Intro
Welcome to the web presentation of The Inspiration Table and ‘MedieSnuden’.
Our project has taken place under the heading “the interactive library in the urban space”. The library is characterized by categorization and system – it’s a computer science Nirvana, a place where you easily and effectively can find what you are looking for. But how exciting is that?
We view the library as more than a book storage facility and have worked with turning searching upside down. I stead of going for efficiency, we work with explorativity. We want to give the users a new way to explore the content types – books, cds, film – of the library, making clear the connections between the individual works. The purpose is to inspire the user to borrow something that he didn’t know he wanted to borrow. At the same time we want to make it possible for the users to inspire each other by sharing good library experiences.
Enjoy the site!
Mette, Nicolai, Ture & Thomas
Feel free to contact us with questions, flames or offers of strange and carnal pleasures at aletheianerne@googlegroups.com
MedieSnuden
The library is a diverse place which means different things to different people. With iSpy we would like to highlight the library’s diversity, whilst giving the user the opportunity to share experiences and/or be inspired by the experiences of others.
We do this by giving the user a digital pathfinder, with which he can either make or follow a trail. This way we raise awareness of the library as a physical space, and materials, uses and aspects of the library who might otherwise be hidden might be revealed.
This way iSpy serves both as a mediator for the experience of the library as physical space as well as inspiration for new use and lending. iSpy activates the user as co-creator of the library and allows for greater interaction between users.
To draw attention to the possibility of using iSpy we will scatter “sensor trees” over the library, which will measure the current use of iSpy and show the activity by the decreasing/increasing humming/movement.
Inspiration Table
The Inspiration Table
is a playful and tactile way of exposing the sources of inspiration and relations between different experiences in libraries. By taking the physical book as interaction tool and adding sources of inspiration through an interactive multitouch table, the user will be able to find new ideas for library events, books and other media.
There are a myriad of connections between different books and stories. Either the writers have been inspired by each others’ stories, or readers who have recognized the qualities of various media.
If these connections can be revealed, they have the potential to act as both an inspiration for what books you can have pleasure to read, and it can add a new dimension to the reading experience.
Some pretty images, courtesy of Skjoldbroder:
Scenario Table
Soren enters the library to return “The girl who played with fire” a famous Swedish crime story. He would like something similar, maybe something new by the same author or some other crime story? Soren goes to the Inspiration Table and places his book upon it. A Digital Aura appears underneath the book and shows 3 keywords for the book’s content.
Around on the Inspiration Table is floating different images representing different sources of inspiration. Soren moves the book toward some of the pictures and more precise information is revealed for the source of inspiration which tries to move away from Soren’s book. He chases it and the word “Afghanistan” is revealed, not something that turns on Soren, so he moves the book around the Inspiration table, towards a picture of a big picture of a car slowly and somewhat cautiously approaching Soren’s book.
This image irks Sorens curiousity and he moves his book toward the image of the car and the word “Status” appear. Soren think it sounds a little crazy for a crime story, but nonetheless chose to move the book onto the source of inspiration, thus including it in the books book’s aura, making it contain 4 keywords. At the same time, alternative sources of inspiration, that previously slowly approached and hovered around the book’s aura is shying away from it while new images seems to be slowly attracted.
Soren now see that one of the sources of inspiration floating around on the table, seems to be similar to the front cover of a book. He moves his book toward this book cover, and it reveals itself as Dostojevskys “Crime and Punishment”, a book Soren has once seen his father reading … does that really have anything to do with “The girl who played with Fire”? Soren decides to find out, and moves his book over the image of the book cover, which with a long sliding movement move to the edge of the table where the front cover and a little explanatory text attach themselves. Soren drags the image of “Crime and Punishment ‘over the edge of the table, and a reference to where he can find the book is printed out.
Soren somewhat skeptically teases the the thick book out of the library archives, and goes home to read it and find out whether it really is something for him.
Scenario Mediesnuden
Ole has just returned a book at the library. Now he would like to borrow something new to take home, but he does not really know what… He therefore decides to turn on his MultiMedieSnude application. On the screen a big red arrow appears. He begins to walk in the direction the arrow is pointing.
Suddenly, the arrow begins to swing back and forth. First slowly then faster and faster the nearer he approaches the first track on the trail
He moves his iPhone over the row of books until suddenly the arrow stands still and turn green in front of a particular book. On the screen a photo and text are appearing.
He looks at the picture and reads the commentary. He likes the book’s front cover image and title, but after reading the back cover, he puts the book back.
He walks away from the track and the red arrow appears once again and he follows it to a new book. This book is more to his taste, so he decides to borrow it.
Beforehand, however, he wants to discover what the last track leads him to. He follows the arrow again, which leads him to the local archive. He has never been here before. The maker of this trail writes that it is a good place to read being that it is a very quiet place.
Ole is thinking about the exam paper that he is soon to write. Maybe he should write it here. His room is always so messy and it is difficult for him to concentrate and get something written.
Minutes after borrowing the book he wonders who might have made trail.