Urban Tapestries is a Proboscis research project exploring social and cultural uses of the convergence of place and mobile technologies. It builds upon previous projects such as Private Reveries, Public Spaces and Sonic Geographies and is part of our Species of Spaces research theme under the SoMa research programme.
Urban Tapestries
was conceived, initiated and is being developed by Proboscis.
Partners: France
Telecom R&D, Orange, Ordnance
Survey and MEDIA@LSE (London School of Economics).
Funders (UT): UK Department of Trade and Industry,
Arts Council England and
Daniel Langlois Foundation.
Funders (ST): Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Creative
Partnerships Hull and EPSRC.
Collaborators: Hewlett-Packard Labs and Locustworld.
Support has also been received from: Apple Computer
UK, Garbe (UK) Ltd
& Sony Europe.
Urban Tapestries
is led by Giles Lane with a core team of
Alice Angus, John Paul
Bichard and Nick West.
The current team includes: Michael Golembewski,
Paul Makepeace, George
Papamarkos, Sarah Thelwall and Zoe
Sujon.
Project Alumni: Daniel
Angus, Huw Jeffries,
Katrina
Jungnickel, Rachel
Murphy, Victoria
Peckett, Nigel Palmer and James
Wilkes.
PARTNERS
PROBOSCIS
Proboscis
is a non-profit creative studio and think tank which researches, develops
and facilitates innovation,
led by Alice Angus and Giles Lane. Proboscis conceived, initiated and
is developing Urban Tapestries as the lead partner in the collaboration.
>Proboscis
FRANCE
TELECOM R&D
France
Telecom R&D are working with Proboscis and Orange to build the client
application for Symbian UIQ mobile phones, starting with the Sony Ericsson
P800 & P900.
>France
Telecom R&D
LONDON
SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, MEDIA@LSE
Professor Roger Silverstone is supervising a social research project conducted
by research assistant and doctoral candidate Zoe Sujon. This 'experimental
ethnography' investigates social and cultural constructions of community
knowledge and public authoring in the context of wireless communications
networks.
>MEDIA@LSE
ORANGE
Proboscis is working with Orange's Prophecy and Consumer Experience Teams
on Urban Tapestries: researching user experiences of mobile authoring,
porting the client application to mobile phones, integrating GPRS access
as well as exploring location sensing technologies based on mobile networks.
>Orange
ORDNANCE
SURVEY
Proboscis and the Research and Innovation Unit of the Ordnance Survey
are collaborating on exploring new forms of mapping using Urban Tapestries
as a research test-bed.
>OS
R&I website
COLLABORATORS
HEWLETT-PACKARD
LABS, Bristol
Urban Tapestries is being developed by Proboscis as part of the Department
of Trade and Industry-funded City and Buildings Centre led by Phil Stenton
at HP Labs, Bristol (part of the Next Wave Technologies and Markets programme).
>Mobile
Bristol
LOCUSTWORLD
Locustworld are working with Proboscis on using their their MeshAP ad
hoc networking system to provide temporary and mobile 802.11b wireless
networks for trials and tests.
>Locustworld
ARTS
COUNCIL ENGLAND
ACE's Collaborative Arts Unit supported Urban Tapestries through funding
of the Creative Lab and prototype development (2003).
>Collaborative
Arts
CALOUSTE
GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION
The Foundation is supporting the Social Tapestries research project
through its Social Policy programme (2004/05).
>Gulbenkian
Foundation UK Branch
CREATIVE
PARTNERSHIPS HULL
CP Hull supported a Social Tapestries experiment with Kingswood
School near Hull (2004).
>CP
Hull
DANIEL
LANGLOIS FOUNDATION FOR ART, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The Foundation supported Urban Tapestries through a grant award (2003).
>Daniel
Langlois Foundation
DEPARTMENT
OF TRADE & INDUSTRY
Urban Tapestries was funded by the DTI through the Next Wave Technologies
and Markets programme to build the prototype system (2003/04).
>Next
Wave Technologies & Markets
ENGINEERING
& PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL
The EPSRC is supporting Natalie Jeremijenko's Visiting Fellowship
(a Social Tapestries experiment) in 2004/05.
>EPSRC
APPLE
COMPUTER UK
Apple have supported Urban Tapestries with equipment loans for the user
trial.
>Apple
UK website
GARBE
(UK) LTD
Garbe UK provided a headquarters in the magnificently refurbished Victoria
House for the December 2003 Public Trial, overlooking Bloomsbury Square
in London, WC1.
>Victoria
House
SONY
EUROPE
Sony have provided Clie devices for testing.
>Sony
Clie website
GILES
LANE
Giles Lane is the founder of Proboscis and directs the
research programme SoMa (social matrices). He is an Associate Research
Fellow at the London School of Economics MEDIA@LSE programme, and was
Research Fellow in Communication Art & Design at the Royal College
of Art (2001-2002). Prior to that he was Writer, Editor & Curator
to the Computer Related Design Research Studio at the Royal College of
Art where he commissioned and published 5 books for the RCA CRD RESEARCH
imprint and curated two exhibition projects: This Appliance Must be
Earthed and Click Forward Online Films. Giles was founder
and editor of COIL journal of the moving image (1995-2000) and
editor of Mapping Perception, a book and CD-ROM accompanying
the science-art project. Giles co-authored (with Paul Farrington) Interactive:
the internet for graphic designers (Rotovision 2002). Giles has initiated
and managed many of Proboscis’ projects including: Mapping Perception,
Private Reveries, Public Spaces, Urban Tapestries, Sonic
Geographies, DIFFUSION eBooks, COIL and Topologies.
He leads Proboscis’ consultancy projects including work for IDEO
London, Rotovison, NESTA and the Arts Council of England.
>CV
ALICE
ANGUS
Alice is Co-Director of Proboscis. As part of the SoMa
research programme she is leading the LIQUID GEOGRAPHIES theme and is
involved in the development of Sonic Geographies. She is co-curator
of Private Reveries, Public Spaces. As part of Proboscis' Topologies
initiative she is currently working on Navigating History –
major project placing artists, designers and other practitioners in the
local history archives of libraries in the South of England. Alice was
Visual arts Consultant and Producer for Gala Scotland Ltd, organisers
of Glasgay! Festival for whom she curated, managed and fund-raised for
exhibitions in association with the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. She
is former Programme Manager and Acting Director for Fotofeis, the Biennial
International Festival of Photo Based Arts held across Scotland to audiences
of over 500,000, and was responsible for the teams delivering the overall
programme. She is also editor of (Re)visions of Sex the book
that accompanied Fotofeis 97. She has also been involved producing and
managing a variety of new media and arts related projects, publications
and consultancies including several years as a Director of New Visions
Experimental Film Video and New Media and producing Glasgow School of
Fine Art's events and conferences programme as well as the resulting anthologies
Random Access I & II (Rivers Oram Press, 1995 & 1996).
She holds an MA Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art.
>CV
JOHN
PAUL BICHARD
John has been creating solutions for the games, arts and
mobile technology industries for over a decade, holding directorships
in two digital games/media companies for 5 years. He is currently a systems
consultant to the mobile technology consultancy Unwired Stuff. Unwired
Stuff have strong links with T-mobile and Orange and are the group who
put together Virgin Mobile. John was recently consultant designer to a
major TV brand (Ragdoll, makers of the Teletubbies) as one of
three international games designers commissioned to initiate their new
game project. His other projects include: Interactive
design consultant to Virgin Mobile's Advanced Wireless Technologies Group,
the team that set up Virgin Mobile as an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network
Operator). This included researching and developing test applications
for the then emerging WAP technologies. Games design consultant to a working
party comprising Jennic and Unwired Stuff in developing ARM co-processors
for a 3G mobile phone consortium (since disbanded). Public Reveries,
Private Spaces – commissioned by Proboscis/Royal College of
Art to develop Firewall: convergent technologies research project.
Designing and developing online games campaigns for Pokemon the Movie,
SouthPark the Movie, Grand Theft Auto 2, Oni and Thomas the Tank
Engine. Collaborating with 8 artists in 1996 to develop and produce
the UK's first games-based CD ROM by artists. This was exhibited in 8
major UK galleries including the Institute of Contemporary Arts and was
sold to the Museum of Modern Art in NY.
>Personal
Website
NICK
WEST
Nick West is a New Media Researcher who focuses on the
interplay between interactive technologies and the surrounding physical
environment. As an Adjunct Professor at New York University, Nick managed
a research project for Viacom that investigated the feasibility of viewing
location-triggered websites on portable wireless devices. As a Visiting
Scholar with the National Fine Arts Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
Nick designed travelling museum exhibits utilizing Global Positioning
Satellite technology. Nick also has extensive experience in designing
for interactive television. At Apple Computer, he was co-inventor of a
number of patented interfaces for interactive TV. As Manager of a joint
research project for New York University and New York’s regional
phone company, Nick investigated building location-based virtual communities
via a live interactive TV show, which was broadcast weekly on Manhattan
Cable TV. Nick presented his research results at several conferences throughout
Europe and North America. Nick has a B.A. in Political and Economic Systems
from Yale University, and a Masters Degree in Interactive Telecommunications
from New York University.
CURRENT TEAM
MICHAEL
GOLEMBEWSKI
Michael is a recent MA graduate of the Royal College Art
in Interaction Design.
DIKAIOS
PAPADOGKONAS
Dikaios
is a computer scientist and
PhD student in the department of Computing at Birkbeck College, University
of London. Dikaios is developing the new Urban Tapestries Java mobile
client.
GEORGE
PAPAMARKOS
George
is a computer scientist and
PhD student in the department of Computing at Birkbeck College, University
of London. George is developing the new Urban Tapestries system architecture
and structure.
ZOE
SUJON
Zoe is a third year PhD candidate in the Media & Communications
Department (MEDIA@LSE) at the London School of Economics where her research
topic is: Technological Citizenship and The Cultural Politics of Belonging.
Zoe received her BA and MA in Sociology at Carlton University, Canada.
>MEDIA@LSE
SARAH
THELWALL
Sarah
is a business strategist specialising in creative industries. Sarah is
leading the development of the Social Tapestries Research Affiliates Scheme
as well as actual experiments and projects.
LINKS
Other location-based and wireless projects (in no particular order):
