Urban Interfaces explored the connections between place and knowledge that created meaning and sense of the world, focusing on appropriation (adoption and adaptation), embodiment and user-authored content.
nnub :: exploring place-based interaction + communication
ACID's nnub was a community digital noticeboard situated in a public place within a community where many people with diverse interests and varying ICT knowledge and access passed by in their daily routines. Locals were able to upload notices and images to the noticeboard via a web interface
project history
nnub drew on a longstanding relationship with the community of Moggill, an outer-West, semi-rural suburb of Brisbane. Moggill was experiencing significant pressure to develop as the population of South-East Queensland continued to increase rapidly.
The ACID Communities & Place project explored the communications mechanisms used by local community groups in Moggill, developing a web portal for one particular group. The nnub noticeboard built on this work, providing a general purpose community noticeboard in the local general store, directly opposite a primary school which was the site for a second nnub noticeboard.
design intention
The design intention behind the nnub community digital noticeboard was to engage residents through simple interactions that afford collecting local community content for public display and as a reference for discussion with both local and non-local people.
research aims
Our research aimed to understand how residents communicate in reference to local interests and to design information and communication technologies (ICTs) for local community communications.
infopoint :: exploring mobile experiences + interactions
ACID's infopoint was a system of interfaces for managing and delivering situated content to mobile phone users in particular locations via Bluetooth without requiring custom software. The initial content was managed and authoritative but the longer term aim is to explore options for user-generated situated content.
project history
infopoint built on the development of a prototype mobile guidebook in the ACID Connected Communities project for residents of Kelvin Grove Urban Village in Brisbane. The guidebook supported the upload and download of situated content by mobile phone users running custom software.
The infopoint system was developed for Fremantle City Council in conjunction with the development of a heritage trail for the Fremantle Boat Harbour. The initial content was an audio dramatisation of a letter written by a Captain D.B. Shaw in 1892 describing Fremantle as 'the worst damn hole I ever saw.'
design intention
The design intention behind infopoint was to manage and deliver situated content for mobile phone users without the need for custom software.
research aims
Our research aimed to understand mobile phone users' experiences of situated content, and to explore interfaces for managing this content, with a longer term aim of exploring options for user-generated situated content.