Idea Lab

We're half way through our geo-tagging of three of the markers on the Blues Trail here at the National Black Programmers Consortium's New Media Institute in Jackson, MS. Yesterday, wheels up at 7 am to Hickory Street in Canton, MS to start the locating part of locative media. Our job is to investigate the question, "What happens to meaning and understanding when you locate content in a relevant place?"

Hickory Street, once a thriving black neighborhood, now houses only a few dilapidated buildings and a sandwich shop. Given that, we were astounded how many people stopped to share their memories of the street. Bucky Barrett, a Canton native and now a Nashville session musician not only explained but demonstrated how Elmore James would stretch the string, "almost behind his ear."

We've used all the traditional media-making gear: cameras, tripods, lavs, reflective screens. Production is fairly traditional: Final Cut, laptops, headphones, bleary eyes, and late, late nights. But it's all about new media and delivery and distribution mechanisms. We've created a template for a Google Earth tour complete with video, audio, images, and text. Audiocast for cellphone or MP3 delivery, and the oft discussed GPS-enabled tour. We've trained 10 New Media Institutes participants.

My job here here is two-fold: to teach emerging styles of storytelling using new media and to do it in a project-based experiential framework. With the many conversations emerging, I'm reminded of the descriptive dimensions for locative media, originally developed by University of Bristol and used as a model at the Center for Locative Media.

Of Social
Private................................Public
Solitary...............................Shared
Professional.......................Enthusiast
Augmentation....................Complete

Of Accessibility
Ubiquitous...........................Specialized

Of Time
Linearity..............................Non-Linearity

Of Time
Fixed running time..............Open running time
Permanent installation........One-off or limited event

Of Data Depth
One level of data.................Several or embedded levels

Of Immersion
Surface................................Depth
Information..........................Evocation

Of User Control
None....................................Complete
Clear rules............................Unclear rules

Of Space/Place Mapping
Arbitrary................................Meaningful
Literal....................................Figurative