The growth of user-generated content reflects the expansion of media production through accessible and affordable new technologies, and is changing the way content is made, delivered and networked, while context-aware channels promise to change the way content is accessed and consumed.

In November 2009 Watershed began an eighteen month Research and Development project focusing on software and prototype pervasive media services. These services allow people of varying skills to author immersive and interactive experiences, which trigger digital media in response to physical events such as location, proximity, time and movement.

The project also focused on developing software that users would be able to download and play on their phone in situ, and aimed to find ways in which the technology could be made available commercially. Partners Watershed, Calvium, Bristol Old Vic, Historic Royal Palaces and the New Museum of Bristol collaborated to develop the project, which was managed by iShed.

Technical development and delivery was overseen by Pervasive Media Studio residents, Calvium, who formed following the closure of Hewlett-Packard's Pervasive Computing Lab in November 2009. Building on research experience at Hewlett-Packard, the team develop technology that enables context-based mobile applications to be authored by people with little or no programming experience.

Initial experiments focused on the Heritage and Tourism sector but created technology that can be applied to other fields. As a result of the project, Calvium produced and launched the first ever iPhone app for the Tower of London. The app is an interactive game which uses sensors within the tower to trigger content, and players must attempt to smuggle a variety of virtual contraband to help prisoners escape. The app blends virtual content with the physical site, and also requires players to make decisions and answer questions which affect the outcome of the game.

Video shot and edited by Benji Croce.

This project was partly funded by the Technology Strategy Board.

Related Links:
Calvium

Posted on Sun 1 Nov 2009.

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