Category: events

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events

Library of Birmingham at Be2Camp Brum 2010


Design for Library of Birmingham by Mecanoo architects

Be2camp Brum 2010 was loosely themed around libraries. A new building for Birmingham Central Library (where Be2camp Brum 2010 was held) is currently under construction and due to open in 2013 and the first three presentations at Be2camp Brum were concerned with how digital technologies are being integrated into the planning and construction process as well as into the library services and building itself.


Brian Gambles speaking at Be2camp Brum 2010 via Meshed Media

Brian Gambles, head of BCC Library Services, outlined the broad overview that is being taken to the use of digital technologies, emphasising that they are designing for maximum flexibility and adaptability and aiming not to be platform-specific as they assume that digital infrastructures and technologies will change over the lifetime of the building. Brian emphasised that the aim is to redefine and reimagine the relationship between library services, the library building and library users through digital technologies.

Tom Epps speaking at Be2camp Brum 2010 via Meshed Media

Tom Epps then spoke about one of the ways this is taking place. Alongside the construction of the new building,  a virtual model of the new Library of Birmingham building is being built in Second Life. This model is to scale and Tom spoke about how this is providing a better sense of the relationships between different elements of the building than it’s possible to get from architects plans or non-interactive 3-D model. Once the Second Life Library goes live it will also be used for public consultations to gather people’s opinions on the new design via polls and feedback points, and possibly to host events paralleling the physical Library building and services. (And it was so impressive that the whole presentation was done while we were being expertly navigated live around the Second Life model live!)

We then heard a little about the role of mobile technologies in re-imagining library services (I’m afraid I didn’t get the speaker’s name) and a description of how library services and activities will be augmented by mobile personal devices and applications.

All in all it was great to hear that the Library are taking such an imaginative approach to the integration of digital technologies and working on platform neutrality and personalised services that open up great library resources – such as their archive of photographs – to city residents and library visitors. I really hope that this emphasis on the experience people have in the library will continue to inform all of their decisions. And I was only slightly disturbed that their Second Life model which professes to show how the library will be doesn’t actually have any people in it yet…

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events

bookleteer at Be2camp Brum 2010


No pics yet so thought I’d show you Bubblino (via Roo Reynolds on Flickr) of Bubblino who accompanied every be2camp tweet with a flurry of bubbles

Yesterday I presented bookleteer at Be2camp Brum 2010, an ‘unconference’ looking at where Web 2.0 meets the built environment. I was a bit nervous about my talk as it felt so, well, paper-based and analogue! However, going by the conversations I had afterwards I needn’t have worried. Seems like people understood the concept and had some super-interesting ideas for what the eBooks and Story Cubes might be used for.

So thanks to Rob and Laura for all their work organising the event and thanks to the inspiring presenters, twitter commentators and audience. I’ll write more about the talks over the next few days.

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events

Seven Days in Seven Dials

This week bookleteer has been supporting the project Seven Days in Seven Dials: a week in the life of London’s Culture Quarters organised by Dan Thompson of the Empty Shops Network. Over the past days more than 30 young staff of 9 arts organisations based in Seven Dials, Covent Garden, London have been working to put together a temporary exhibition at 18 Shorts Gardens. The exhibition opens tomorrow (Saturday 10 July 2010) and runs until Friday 23 July.

Working with professional podcasters, photographers and artists the participants have been exploring the history of the area, cultural and historical links between the organisations involved in the project, and individual experiences of the participant’s day-to-day activities within their organisations. There is a short video on YouTube that gives an idea of the work they’ve been doing and the fun they’ve been having.

Alice has been in Seven Dials all week along with Karine and Shalene from Proboscis to show participants how to use bookleteer and helping them transform their material into eBooks and StoryCubes.

Read more about the project on artistsandmakers.com and see pictures of it on Dan’s Flickr stream.

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events

Don’t Forget – PU&P 10: Augmented Reading Tomorrow!

Just a little reminder that we’re running Pitch Up & Publish 10: Augmented Reading tomorrow afternoon between 2 and 5pm.

We already have some great people signed up and there is still room for a few more so do drop us a line if you’d like to come along. You can reach us at bookleteer at bookleteer.com

The PU&P session will explore the many different experiences of making books that augment reading. Through conversation and hands-on making we aim to discover how digital technologies might inform the design of future reading experiences.

Date: Thursday 1 July 2010
Time: 2pm – 5pm
Location: Proboscis Studio, 4th Floor, 101 Turnmill Street, London EC1M 5QP
Map : http://bit.ly/PEBbb
Cost: Free!

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events inspiration

Too late for Papercamp

Yesterday I wrote about the upcomimg Pitch Up & Publish which is on the topic of augmented reading, then, researching similar and related work I came across Papercamp which was first held in London in January 2009 with a second event happening in New York in February the same year.

My first thought was that I wish I had been there! From this write-up of the London Papercamp by Jeremy Keith it seems the day was a mix of presentations of inspirational projects and making things.


(Photo from this blogpost describing the genesis of Papercamp: http://magicalnihilism.com/2008/10/29/papercamp/)

My next thought was what an amazing array of topics they covered. So many of the projects presented at Papercamp fall into my definition of Augmented Reading – which sets me asking – what do I hope to add to the ongoing discussion around paper and technologies with the Augmented Reading Pitch Up & Publish workshop?

For me, I guess, it is the focus on reading rather than paper, or even books. Reading implies a relationship, or perhaps a number of relationships. There is the relationship between author and reader where the author hopes the reader will understand the meaning they are trying to convey in their particular combination of words.. or of words and pictures.. or words and 3-D paper forms.. or words and multimedia files triggered by QR codes..

Then there is also the relationship between the reader and the book-as-object. This can include the sensory quality of the book – have you ever bought a book because it was printed on beautiful paper, or because of its smell when you first opened it? Talking about paper and technologies doesn’t have to address these issues.. talking about reading does..

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events

PU&P 10 Augmented Reading: Thursday 1 July

Date: Thursday 1 July 2010
Time: 2pm – 5pm
Location: Proboscis Studio, 4th Floor, 101 Turnmill Street, London EC1M 5QP
Map : http://bit.ly/PEBbb
Cost: Free!

Our next Pitch Up & Publish – No. 10 – will focus on the challenges and opportunities of using bookleteer.com for making and sharing books that go beyond text to call on form, movement and interaction to add to the reader’s experience. Designers, paper artists, augmented reality researchers, architects and others are invited to take part in a hands-on exchange of knowledge, ideas and techniques of how the eBook format (and other forms of online sharing) can enrich or subvert the experience of augmented reading.

What do we mean by augmented reading?

Over the last month I’ve explored the world of books as objects and I’ve begun to realise that these projects share the common theme of seeking to augment the experience of reading. Whether the augmentation is through the interplay of graphics and text as in Carmen’s Black on Black or Dusk or through movement as in Rainbow In Your Hand or 3-dimensional form – either in the physical sense like the pop-ups of Robert Sabuda or the digital world of the Magic Book – all of these books engage with the readers’ senses alongside their reading of the content.

Currently, these books tend to exist as one-offs or limited editions and this limits their audience to a small number of people. My experiments with the pop-up eBook began to explore how these books might be shared more widely using the Internet, and in a form where readers are actively involved in the construction of the books. How might sharing in this way alter the nature of these books which seem such precious objects due to their frailty and uniqueness? How does this change the relationship between author/maker and reader? What are the technical challenges of sharing augmented books in this way when the eBooks have such a specific form?

The PU&P session will explore the many different experiences of making books that augment reading. Through conversation and hands-on making we aim to discover how digital technologies might inform the design of future reading experiences.

If you would like to take part then email us on bookleteer at bookleteer.com and tell us a little bit about your interest in the topic. This will help us with our preparations for the workshop.

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events publishing on demand

bookleteer at Art of Digital London

Yesterday Giles presented bookleteer and the Diffusion eBook & StoryCube formats at the Art of Digital London Salon, “Publishing – The Digital Word and the Arts’. The event (held at the Free Word Centre) was organised and chaired by Simon Worthington of OpenMute, with Caroline Heron and was aimed at Arts Council England RFOs (Regular Funded Organisations) interested in developing digital publishing strategies.

We presented bookleteer alongside Chris Meade of if:book, Ben Terrett of Newspaperclub, Stefan Tobler of And Other Stories as well as Simon himself presenting OpenMute’s Progressive Publishing Service concept. As part of OpenMute’s research they have created a wiki page exploring many digital publishing projects and services.

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events

Margate Harbour Arm PU&P

This Friday (April 30th) I’ll be at Margate Harbour Arm alongside Dan Thompson from Artists & Makers and the Empty Shops Network as a guest of Lynn at We Make Margate to give a demonstration of bookleteer to local people.

Come along between 1-5pm if you’d in the area and would like to know more about making eBooks and StoryCubes, and to see samples of the gorgeous new PPOD eBooks!


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events publishing on demand

PU&P 9 Coventry with Artists and Makers

We will be running a Pitch Up & Publish event with Artists & Makers in Coventry on Friday 26th March 2010, from 12noon until 4pm as part of the Empty Shops Tour.

Come and join us to publish your stories, pictures and ideas as Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes.

Date : Friday 26th March 2010
Time : 12pm to 4pm
Venue : 11 City Arcade, Coventry
Map

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PU&P 8 – Carlisle with Artists and Makers

We will be running a Pitch Up & Publish event with Artists & Makers in Carlisle on Friday 19th March 2010, from 12noon until 4pm as part of the Empty Shops Tour.

Come and join us to publish your stories, pictures and ideas as Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes.

Date : Friday 19th March 2010
Time : 12pm to 4pm
Venue : 17 Lowther Arcade, Lowther Street, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 8LX, UK
Map

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