WK 8 Digital Urban Gaming

Digital Technology is no longer easy to contain. The mobilization of this technology means that the user can interact with the virtual world anywhere giving us the opportunity to experience existing spaces differently. As the technology weaves through our cities these spaces become smart spaces. Foth et al defines the smart cities as spaces that take advantage of cloud computing and broadband connectivity to gather big data. Apps developed to interact with these spaces often use sensor networks and urban interfaces to impact on the users environment. Foth et al describes implementation of the structure as a “Top down” (2016. Pg.3) approach as data is stored on the information gathered for corporate use . Foth et al goes onto describe how the user interacts and engages with the technology as a ‘bottom up’ approach.

Using this type of technology to interact with gameplay has seen the launch of the gaming phenomenon Pokemon Go last summer. I interviewed an 18-year-old Fine Art student about his experience of using the app. He explained that he used the app when babysitting to allow those he was looking after to interact with their immediate environment creating a whole new universe. Foth et al highlighted that this type of gameplay had a positive experience on it users that “develop a platform for inspiring playfully motivation in players to reconnect with their environment” (Foth et al, 2016. Pg. 17).

While Hjorth and Richrdson agreed that the interactivity of the game with the users immediate environment was positive. There were elements of the game that “from productive social dimensions…to the darker debates around isolation, safety, surveillance and risk.” (Hjorth and Richardson, 2017. Pg. 4). This was an element bought up by the fine art student who thought that engagement with the game meant that you would not always be aware of your surroundings and this could endanger the user who’s focus on the screen would mean that they were not aware of potential hazards.

Bibliography

Foth, M. Hudson-Smith, A. and Gifford, D. (2016). Smart Cites Social Capital, and Citizens at Play: A Critique and a Way Forward. In Research Handbook on Digital transformations. Cheltenham. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp 203-221

Hjorth, L. and Richardson, I. (2017). Pokémon GO: Mobile media play, place-making, and the digital wayfarer. Mobile Media & Communication, 5(1), pp.3-14.

 

W8 Digital Urban Gaming

Pokemon Go is a location-based, augmented reality game played on smartphones, using cameras and GPS, allowing players to “catch Pokemon in the real world.” (Pokemon Go, 2017), and described by Hjorth and Richardson as a “cultural moment.” (Hjorth and Richardson, 2017: 4).
I interviewed a male journalist in his late twenties about how he experienced his urban environment playing Pokemon Go. He described the game as “blurring the lines between digital and the real world.” (Interviewee, 2017), as Foth et al reinforce, mobile, locative games augment the physical space. (Foth et al, 2016: 16-20).
The interviewee blamed his love of the game on “nostalgia,” growing up when the Pokemon craze began (Interviewee, 2017), something Hjorth and Richardson reiterate. (Hjorth and Richardson, 2017: 4).
Hjorth and Richardson believe smartphones have a “deep impact on everyday media and play practices.” (Hjorth and Richardson, 2017: 7). Amongst the game’s benefits, the interview listed being able to play on your phone and exploring the city, praising Pokemon Go for turning “your neighbourhood into a playground.” (Interviewee, 2017). Hjorth and Richardson echo this, “as media become more mobile and playful..we increasingly interweave our everyday experience of place with playful virtual elements.” (Hjorth and Richardson, 2017: 6).
At a Pokestop in Brighton, the interviewee explained he saw a statue he never noticed before, stating the game taught him more about where he lives. (Interviewee, 2017). This links with Foth et al’s idea of urban games giving players a new way to experience their environment and aa renewed sense of value and appreciation. (Foth et al, 2016: 17).
Pokemon Go’s popularity is most likely linked with it being set in an environment the player already feels connected to and, as Foth et al explain, has “potential for socially reflective comparison.” (Foth et al, 2016: 20). However, there are concerns with locative games due to the player’s data collected and their vulnerability to theft or crime. (NSPCC, 2017). The interviewee suggested he would talk strangers playing Pokemon who he would usually ignore. However, this connective feeling is contradicted by the isolation those less mobile may feel.



Bibliography:

Foth, M., Hudson-Smith, A. And Gifford, D. 2016. Smart cities, social capital and citizens at play: A critique and a way forward. Research Handbook on Digital Transformations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Pp. 16-20.

Hjorth, L. And Richardson, I. 2017. Pokemon Go: Mobile media play, place-making and the digital wayfarer. Mobile Media and Communication. 5 (1). Pp.4-7.

Interviewee (anonymous). 2017. Personal communication. Interview conducted 23/03/17.

NSPCC, 2017. Pokemon Go: A parent’s guide. NSPCC. Available at: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/pokemon-go-parents-guide/ (Accessed 23/03/17).

Pokemon Go. 2017. Explore. Pokemon Go. Available at: http://www.pokemongo.com/en-uk/explore/ (Accessed on 23/03/17).

City Dashboards & Open Data

According to the Open Data Institute, an open data is a “data is data that anyone can access, use or share” (Open Data Institute, 2017). They also state that Open Data impacts everybody and it has proven benefits for our economies and citizens (2017). The Brighton and Hove council have use open data with the service that they provide via Community Insight service which replaced the Brighton & Hove Local Information Service (BHLIS). The community insight is a service that allows the audience to “find, explore and use a wide range of facts and figures at different geographic levels for Brighton & Hove and the surrounding area” (Community Insight, 2017). Funded by the local council, the service provides information regarding different areas in Brighton and Hove that contribute to the development of the city.  The aim of these services according to Kitchin et al., is to actively frame and produce cities rather than just representing them (Kitchin et al., 2015 pg 6)

On the other hand, city dashboard “aggregates simple spatial data for cities around the UK and displays the data on a dashboard and a map” (City Dashboard, 2017). Both case studies display information that are accessible to the audience. These information are proven to be current and relevant. Through these dashboard, “they show how different areas compare with each other on key indicators, with data shown as a matrix or charts” (Community Insight, 2017).

Leszczynski (2016), quoting dodges states that the way code, data and procedures put the city together is physically uneven. This is due to the fact the “softwirisation of the cities have made transparent the way various practices related to the socio-spatial area have been presented to the audience (Leszczynski, 2016: 1694). According to Kitchin, Lauriault and McArdle (2014) the use of indicators has proliferated… and it is well being used to monitor and assess various aspects of cities such as sustainability, wellbeing and /or urban services (pg 6-7).

References

City Dashboard. (2017). ‘About.’ City Dashboard. Available at: http://citydashboard.org/about.php [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017]

 

Community Insight, (2017). Local Insight. [online] Brighton-hove.communityinsight.org. Available at: http://brighton-hove.communityinsight.org/custom_pages?view_page=1 [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017].

Kitchin, R., Lauriault, T. and McArdle, G. (2015). Knowing and governing cities through urban indicators, city benchmarking and real-time dashboards. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 2(1), pp.6-28.

Leszczynski, A. (2016). Speculative futures: Cities, data and governance beyond smart urbanism. Environment and Planning A. 48 (9). Pp.1695.

Open Data Institute. (2017). ‘What is open data?’ Open Data Institute. Available at: http://theodi.org/what-is-open-data [Accessed 13Mar.2017].

Open data and cities dashboard

According to the Open Data Institute, an open data is a “data is data that anyone can access, use or share” (Open Data Institute, 2017). They also state that Open Data impacts everybody and it has proven benefits for our economies and citizens (2017). The Brighton and Hove council have use open data with the service that they provide via Community Insight service which replaced the Brighton & Hove Local Information Service (BHLIS). The community insight is a service that allows the audience to “find, explore and use a wide range of facts and figures at different geographic levels for Brighton & Hove and the surrounding area” (Community Insight, 2017). Funded by the local council, the service provides information regarding different areas in Brighton and Hove that contribute to the development of the city.  The aim of these services according to Kitchin et al., is to actively frame and produce cities rather than just representing them (Kitchin et al., 2015 pg 6)

On the other hand, city dashboard “aggregates simple spatial data for cities around the UK and displays the data on a dashboard and a map” (City Dashboard, 2017). Both case studies display information that are accessible to the audience. These information are proven to be current and relevant. Through these dashboard, “they show how different areas compare with each other on key indicators, with data shown as a matrix or charts” (Community Insight, 2017).

Leszczynski (2016), quoting dodges states that the way code, data and procedures put the city together is physically uneven. This is due to the fact the “softwirisation of the cities have made transparent the way various practices related to the socio-spatial area have been presented to the audience (Leszczynski, 2016: 1694). According to Kitchin, Lauriault and McArdle (2014) the use of indicators has proliferated… and it is well being used to monitor and assess various aspects of cities such as sustainability, wellbeing and /or urban services (pg 6-7).

References

City Dashboard. (2017). ‘About.’ City Dashboard. Available at: http://citydashboard.org/about.php [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017]

Community Insight, (2017). Local Insight. [online] Brighton-hove.communityinsight.org. Available at: http://brighton-hove.communityinsight.org/custom_pages?view_page=1 [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017].

Kitchin, R., Lauriault, T. and McArdle, G. (2015). Knowing and governing cities through urban indicators, city benchmarking and real-time dashboards. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 2(1), pp.6-28.

Leszczynski, A. (2016). Speculative futures: Cities, data and governance beyond smart urbanism. Environment and Planning A. 48 (9). Pp.1695.

Open Data Institute. (2017). ‘What is open data?’ Open Data Institute. Available at: http://theodi.org/what-is-open-data [Accessed 13Mar.2017].

Week 6 City Dashboards and Open Data

City Dashboards and benchmarking were developed to measure the performance of a city against best practice. The Dashboard displays data that can be statistically analysed and can be viewed as objective, factual and trustworthy. It allows those monitoring the data to gather important information at a glance as “indicators are viewed as vital sources of evidence … such as planning, environmental and social issues” (Kitchin et al, 2015. PG 09)

Information gathered is often used to govern how a city operates within its spaces. This monitoring falls into two categories self-securitisation of risk encountered in an environment and how a city orders and regulates itself. As the data gather revels patterns and trends within a city. Those using the data have the ability to compare areas whether by country regions or cities.

However, the validity of how the data is represented should be scrutinised when used as a comparisons. An example of this would be as part of a smart city initiative a navigational type app that gathers data to inform and the user around a city. The output of the information given could be bias dependent on the location of the city. Elements of the data have been used to marginalised sections of society and eventually cause tension. Leszczynski documented this as she discussed the use neighbourhood safety applications, which in many cases caused offence to areas in large cities, which these apps highlighted as avoidance areas due to crime rates and social deprivation.

When this information is packaged for general consumption it could also limit the option of the user for example when “Google Maps search for ‘restaurant’ in Tel Aviv conducted from the same location in Arabic and Hebrew … the results … Arab speakers directed to Arab sectors of the city; Hebrew speakers directed to Jewish quarters” (Leszczynski, 2016, PG 1695). The data gathered made assumption of user based on the language input that limited their options.

The overall use of dashboards to gather information and govern area within our society is a useful tool, which enables to user to digest data in a palatable format. However, there needs to be an air of caution when using this information on a commercial basis often the information communicated can view as bias

 

 

Bibliography

Citydashboard.org. (2017). CityDashboard: London. [online] Available at: http://citydashboard.org/london/ [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017].

 

Kitchin, R., Lauriault, T. and McArdle, G. (2015). Knowing and governing cities through urban indicators, city benchmarking and real-time dashboards. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 2(1), pp.6-28.

 

Leszczynski, A. (2016). Speculative futures: Cities, data, and governance beyond smart urbanism. Environment and Planning A, 48(9), pp.1691-1708.

WK 5 Locative Narrative

In a world where our entertainment is consistently being consumed through digital devices, has the element of freedom through wireless technology allowed us to break the physical boundaries of how we interact with different forms of story telling. It is a familiar site to see commuters watch a film on their smartphone or tablet as they travel to and from work. But the use of digital technology has evolved further to enable us to interact with the way we use public spaces. Storytellers and designers have started use the idea of trans media to interact with the public at a personal and local level. Ritchie states, “ digitally mediated stories afford greater interactivity…provide digital and physical wayfind systems that allow audiences to successfully navigate the narratives.” (Ritchie, 2014. PG 57-58)

 

The model of locative narrative has been designed to unfold over time as the participant journey through the path set out. A good example of this has been used at the Metal Art School ‘The Dementia Project” in South End on Sea. The project gave those with dementia the opportunity to “share stories and experiences” (NetPark, 2017). Using digital apps storytellers enhanced the experience of visitors to Chalkwell Park as they shared their stories through digital devices such as smart phones and tablets. Participants familiarize themselves with the spaces within the park by allowing the narrative of the storytellers to take them on a journey through the space

 

This type of activity gives a voice to those in the local area as they share their stories with other residence. While it enhances the visitor experience the narrative of a story has been set along a particular path which guides the participants through the space however there are constraints to this type of storytelling interactivity in order to gain the full experience a participant will need to follow the path set out

 

 

 

Bibliography

Berry, C., Harbord, J. and Moore, R. (n.d.). Public space, media space. 1st ed.

 

Metal. (2017). NetPark – The Dementia Project – Metal. [online] Available at: http://www.metalculture.com/projects/the-dementia-project/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2017].

 

Ritchie, J. 2014. The Affordances and Contraints of Mobile Locative Narratives. In The Mo- bile Story. Narrative Practices with Locative Technologies, ed. J. Farman, 53–67. Oxon: Routledge.

 

W6 City Dashboards and Open Data

The Open Data Institute defines open data as “data that anyone can access, use or share” (Open Data Institute, 2017) and believes it benefits citizens and economies. Open data is used on Community Insight, funded by Brighton and Hove City Council, allowing people to “find, explore and use a wide range of facts and figures at different geographic levels for Brighton and Hove.” (Community Insight, 2017). Similarly used on City Dashboard, which claims to “aggregates simple spatial data for cities around the UK and displays the data on a dashboard and a map.” (City Dashboard, 2017). The information on both these websites is about citizens and economies and free to access and they use dashboards to collect, analyse and display data.
Few defines dashboards as important information displayed visually on a single screen. (Few, 2006: 34). Leszczynski describes urban big data, such as displayed on the above websites, as “continuous, real-time flows of information,” and identifies a link in this and digitalisation. (Leszczynski, 2016: 1694).
At first look, city dashboards on these two websites appear to be representing a city. However, Kitchin et al describe city dashboards as actively framing and producing cities rather than reflecting them. (Kitchin et al, 2015: 6). This can be applied to Community Insight who provide statistics on areas of the city, rating them with the amount of child poverty, retired adults or people on unemployment benefit etc. This information could have a detrimental effect on an area by producing stereotypes. For example, more affluent people choosing to move to a different area to avoid what they could view as a higher percentages of undesirable qualities. However, they could also highlight areas that require more council funding. This duplicity is echoed by Kitchin et al who state that while dashboards are a multitude of ways to see and understand a city. (Kitchin et al, 2015: 25).

Bibliography:
City Dashboard. (2017). ‘About.’ City Dashboard. Available at: http://citydashboard.org/about.php (Accessed 09/03/17).

Community Insight. (2017). ‘About.’ Community Insight Brighton and Hove. Available at: http://brighton-hove.communityinsight.org/custom_pages?view_page=1 (Accessed 09/03/17).

Few, S. (2006). Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data. O’Reilly. Pp.34.

Kitchin, R., Lauriault, T. P. And McArdle, G. (2015). ‘Knowing and governing cities through urban indicators, city benchmarking and real-time dashboards.’ Regional Studies, Regional Science. 2 (1). Pp.6-25.

Leszczynski, A. (2016). Speculative futures: Cities, data and governance beyond smart urbanism. Environment and Planning A. 48 (9). Pp.1694.

Open Data Institute. (2017). ‘What is open data?’ Open Data Institute. Available at: http://theodi.org/what-is-open-data (Accessed 09/03/17).

Locative Narrative + Actionbound (week5)

The notion of public space according to Berry et al. is associated to the dream-like experiences of a city (2013 :3). Berry also states, quoting Eckart et al. (2008) that the presence of media in public space has transformed how we understand “Public” and “Publicness (pg 5). Associating space and media lead the “space” to become medium that can be represented in a visual form such as television or photograph (Berry et al., 2013, pg 6).

The bounds that I created took me to London in Oxford Street. It had as a purpose to establish the distance between both ends of Oxford street. Some contents were added such as Mission, Scan code and Information. The bound was created on laptop, however I downloaded the “Action bounds” app on my Iphone to carry on with the search. The bounds had as a mission to find all the underground train station that are in Oxford Street. The bound also instructed the user to take a picture of Bounds Street underground station.

According to Ritchie (2014), mobile locative narrative successfully navigates two different spaces; the physical and the digital (pg 57). This principle fully applies to the Actionbound app because the users is compelled to navigate (walking in this case) in the physical world while also navigating digitally with the smartphone in order to accomplish the mission. One of the constraint I was able to elaborate during this process is the possible inaccuracy that can occur if the user has to be timed for example or is the user is asked to evaluate how long it takes to walk from one end of Oxford Street to another. This is due to the fact that Oxford street, being an extremely busy street might make it impossible for the user to walk straight to the destination. The user can encounter issues such as traffic with will compel them to stop and wait. As stated by Richie, physical environment can be ephemeral (2014, pg 65).

With the use of Actionbound app, the public space is heavily dependant on the digital space, vice versa. This is because, without a smartphone, the user will be unable to accomplish his bound.

 

 

References

 

Actionbound, (2017). Actionbound. [online] En.actionbound.com. Available at: https://en.actionbound.com/create/sn166#index [Accessed 6 Mar. 2017].

 

Berry, C., Harbord, J. & Moore, R.O., 2013. Public space, media space. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 1-15.

 

Ritchie, J. 2014. The Affordances and Constraints of Mobile Locative Narratives. In The Mo- bile Story. Narrative Practices with Locative Technologies, ed. J. Farman, 53–67. Oxon: Routledge. Pp. 53-55.

W5 Locative Narrative and Actionbound

Actionbound describe their app as allowing users to play “digitally interactive scavenger hunts” to enhance “people’s real-life interaction whilst using their smartphones.” (Actionbound, 2017).
My Bound took users on a treasure hunt around Brighton city centre using their smartphones and the Actionbound app. I included a Find Spot, Scan Code, Mission and Information, as well as Stage and Quiz.
According to Ritchie, stories told via mobile locative devices, such as Actionbound on a smartphone, require “really nontrivial effort,” (Ritchie, 2014: 53) because the user has to move physically around Brighton, for example, to play the game on the Actionbound app. Therefore, the user of my Actionbound is ‘navigating across digital and physical spaces’ (Ritchie, 2014: 65) by follow each step on their smartphone around Brighton.
Ritchie describes constraints as “actual and perceived attributes of an object or system that limits its possible uses.” (Ritchie, 2014: 53). When designing a locative experience with Actionbound, I experienced cultural and logical constraints. Is my Actionbound being written in English limiting who can access and play it? Also, I included two quizzes. Are these questions more biased towards people who live in Brighton as they contain Brighton trivia? There were also physical constraints in terms of could the user scan the code in the location outside of regular opening hours.
According to Casetti media intercepts information that saturates social and virtual spaces (Casetti in Berry et al, 2013: 9) and public space plays out similarly in my Bound. The public space has become linked with the virtual via the user’s smartphone. Similar to Berry et al’s analysis of the iPod, playing Actionbound on a smartphone creates a personalised world for the player which can be seen to fill the “empty spaces, times and values” of contemporary city spaces. (Berry et al, 2013: 13).

Bibliography:
Actionbound. 2017. Actionbound. Available at: https://en.actionbound.com (Accessed 03/03/17).

Berry, C., Harbord, J. and Moor, R. O. 2013. Public Space, Media Space. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 9-13.

Ritchie, J. 2014. The Affordances and Contraints of Mobile Locative Narratives. In The Mo- bile Story. Narrative Practices with Locative Technologies, ed. J. Farman, 53–67. Oxon: Routledge. Pp. 53-55.

Code/Space Week 4

Code/Space 

 

Kitchin and Doges compare the expansion of software to the early invention Steam engine centuries ago. ars, airplanes, factories, trains or space shifts – none of these transportations methods could have been possible if there wasn’t an early breakthrough of steam engines (History and Press, 2012). These inventions didn’t just shape the world back then but it also contributed to the technological evolution that the world is experiencing right now. The same goes to the invention of the printing press, the steel etc. It is hard if not impossible to live an ordinary life without relating to software in any given form. Kitchin and Dodges claim that it is the same way the use of software is shaping the world today (2011, pg 5).

A software, simply being an assemblage of codes and algorithms influences how we live today. Whether we choose to be connected to the internet or not, in the Western world for example, it is impossible not to relate to it. Major companies have adjusted their services and nowadays many of them require customers to use computers or some other technology devices. Kitchin and Dodges explain how when it comes to travelling for example, the combined coded between the billing, ticketing, the check-in, baggage routing etc. work together to produce a coded assemblage that defines and produces airport and passengers air travel (2011, pg 7).

The programmable city blog explores a subject regarding the involvement of individuals in regards to decisions that are made by leaders concerning the digitalisation of their cities. They claim that “technology has the power to help people live in communities that are more responsive to their needs and that can actually improve their lives (The Programmable City, 2016). However, they also state that they way most people will live in next 15 years or so will depend on some of the decision that will be made by their leaders (The Programmable City, 2017). In many cases, important decision involving the public have been taken without consulting them. Usually it is after the new rules are created that the decision-makers inform the public. Kitchin and Doges (2011) claims that “  these coded processed are invisible, however they are revealed to individuals through the fields of official form letters, statements etc” (pg 7).

 

References

History, 1. and Press, T. (2012). 11 Innovations That Changed History – History Lists. [online] HISTORY.com. Available at: http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/11-innovations-that-changed-history [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017].

Kitchin, R. & Dodge, M., 2011. Code/space software and everyday life, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press

The Programmable City, (2017). How to ensure smart cities benefit everyone. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/how-to-ensure-smart-cities-benefit-everyone-65447 [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017].