Biophilia apps available for Android and Windows 8 – Biophilia Educational Program

Overview (Biophilia)

 

Biophilia is a multimedia project that includes an album with ten apps integrated in one mother app. The main objective is to explore areas where music, cosmic nature and technology meet, showing people how sound can transmit specific emotions while at the same time users are exploring the infinite length of the universe, from planetary systems to atomic structure. Biophilia artwork earned the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package (2013 Grammy Awards).

Scott Snibbe (Image source: www.labkultur.tv)

Every app includes a game related to the song. The animations and a musical essay was written by Dr. Nicola Dibben. The interactive artist Scott Snibbe produced the apps, as well as the images for all live shows trough a combination of his visuals from National Geographic imagery mixed with live using tablets and computers. He encouraged Björk not to use the apps only for music, but as a vital component of a whole interactive project. 

http://www.snibbeinteractive.com/

Biophilia Educational Program 

The BEP (http://biophiliaeducational.org/), a non-profit and volunteer-based, is a new way to teach children about science and music using technology. The beginning started by offering free interactive science and music workshops for children that travel with Björk’s Biophilia live show residencies. In each city, the program has worked with local school to create lessons, complete with a core syllabus and curriculum topics. The aim was to bring together knowledge of nature and science, music and technology. It is clear that learning and teaching using touch screens enables students of different levels exploring their creativity in an intuitive way and develop their musical imagination without them needing academic and technical skills.

The feedback from workshops

“The Children’s Museum of Manhattan ran Biophilia workshops with an unusual focus on kids from age 5 and up, the workshops invited children and their families to explore the themes of Biophilia while enjoying hands-on science experiments, movement, dance and even some simple music theory. CMOM educators who conducted the workshops guided families through the Biophilia App Suite to foster creativity and inspire children to tap into their own musical creativity.”

The app's embarrassment 
According to BEP it makes sense for Biophilia apps be available on all touch screens because the most interest feedback has come from students with low-income households and schools without budgets. The only way to provide Biophilia's contact for them was to reprogrammed to Android and W8. However, due to the costs involved, the application in the beginning was only accessible to people with Apple devices (iPhones and iPads).

Resolution strategy 
Through a Kickstarter campaign, they wanted to raise the money to bring Biophilia to Android and Windows 8 touch screens .

Kickstarter Campaign - A new way to fund creative projects

"We’re a home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of people like you. Since our launch in 2009, 5.2 million people have pledged $892 million, funding 52,000 creative projects. Thousands of creative projects are raising funds on Kickstarter right now"

Björk hoped to fund the development of Android and Windows 8 app through a crowdfunding campaign on the Kickstarter website. It was launched in January 2013 seeking for 448,613€ from fans, but unfortunately was closed 10 days after only with 18,387€. 

http://www.kickstarter.com

Finally 
With the creative partner Snibbe Studio, Björk found a partner, Apportable Inc. (A San Francisco start up that automates the process of turning an iOS app into an Android app.). After two years it was released like the iOS version: 10 Individual sections, one for each song on her Biophilia album, including mini-games, interactive art and music creation tools. 
The apps are available on Google Play Store by 9,99€ and like iOS version contains 10 individual sections: one for each song on her Biophilia album, including mini-games, interactive art and music creation tools. 

"They came up with a new way of converting apps to Android that costs a whole lot less and takes far less time than previously expected. Luckily for us, technology had developed so now it is possible to do this at a fraction of the cost."

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bjork.biophilia&hl=en

Erasmus mobility experience - KEA University

Why Denmark?

First of all, I prefer to work in cities with cold temperatures. On the other hand, I was curious with higher education of north Europe and of course, the city and the habits of danish citizens because what I know about them is that are calm, strict but very kindly.
It is a city where the standard of living is the double of Portugal and it is difficult to rent an apartment. Copenhagen doesn't have enough space to the existing population.

Denmark also has scandinavia's best university

For more information:

http://www.investindk.com/News-and-events/News/2013/Denmark-has-Scandinavias-Best-University

Why Kea University (Copenhagen School of Design and Technology)?

This new danish public university offers international AP (Academy profession) degree programs within Multimedia Design, IT Technology, Design Technology and Computer Science. Also bachelor degree programs within Architectural Technology & Construction Management, Economics & IT, and Jewellery, Technology & Business, E-Concept Development, Design & Business, Software Development and Web Development. 
There is an bilateral agreement between the university where I teach in Portugal (IADE-U) and KEA University.

My ERASMUS mobility (October 2013):

For this activity I have defined specific strategies. I chose a partner university with a international education line of a country that I didn't know. I searched for a course where I could contribute with my academic and professional skills - Interface Design. The experience was fantastic because, I handled 35 students from 12 different countries in the same room. Various English accents, distinctive cultures during 4 days was a tremendous challenge. The students projects were related with a subject that I have professional experience outside of academic life. As a teacher, I agree that the students need balance between the theoretical issues and practical examples so, my approach was to give theory supported by examples during the morning and at the afternoon, coaching them through brainstorming techniques to confronting the students with relevant issues.

At a glance:

1. Aims:

• Give the opportunity to spend a teaching period in a partner university in order to promote exchange of expertise and experience on pedagogical methods;
• Create links between higher education institutions and enterprises.

2. Activities:

• The partner universities must agree in advance with teaching programme;
• Priority should be given to mobility activities which ensure that the visiting teacher's contributions will be an integral part of a degree programme of the host Institution;
• Production of new teaching material to consolidate and extend links between Schools  and prepare to future co-operation projects;
• Should be based on a short period of teaching and the essential elements are focus on: Objectives, added value and expected results. 

3. Where:

• Both universities must belong to the participant countries.

4. Duration: 

• The staff must teaching at least 5 hours per day in the maximum of 6 weeks;
• To provide a meaningful contribution to the teaching programme and international academic life it is expected a minimum duration of 5 working days;
• Short periods must be exceptional.

For more information:

ERASMUS Staff Mobility Teaching assignments by higher education institutions teaching staff and by invited staff from enterprises

http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus/teaching_en.htm

Uncomfortable OBLIVION

(Image Screenshot - Trailer) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1483013/

Finally I saw this film. From the director of Tron: Legacy - Joseh Kosinski - I expected more. For those who didn't see the film, probably it's better  look first into Joseph Chan's profile and Bradley G Munkowitz's profile also. They are the Designers responsible for all interface design and motion graphics of both films.

Joseph Chan's  http://www.josephychan.com/Oblivion 
Bradley G Munkowitz's http://gmunk.com/

(Image Source) http://work.gmunk.com/OBLIVION-GFX

Actually I didn't recognize in Oblivion details coming from Tron: Legacy, only the blue colour of course. It is nice to see when Designers in two years have different approach.

 

(Image Source) http://work.gmunk.com/filter/Graphics/TRON-Fireworks

We research a little bit more about Oblivian interfaces and we found a ACM article that makes an interesting reflection of discomfort interfaces that supports a specific goal, the entertainment. 

" The increasing use of computers in games, rides, performances, installations, and other cultural experiences is shifting the focus of user-experience design from the traditional usability goals of learnability, performance, and minimizing errors to new ones, like fostering emotional and aesthetic engagement. This switch inspires unconventional approaches that turn traditional interaction design on its head, as in, say, celebrating the role of ambiguity rather than clarity and transforming system limitations into opportunities. Here, we integrate perspectives from human-computer interaction (HCI) and performance studies to explore the deliberate engineering of discomfort as a way to create intense, memorable interactions and engage challenging themes."

By Steve Benford, Chris Greenhalgh, Gabriella Giannachi, Brendan Walker, Joe Marshall, Tom Rodden
Communications of the ACM, Vol. 56 No. 9, Pages 66-73 10.1145/2500889

 http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2013/9/167135-uncomfortable-user-experience/fulltext

Designer Wi-Fi (Article from Portuguese Computer Arts Nº 2)

 

A cada segundo que passa, existem milhares de pessoas a trocar e-mails e mensagens instantâneas, a conversar ao telemóvel, a gravar programas de televisão e a ouvir música nos leitores de MP3. Estes cenários só são possíveis, devido à evolução tecnológica e à forma como interagimos com os meios de comunicação. Esta nova fase levou a que as antigas máquinas criadas para fins científicos e utilizadas por investigadores, se tornassem em utilitários com interfaces digitais apelativas.

Ao longo dos anos, a linguagem entre o homem e a máquina tem sido caracterizada por algumas limitações tecnológicas, principalmente com a mudança das interfaces e com o aparecimento das primeiras experiências dinâmicas. Esta situação fez com que o utilizador tentasse transportar essa interface para fora do ecrã do computador. A partir daí, a interacção propriamente dita tornou-se num fenómeno social e ao mesmo tempo subjectivo, dependente da interpretação do utilizador.

Na década de 80, surgiu outra fase – a era digital. Estávamos perante a introdução do reconhecimento de voz, da realidade virtual e da visualização de dados. O resultou superou as expectativas com o aparecimento de soluções inovadoras: softwares educacionais, ambientes interactivos de aprendizagem e de jogos, simuladores, entre outros. É a partir desta altura que se sentiu a necessidade de envolver diversos tipos de conhecimentos para criar um produto digital. A integração de profissionais de áreas tão distintas como o Design, a Engenharia Informática, a Psicologia e a Sociologia, passou a ser uma prática comum.

Já nos anos 90, surgem outras tendências tecnológicas: a computação móvel, os infravermelhos e os sensores, que potencializaram a criação de aplicações ainda mais atractivas e funcionais.

Ao longo das últimas duas décadas, os Designers foram sendo confrontados com meios de comunicação cada vez mais integrados em contextos submersos em tecnologia. Esta situação alterou o rumo de muitos profissionais. Os que na altura estiveram atentos a esta mudança, rapidamente sentiram a urgência da alfabetização computacional, que se designa por compreender os novos códigos visuais do Design, e apostaram em competências diferentes, quer em termos profissionais e de formação.

Actualmente, estamos perante uma realidade diferente, a ligação entre a Engenharia Electrónica e o Design. Em conjunto, fazem com que sejam criados novos padrões de interacção que combinam soluções alternativas com as capacidades sensoriais das máquinas.

Na perspectiva do utilizador, a realidade passa por novos tipos de experiências online, como verificar e-mails e ver as novidades do Twitter ou do Facebook no iPad; Utilizar o telemóvel para ouvir Podcast; Fazer uma vídeo-conferência através do Skype; Consultar notícias em RSS (Really Simple Syndication); Ouvir música através de uma emissora Pandora (Serviço de Rádio pela Internet); E divertir-nos com os amigos através de jogos multiplayer online.

Perante estes cenários, o grande desafio para os Designers de hoje, e para os que ainda estão distantes destas realidades, é apostarem em conceitos visuais puramente dinâmicos. Como é de prever, os meios tecnológicos e os ambientes sociais vão convergir num terreno muito fértil para profissões atípicas como o Design e as diferentes Engenharias. O trabalho em equipas multidisciplinares nestas áreas é fundamental, pois, só assim, é possível implementar novas soluções interactivas e conhecer os seus utilizadores e em que circunstâncias eles manipulam a interface e as possíveis interpretações geradas a partir de diferentes níveis de conhecimento da máquina em si.

Como Designer, tenho de estar sempre atenta, esteja onde estiver, e a ligação ao mundo é imprescindível. Na óptica de quem prepara futuros Designers, alerto para a necessidade urgente da alfabetização digital, reconhecendo que, por outro lado, existe vontade em criar competências focadas no conhecimento tecnológico. Intuitivamente, a nossa forma de comunicar e interagir com as máquinas, irá potencializar no nosso país disciplinas de estudos recentes, como por exemplo o Design de Interfaces. Em suma, as novas tecnologias são as ferram.

 

Connecting with the world through technology

This fantastic documentary explore the future of Interaction Design and User Experience through different interviews to industry’s leaders.