporting funded research projects, and/or creating
highly interactive conceptual systems for demonstrations, conferences and
international tradeshows. The SCR UX is a multi-disciplinary,
cross-cultural, dynamic, and friendly work environment.

Specifically, SCR UX has openings for the following 2 internship positions,
in addition to 4 internship positions that have already been filled this year:

1.      Visual Design Intern, with solid interaction design background.

Ideal Candidate: BA/MA/MFA students or recent graduates in Graphic Design or
Visual Communication with excellent visual design skills and strong
interests or experiences in designing user interfaces for complex systems
and products. She/he should be proficient in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Availability:   One 3-month position, preferably starting from March/April 2010.

2.      Interaction Design Intern, with solid interactive media design and
product design background.

Ideal Candidate: BA/MA/MFA students or recent graduates in Digital Media
Design, Graphic Design, or Industrial Design with with excellent interaction
design and visual design skills and strong interests or experiences in
designing highly interactive demos and user interfaces for complex systems
and products. She/he should be proficient in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop,
and Flash; knowledge and experience in 3D modeling platform (e.g. 3ds Max)
is a plus.
Availability:   One 3-month position, preferably starting from March/April 2010.

These internships are paid positions.

About SIEMENS CORPORATE RESEARCH (http://www.usa.siemens.com/research):

Siemens Corporate Research is the research, development, and innovation
center of Siemens Corporation in the US. The UX at Siemens Corporate
Research consults with and supports Siemens business sectors worldwide in
user experience design and innovation. Additionally, the UX works with the
US Government and partners with universities for research projects in the
field of Human-Computer Interaction. The UX / User Interface Design group is
located on three continents (Munich, Germany; Princeton, NJ, USA; and
Beijing, China). These internship positions are based at Princeton, New
Jersey, USA. Princeton is approximately one hour from New York City and
Philadelphia.

ABOUT SIEMENS (http://www.siemens.com/):

We're Siemens, a global innovation company helping the needs of businesses,
communities and employees right here in the US. From improving security at
airports, to helping healthcare professionals make more accurate diagnoses
of the heart, to reducing delivery time for forwarded mail and beyond, we're
achieving the unexpected all because of our employees. Which is why we offer
a work culture where ideas are free to fly, diversity programs that capture
the strengths of thought rather than ethnicity, and mentoring and training
programs that can take careers to new heights. And that's pretty inspiring.
Because when you and 70,000 diverse minds innovate together, you can change
the world. Imagine that.

automation & control • building technologies • energy & power • financial
services • hearing solutions industrial solutions • information &
communication • lighting • medical solutions • transportation • water
technologies

Siemens is an Equal Opportunity Employer encouraging diversity in the workplace.


Contact

Please send resumes to Dr. James Lin: jameslin@siemens.com
Please include URLs to online portfolios and previous work.

For immediate consideration, please reply as soon as possible and before
March 31st, 2010.

Mario on Arduino

...from 2nd year's Chad, thanks!

Tequinox - FAR HQ Studio Opening Sunday March 21st

FYI:

Tequinox Sunday March 21st 2p.m.

Future Art Research are proud to offer an exhibition and performance
spectacular.

Steve Irwin and The Stingray the re-enactment by John-Paul Hussey
Miss Havisham. By Lizzil (Voodoo Trash Dolls)
Robin Cook (Mutoid Waste)
Mbug (dj)
Hardkore Slakness (Mighty Burning Demon) unveiling a brand new sculptural
installation.
Lalalullaby interactive sound sculpture featuring Ross Bencina, creator of
Audio Mulch.
Robbie Avenaim and his 1600bpm MKS kick drums.
Makanico
Anthony Sawrey.
Plus more to be confirmed! XX

F.uture A.rt R.esearch is a brand new A.R.I. on the banks of the
Maribyrnong. We are a proud new community, come and see.
Plans hatched,
Deeds plotted,
F.uture A.rt R.esearch
Fun to be had.

Location:
Living Museum West, Pipemaker's Park
Enter from roundabout at Van Ness Ave and Gordon st, Maribyrnong VIC 3032


More details at:
http://futureartresearch.org/

........................................................................
.........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity..........
..........................http://dorkbot.org............................
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Not a 'real' theory, but....

Check out the staircase example, that could have been your 'game'!
(Lesson learned: doing something 'for real', in public, could be a lot of fun!)

Trying to come up with an idea how to spend as little time as possible PROGRAMMING your game?

Do you know AutoIt? Probably the most boring website, but one of the most powerful tools to do rapid programming I think! If you can get existing programs to do what you want to do, you can just AutoIt!

Debate about R18 rating in Australia