BusBuzz is a location-based social music application for mobile use in the public buses of Istanbul. This application essentially creates a jukebox specific to each bus, where it allows BusBuzz users to discover and share music together as a shared experience. BusBuzz aims to improve bus rides by creating a fun and engaging social experience through music.
BusBuzz is a location-based social music application for mobile use in the public buses of Istanbul. This application essentially creates a jukebox specific to each bus, where it allows BusBuzz users to discover and share music together as a shared experience. BusBuzz aims to improve bus rides by creating a fun and engaging social experience through music.
The BusBuzz project is part of the MIT Mobile Experience Lab, specifically the Design Without Boundaries course — Disruptive Applications for Pervasive Computing. Directed by Professor Federico Casalegno, the Lab’s mission is as follows:
The MIT Mobile Experience Lab seeks to radically reinvent and creatively design connections between people, information and physical places. Using cutting-edge information and mobile technology the lab seeks to improve peopleʻs lives through the careful design of meaningful experiences.(1)
This year we have collaborated with AVEA Labs, a mobile operator based in Istanbul. As part of the collaboration we were looking for constructive methods to use mobile technology in Istanbul. We creatively explored how social engagement could transform tomorrow’s smart cities, and how we can develop disruptive applications to improve the human experience in cities, exploring location based technology and multimedia. Our team focused on creating meaningful and engaging experience through music.BusBuzz is a location-based social music application designed for the public buses of Istanbul. It aggregates the users’ music preferences and creates a dynamic playlist. This playlist is like a jukebox, played in real time and specific to each bus. BusBuzz’s mission is to create a fun and engaging experience for the commuters by allowing them to discover and share music with others on their bus. According to a study of commuters in Boston and San Francisco, “By encouraging the development of apps that make commuting easier, transit agencies can drastically, and at little cost, improve the ridership experience and make riding mass transit more attractive.”(2) Our hope is that, by creating a fun and engaging ridership experience, BusBuzz will make public transportation more attractive and promote Istanbul as a fun, playful and sustainable city.
Why the bus? We see a great opportunity to bring back the social music experience on public transportation. The bus is a closed public space where commuters often stay for an extended time with little other distractions. Moreover, traffic congestion and pollution is a major concern for Istanbul.(3) The application will enable commuters to discover new music through the bus playlist, share their music by adding songs to the playlist, and interact with the community. By improving the ride, we hope to make public transportation more attractive, as well as promote a sense of community through music.Research, design and development : Yael Alkalay & Karen Su
The MIT Mobile Experience Lab
Design Without Boundaries
Disruptive Applications for Pervasive Computing
Instructor: Federico Casalegno
Course Collaborators: Pelin Arslan, Pascal Chesnais
___________________________________________________
2. Keith Barry. (4/8/2011). How Smartphones can Improve Public Transit. Wired. Retrieved fromhttp://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/04/how-smartphones-can-improve-public-transit/
The DMI Bunch
In collaboration with Jeremy Sherman
The following image is composed of the portraits of the DMI students. It was part of the Fresh Media Show 2012, Boston.
The image changes by motion, or lack of motion, detected from the built in camera. The processing script, detects where the movement is and determines what image should be displayed. The movement of the eyes corresponds to the motion detected from the built in camera.
If you’re around Boston, don’t miss An Alien Artist Show at MassArt’s Student Life Gallery!! My colleague Fabiola Menchelli and I have curated this exhibition featuring the work of 8 international artists.
The show includes the work of the following grad students at MassArt working in a…
Faces
In collaboration with Jeremy Sherman. We have been inspired by two great artists. The first is the french street artist JR. JR photographs and pastes photos of human faces across massive canvases all over the world. The second artist is Ron Mueck, an Australian hyperrealist sculptor who works in the United Kingdom. These two artist are very inspiring and powerful, each of their works deals with the human condition and scale.
We were looking to capture some of this essence into an interactive experience. Creating a large scale projection of faces in the urban landscape. The face expression will interact with the city sounds: low, mid and high.
In our first experiment, we controlled the image saturation by the sound level. We used the VJ software Modul8. Whenever it was louder the image became more saturated. The interaction was between a person, speaking into an external computer mic, to the video.
In our second experiment, we controlled the image by motion detection. We programed a processing sketch which detects whether there is a motion or not, using a webcam. Then, we divided the video input into five areas. This enabled us to detect the areas in motion. The image changed by the motion in each areas - followed by a movement passing in front of the camera. The face expression of the person changed by the motion in the different areas. When there was no motion he seemed bored and when there was high motion he seemed overwhelmed.
In our third experiment, we projected the image on a big scale. This allowed us to explore the interaction and the proportion of a man in front of the projection, while the image is “following” him by his eyes.
** Coming soon the live demo in the “DMI FreshMedia 2012” exhibition.
*** Thank you Fish!
Cooking Breakfast - conceptual sounds experiments
I have download variety of youtube videos, with one common thing: “cooking breakfast”. In each movie you could see a variety of people - a teenager, a grandma, a macho old british guy, a sweet Japanese girl, different people from around the world - making breakfast in their home. I have captured all the sounds and then I divided it by actions. For example: cutting, boiling, chopping, talking and etc. Instead of sound libraries of drums and guitars I had libraries of frying oil and boiling eggs. I experimented with that and made few conceptual sounds experiments.
The Dynamic Media Institute presents Fresh Media 2012, a week long exhibition featuring the latest work from the graduate students at DMI. Bringing their semester showcase off campus for the first time, this highly interactive event will take place in the heart of Boston’s West End…
Insight
Project in process.
The Insight project is a world map presentation which is composed of people’s points of view from all around the world. Along with the user’s city information, the platform presents two photos by each user: 1. A picture of the view from his/her window (the exterior). 2. The view of the inside of the room (the interior). The two photos are a chance for a more personal, individual output of our world today. While in social networks the users are limited to their own friends’ data, here they have the chance to discover and explore different people, places and cultures. In this platform the boundaries of objective and subjective, personal and public are blurred by the users and their individuals insights. “Insight” celebrates culture diversity and the connection between people. From Hong-Kong to Barcelona, we get insights into the authentic lives of people around the world. This glance allows us to participate in the daily being of someone geographically and culturally distant. The goal of the project is to increase mutual understanding worldwide.
In addition to the virtual world, the project also exists in the physical world. The pictures from “Insight” are projected on building facades in different cities and countries. The projection takes place in the urban landscape, and it is accessible to the community. The images are projected from the inside of the building’s windows on to a screen located in the window and facing the street. From the street view, different windows contain different images from around the world. These continually change showing views from different cities. People in their own familiar urban environment are able to explore and discover different cities and individuals’ interiors. I hope that by a fun and engaging experience people will broaden their horizon to new perspectives.
The following pictures was taking by: Danny, Ella, Yael, Lev, Uri, Anat, Tomoko, Ziv.
I’ll be happy for new pictures, if you would like to participate please kindly send me your views to:
hello.insight@gmail.com
Thank you :)
Fall installation
The installation was inspired by my first experience of the beautiful, Bostonian fall. Driven by this experience, I have created the “Fall” installation in the Doran Gallery, MassArt, Boston. The “Fall” installation is composed of real leaves placed in a circle on the floor of the gallery. The leaves are shaped as a perfect circle, made out of two hues of leaves. At the middle of the circle, there are red leaves which are surrounded by yellow and brown leaves. The viewer can view, smell and touch the leaves. The installation can be viewed from the inside as well from the outside of the gallery - from the street. Due to the natural process of decomposition the “Fall” installation is dynamic and constantly changing. As time goes by, the leaves rot. The natural process affects the perfect circle’s shape, the smell and the density of air in the gallery.
My wish was to capture a passing moment in time and place. The installation expresses the dynamic boundaries of our world - seasons, places, and environments. This project questions the dynamic relationships between the outside and the inside, the natural and the artificial. I desired to capture an authentic human encounter with nature and to reconstruct it in a controlled environment.
The Vicious GPS
The “Vicious GPS” is a navigation app which guides the user to go around in circles, in a loop – where “The End is Where We Start From”. This GPS is “infallible” device that always fails. It is misleading, deceptive, evil, and personal. During the journey the application reveals its evilness and persona. The user gives himself mentally and physically to the machine while it fails to deliver its innate purpose.
My video concept project shows the user narrative scenario, in which the user follow the GPS directions in the American supermarket, looking after honey. The first and last frames are the same. The GPS misleads the user and instead of getting him to his destination, the user gets lost and returns to the starting point. I have chosen the American supermarket as a symbol and as part of my own experience as an outsider who sometimes gets lost in this fast-paced new culture.
In this humorous, imaginary user narrative scenario, I wish to raise the awareness of the social aspects of human computer interaction. From the user’s point of view, I identify with the clueless user who follows the directions of the evil GPS. As a user, I believe we shouldn’t forget ourselves in the use of digital technology, and we should remain aware of our own consciousness. As an interaction designer, I believe we have a great responsibility of creating positive and constructive services which shape human lives for the better.
