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Media Sandbox April Newsletter
Our six Media Sandbox commissions have been striding forwards with their projects this month. The groups are researching the opportunities posed by multi-platform technologies and we are pleased to share their recent progress…
There’s exciting news from both Indie Mobile and HMC, Drake Music and bibic: After a month of head down planning, Indie Mobile have now appointed a technical partner, London agency Destar Limited. Destar are experienced mobile developers, and are excited to be working with Indie Mobile to tweak and trim 'The Generator' into an effective application; Things are also hurtling forwards for HMC, Drake Music and bibic. Legendary music producer Jools Holland will help launch a version of their 'Cyber-therapy' software called ‘Visual Voice Pro’. A high profile event will take place in early May at Rich Mix Studios, East London. It will be an excellent opportunity for the team to promote the project and give people the chance to try out the software first hand.
After weeks of research into game show formats, demographics, time-structures and interactivity, this week saw U-Soap Media begin the practical test phase for 'Viral Spiral'. Happily, they’ve gathered together a fantastic group of actors and directors, who have thrown themselves headlong into the project. With buzzers and prompt cards at the ready, the first session saw the play out of game scenarios and invaluable discussion around the findings. You can see pictures from this session in our Media Sandbox Flickr group.
Nomos Media have been on the road with Radio in Schools this month, promoting 'AudioEnable' to over 30,000 teachers and industry reps at the National Education Show in Birmingham. Despite a slightly shaky technical start, they attracted a non-stop flow of visitors and signed up an impressive number of schools. They also made valuable contact with a number of Brands, who were really excited about the potential of the project. Back at the office, the designs for ‘AudioEnable’ are almost complete, and they're really close to having the raw functionality up and running on a touch screen device.
Having an early beta release of 'Street Art Dealer' has helped a great deal in generating feedback and ideas for C6 and Steal from Work. They’ve identified a number of key issues to be addressed, and are now looking to raise awareness of both the project and the technology. This month will see them actively building a strong body of artists and artworks; planning a major project launch in Bristol; nurturing some high profile buyer case studies; and alongside all of this, ironing out the system’s technical and usability issues.
AntiVJ are immersed in the development phase of ‘Mapping Software 1.0’. Working with freelance developer George Crabtree, they’ve made huge leaps forward. The software engine is almost complete and they hope to post footage of the first experiments on their blog very soon. They’ve also met some interesting people this month, including Media Sandbox Advisor Nicole Yershon from Ogilvy. As well as receiving an inspirational tour of Ogilvy’s Digital Innovations Lab, Nicole offered valuable insight into the possibilities for ‘Mapping Software 1.0’ in the field of contemporary advertising.
An industrious month all round has led to significant progress in concepts, designs and development. The teams have moved forward at an incredible pace and we’re really excited by the tangible ideas that are beginning to manifest. To follow their progress, remember to check their Project Journals regularly.
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Media Sandbox is managed by iShed working with South West Screen with support from South West Regional Development Agency and Watershed.