Top Talent Award Winner 2002
last.FM
Last.FM is an internet radio station unlike most others. It allows listeners to explore the vast amount of songs on the Last.FM server, to build their own listening profiles and to exchange these profiles with other listeners. In this respect, the user adopts the traditional role of the DJ. After repeated use, the system builds a listening profile that increasingly reflects the user’s preferences. The sum of all profiles is visualized in the Map of Music, a presentation of musical connections and genres determined only by the collaborative effort of the Last.FM users.
Producer:
Thomas Willomitzer, Felix Miller & Martin Stiksel
Supervised by Michael Breidenbrücker, Senior Lecturer
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, London, UK
www.rave.ac.uk
http://last.fm
Top Talent Award Winner 2001
s/He’ll survive
The CD-ROM 's/He'll survive´ is a personal work of art originating from HfG student projects that were presented at the exhibition of the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam, in 2000. More than mere documentation the illustration of the exhibition is a work in it's own right.
The user is navigating across a single level on the CD-ROM, presenting all the artists. By moving the mouse-cursor the user is activating fragments of the exhibition to flow across the screen. The images are distorted, displaced or duplicated upon user interaction as if the software was infected by a virus. Intentional clicks are hard to figure out, the surface moves constantly, everything gets slowly degraded. The CD-ROM wears away. The progressive destruction is not declared - it just happens. The life span of the CD-ROM is short - even a reload of the CD-ROM can not repair this damage to the surface: A multimedia journey ends up into chaos.
Producer:
Daniel Sauter, Pepe Jürgens
Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (HFG), Germany
Format:
CD-ROM
Top Talent Award Winner 2000
Rund um den Domshof in Bremen
The CD-ROM allows us to watch interactively the architectural changes of the Domshof in Bremen. The Domshof is one of Bremen’s oldest and most prominent squares. The activities around the Domshof have always reflected the general atmosphere of the city. In the last 250 years it has changed from an Episcopal square to a financial centre.
This CD-ROM enables us to visualize the appearance of the square at a certain period of history. Our virtual journey begins in 1750 and brings us up to the present day. We do not only see the panorama of the square at a certain time. By clicking on a specific hot spot, we can also obtain information of the history of the Domshof different buildings. Each building tells its personal history. A specific feature of the application is the idea of representing time and space simultaneously.
As the content is presented either 2- dimensionally or 3-dimensionally, users have the impression that they themselves are standing in the square. Similar kind of experience could not be achieved through any other media – the clever usage of interaction indeed offers added value to the user.
Producer:
Jussi Steudle
Hochschule der Künste / Coinn, Bremen, Germany
Format:
CD-ROM
Top Talent Award Winner 1999
Learning the mouse with Burnie Rocket
This CD-Rom is an interactive learning tool to help nursery school children (3 to 4 years old) learn how to use a mouse. The learning and mouse skills results from play, and from fun on-screen activities and exploration. Children explore outer space in search of five numbers. An enjoyable hide-and-seek activity encourages use of the mouse to explore and find the hidden number. Once found, a simple task must be completed (such as identifying shapes and colours) before the number is released to Burnie the rocket. From the teachers menu Fitz Law text measures the child’s learning process.
Producer:
Graham Mitchell
School of Arts, Design and Media
University of Sunderland, UK
Format:
CD-Rom
Top Talent Award Winner 1998
Born with a Broken Tongue
Born with a broken tongue“ explores personal insights into the fears and shames of stuttering in a gentle and almost poetic manner. The user is encouraged to examine a blank screen. When moving the mouse over the screen, hidden links appear. These links lead to recorded examples of stuttering, distorted images and incomplete spoken sentences. The designer uses this imperfection of the navigation to emphasise the situation of people affected by stuttering. Illustrating that stuttering is by no means an obstacle to a successful and contented life, the CD-ROM includes a gallery containing photographs of famous people who have had success regardless of their stuttering.
Finally, accounts of people talking about their handicap take the place of medical explanations, aiming at creating greater understanding for people suffering from this condition.
Producer:
Martin Casey
Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Dublin, Ireland
Format:
CD-ROM
Last.FM is an internet radio station unlike most others. It allows listeners to explore the vast amount of songs on the Last.FM server, to build their own listening profiles and to exchange these profiles with other listeners. In this respect, the user adopts the traditional role of the DJ. After repeated use, the system builds a listening profile that increasingly reflects the user’s preferences. The sum of all profiles is visualized in the Map of Music, a presentation of musical connections and genres determined only by the collaborative effort of the Last.FM users.
Producer:
Thomas Willomitzer, Felix Miller & Martin Stiksel
Supervised by Michael Breidenbrücker, Senior Lecturer
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, London, UK
www.rave.ac.uk
http://last.fm
Top Talent Award Winner 2001
The CD-ROM 's/He'll survive´ is a personal work of art originating from HfG student projects that were presented at the exhibition of the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam, in 2000. More than mere documentation the illustration of the exhibition is a work in it's own right.
The user is navigating across a single level on the CD-ROM, presenting all the artists. By moving the mouse-cursor the user is activating fragments of the exhibition to flow across the screen. The images are distorted, displaced or duplicated upon user interaction as if the software was infected by a virus. Intentional clicks are hard to figure out, the surface moves constantly, everything gets slowly degraded. The CD-ROM wears away. The progressive destruction is not declared - it just happens. The life span of the CD-ROM is short - even a reload of the CD-ROM can not repair this damage to the surface: A multimedia journey ends up into chaos.
Producer:
Daniel Sauter, Pepe Jürgens
Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (HFG), Germany
Format:
CD-ROM
Top Talent Award Winner 2000
The CD-ROM allows us to watch interactively the architectural changes of the Domshof in Bremen. The Domshof is one of Bremen’s oldest and most prominent squares. The activities around the Domshof have always reflected the general atmosphere of the city. In the last 250 years it has changed from an Episcopal square to a financial centre.
This CD-ROM enables us to visualize the appearance of the square at a certain period of history. Our virtual journey begins in 1750 and brings us up to the present day. We do not only see the panorama of the square at a certain time. By clicking on a specific hot spot, we can also obtain information of the history of the Domshof different buildings. Each building tells its personal history. A specific feature of the application is the idea of representing time and space simultaneously.
As the content is presented either 2- dimensionally or 3-dimensionally, users have the impression that they themselves are standing in the square. Similar kind of experience could not be achieved through any other media – the clever usage of interaction indeed offers added value to the user.
Producer:
Jussi Steudle
Hochschule der Künste / Coinn, Bremen, Germany
Format:
CD-ROM
Top Talent Award Winner 1999
This CD-Rom is an interactive learning tool to help nursery school children (3 to 4 years old) learn how to use a mouse. The learning and mouse skills results from play, and from fun on-screen activities and exploration. Children explore outer space in search of five numbers. An enjoyable hide-and-seek activity encourages use of the mouse to explore and find the hidden number. Once found, a simple task must be completed (such as identifying shapes and colours) before the number is released to Burnie the rocket. From the teachers menu Fitz Law text measures the child’s learning process.
Producer:
Graham Mitchell
School of Arts, Design and Media
University of Sunderland, UK
Format:
CD-Rom
Top Talent Award Winner 1998
Born with a broken tongue“ explores personal insights into the fears and shames of stuttering in a gentle and almost poetic manner. The user is encouraged to examine a blank screen. When moving the mouse over the screen, hidden links appear. These links lead to recorded examples of stuttering, distorted images and incomplete spoken sentences. The designer uses this imperfection of the navigation to emphasise the situation of people affected by stuttering. Illustrating that stuttering is by no means an obstacle to a successful and contented life, the CD-ROM includes a gallery containing photographs of famous people who have had success regardless of their stuttering.
Finally, accounts of people talking about their handicap take the place of medical explanations, aiming at creating greater understanding for people suffering from this condition.
Producer:
Martin Casey
Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Dublin, Ireland
Format:
CD-ROM
