The 7th and last MC2020 demo: Haptic Art

“SPRAY IT - PLAY IT”

What is Haptic Art?

HapticArt is a brand new urban communication system, that allows to create infinite forms of global realtime visual art by a simple touch, using art as the language of global communication.

How did we come up with the idea of Haptic Art creation?

We were attached to two main ideas - haptic technology and online technologies’ usage to make people go more offline. After many discussions and immersive brainstorming process we decided to make new technology that allows people to communicate in the language everyone understands - art!

The web showing the concept points step-by-step

Finally, the concept:

By using a can of spraypaint, containing Smart Dust, users are able to make an interactive screen on any surface.

The possible applications for this technology are wide - it could be used to present art, playing games, education, social programmes, communication, government issues, etc.

Our project is all about global interaction between different cultures and a rise in the amount of urban art, creativity, grafitti awareness. This is a new tool for urban visual artists which helps to create more interactive artworks and projects, causing less visual and aesthetic damage.

Modern art museums could be interested in having some screens to bring urban art to the gallery, keeping the flow of street art concentrated in one space too.

The working process:

The user uses the can of special spray to paint a surface with Smart Dust. This special technology consists of several tiny chips that produce colors, like pixels. Thus, a screen is created. Onwards, the user has to start up this screen by lining out the screensize, this is done with the touch. All interactions with the screen are done through the haptic technology.

Now the screen is created and started up, so it provides user with the opportunity to add whatever he or she wants to an artwork.

Whenever a user activates a screen and want to add to a artwork, the screen will show the latest (updated) version of the artwork. This artwork is retrieved from cyberspace, it’s like the screen acts as a window into a virtual room containing the art work. The user can than add anything to this artwork and when he is satisfied with his work he can share the artwork. When this happens, the artwork in the virtual room is updated automatically. When another user from anywhere on the planet wants to add anything to the artwork, he also gets linked to this virtual room (like looking through a window). But the artwork now looks in a way the previous user left it. This means that every virtual room can only have one user at any time, because there is only one window. Therefore, there are many different virtual rooms, each with it’s own artwork.

Visualized version of the process:

HapticArt team:Anastacia Kozina - Vincent van der Zwaag - Mārtiņš Eņģelis - Valts Ceplevičs - Luc Janses - Pere Sastre

See presentation  

See video

FEEDBACK:
The feedback statement to the team presented by René Lansink in the feedback discussion, last day plenary:

Project 5 Haptic Art
This project with the tagline ‘Spray it, Play it’ has works with the premise that everyone is an artist. Using a special ‘spray can’ the user can ‘define’ a virtual ‘canvas’ in a public space. On this virtual canvas the user can use a virtual brush and paint menu for creating virtual graffiti by making gestures. The images can be saved, transported to another virtual canvas on a different location or stored on a website were all the works of art are collected.

The concept of the project was visualized clearly in an animated video. The exact material qualities of the ‘spray-medium’ used to display the canvas however remained a bit of a mystery…as well as the devices necessary to ‘see’ the virtual graffiti. Also the more or less ‘subversive’ nature of graffiti art was basically ‘neutralized’ by using this technology.

Challenging however remains the idea to define a ‘virtual window’ in a ‘real space’ by other means than using a physical display.

Summary of comments by other lecturers
Was the design process democratic? Maybe is needed some thinking about the group work. Some members of the group think the product is not the most interesting to develop. We could see the process of your group on the presentation.

The visualization was the best part of it.

It wasn't clear if you decided to work in one thing, it became vague. Too much talking instead of a demo presentation. It looks you need to make a lot of decisions in your project. Simple facts were needed, it wasn't clear to understand. The music didn't fit in the video. Can this compete with augmented reality? Because it does the same but has lots of limitations, it is still something physical. Who is the audience for this is not clear yet, as does not really fit with ideology of street artists. The presentation was weird because of several people standing in front but almost only one person is talking.

Evaluation of the second edition of MC2020

Reflecting on mediaCulture’s  second edition we’ve come to think that this is a true example of intercultural, multidisciplinary, blended learning experience in high education. Two main aspects can be pointed out: on one hand, that having students with different skills, coming from different countries and cultures interacting with each other enlarges the possibilities of creativity, collaboration and quality work; and on the other, the fact that the intensity of the programme in such a short period of time works like a big challenge for students incentive.

From the first edition of MediaCulture2020 we’ve learned that the input in the form of lectures concerning inspiration, research and indepth information about the theme and topics, should be concentrated in the beginning of the actual workshop week. The variety in working methods within these lectures is important, hence the diversity of structures. Not only did they involve listening (one way direction) but also hands-on assignments were implemented. In relation to the first edition the topics of the lectures were more relevant, as were the connected assignments.  The work  - both in lectures, workshops & team work - addressed the following skills and methods:

• Conceptualising an idea with a design and project planning method. 
• Using techniques of programming scenarios and digital interactions (Flowchart). 
• Using narrative techniques for organizing contents and for video prototyping. 
• Using communication techniques to create a brand. 
• Using creativity techniques. 
• Managing roles in teamwork. 
• Working in multidisciplinary international teams. 
• Online information search and market analysis. 
• Business planning & Benchmarking. 
• Using social networks and ICT tools for collaborative work. 
• Pitching for public audiences. 
• Planning and time management.

Most students have a strong content and narrative driven focus, studying to be filmmakers and visual-media-designers. We would therefore like to strengthen our focus on these expertises in future editions. In this year’s edition visualising concepts and making pitch presentations were focus points in setting up the program, and looking at the outcomes of MediaCulture2020 they worked out quite well. The interaction between groups created a lively and inspiring atmosphere. Students learned a lot in a few days by sharing knowledge and skills in a peer to peer situation.  Some of the lectures stimulated them in peer assessments.

Working in international groups is  sometimes difficult but helps to learn about collaborative work; working with different people gives inspiration of how to work in the future in international projects. Almost all groups succeeded in that, supporting the idea all in the group for a few days , coming together to one final goal that was described on their 10 commandments. Their research was good and seemed helpful.

The pitches and the videos were adequate & professional and demonstrated the importance of communicating properly. All the presentations were clear; all visualizations were well done. The demo-video was really good and useful for the audience to understand the concepts, and that lead to a lively discussion after every presentation. The way the program was set up and the content of the lectures strongly helped in this aspect. Due to the excellent build up in lectures, students shifted their focus to the narrative part of their concepts, they made flow-charts for both their concept as well as for the pitch presentations of their concepts, all of which resulted in clear and strong pitches.

In coming editions we would therefore rather concentrate on further development of the intercultural concept thinking and on a stronger relation of conceptual achievements in combination with the creation of business plans. A stronger relation with the professional world can be sought. We suggest a next edition's slogan: Solve a future problem in real life with a design and then set yourself a deadline. Maybe it’s better for each team to have a problem to work on instead of a given subject.

Lenno Verhoog and Rosa Pons

Presentation of New Ways of Preserving Heritage - Particle

Our assignment in Liepaja was to work on the concept of “New ways of preserving heritage”. We started out by reflecting on the proposal made in the previous edition of MC2020 that included the use of augmented reality to make heritage sites more interesting and appealing.

However, during our discussions we arrived at the conclusion that there are more cons than pros to the project since it would require huge amounts of new content to be created and wouldn't necessarily solve anything.

Therefore we decided to look for new ways of preserving heritage and were struck by the idea that heritage is not only architecture or art but actually anything that is man made and that we leave behind for the future generations.

That's how we began thinking about our environment - first of all, if we don't protect our environment, there will be no heritage for our future generations to enjoy. According to a report made by the European Commission, atmospheric pollution is one of the main reasons responsible for the disappearance of movable and immovable heritage.

But isn't pollution our heritage as well? It's definitely not something that we should strive to preserve but it's still a result of our actions and it's our legacy and responsibility towards the future generations.

The environmental issues can only be solved if everyone of us takes action, therefore our goal was to come up with a project that would raise awareness of the environmental issues that we're facing.

Our concept - Particle - is an interactive 3d projection, an art installation that can be both enjoyable and informative. It would visualise our relationship with the various invisible elements that surround us, such as the chemical contents of the air we breathe. Since it's a projection, the user isn't required to have any sort of gadgets with him / her, the user can simply step in the projected box and interact with the particles, get important information on how the elements affect us and our environment, what is the percentage of that element in the air, is it excessive, etc.

Team: Jungsoo Moon, Zanda Puče, Ojärs Saulitis, Odrija Heinrihsone, Jiaqi Huang

With the help of this installation we could reveal how we're affected by our environment as well as how the environment is affected by us. We hope that experiencing our installation would lead people to reconsider the importance of environment issues. It would change the way we are used to see natural environment and how we treat it.

Presentation
Video

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FEEDBACK:
The feedback statement to the team presented by René Lansink in the feedback discussion, last day plenary:

Project 3 Particle
This project focused on using augmented reality to visualize ‘cultural heritage’ in the  environment. The project group as a start used a great deal of their time to discuss and redefine their concept of ‘heritage’. Being an evidence or trace of the past, the concept of heritage can refer to ‘hidden’ artifacts in our natural environment. Traces from the past we normally cannot see, but which can be made visible by the use of new technology…. The end of this conceptual exercise was to focus on environmental pollution (air, water, soil), hence the project title ‘Particle’.

In a very clear and visually convincing worked out user scenario the use of augmented reality to visualize ‘invisible’ pollution in a urban and more natural environment was worked out. The object of the application was to raise awareness of the status of the ‘heritage’ i.e. ‘pollution’ in the environment.

The very strong aspect of this project was that they focused on a specific real life problem (pollution) using the right technological concept, i.e. augmented reality & holographic projection to make things visible you normally cannot see!

Summary of comments by other lecturers
Totally new concept. They had to think about the initial idea again to redefine the concept of heritage, that made very clear the whole design. The concept is very strong. It's global but you made it local and it llok really stron, visualizations were very clear and helped to understand the concept. The research on data gave them the idea of visualizing data. Clarity, focus and good taste for design also having the future partners clear was good. The bad thing was the length of the presentation. It's the project that EU would like most.

Project demo: Life Sense

1. Topic: Non-narrativity is the new storytelling
“A virtual wall, where everyone can add writing, pictures, videos, art and other content in public space.”
We started from this basic topic, and developed augmented reality. We thought that a virtual wall could not work without augmented reality. Therefore, we decided that contact lenses would be good devices instead of a virtual wall.

2. Concept

• Life Sense is a guide for life.
• It’s an innovative, life-enhancing application that works tirelessly towards making you faster, smarter and more efficient by using Smart Data; which we will explain in a few moments.
• Life Sense knows what matters to you and uses on screen prompts to display what options are most beneficial for you at any moment in life: from restaurant reviews, to how many hours of energy you have left before you need to rest, sleep or consume a refreshment.

3. Smart Data

• As you could see, Life Sense analyses the world around you.
• It works by utilizing a three tiered analysis system called Smart Data.
• Smart Data incorporates information gathered from three primary sources: your body, you memory and the Cloud.
• The application analyses your body to make you aware of any medical and health problems that might be occurring. For example: If your body is becoming dehydrated, the app will notify you and suggest to drink a 500ml glass of water to reduce the risk of obtaining a headache.
• Life Sense records your memories and uses them to understand your personality. For example: The application will know what your favorite genre of music is and who your favorite artists are. Life Sense would then be able to notify you when your favorite band is releasing a new album - and maybe even play you a preview.
• The app is constantly connected to the Cloud - Creating records of where you are and what you’re doing. This could be a huge asset in times of disaster and severe weather. For example: If you were near the coast and an Earthquake were to occur, a warning could be sent out to the application, instantly warning people of an impending tsunami - potentially saving lives.
• The more you use it, the more it learns and the better it becomes at guiding you through life.

4. Target Users

• The target audiences that could use Life Sense varies widely, depending on the functions that each demographic will utilize.
• Working professionals who need to find the most efficient and time effective ways of living to save time and increase productivity as the app can aid them by suggesting the most appropriate times to have breaks and also suggest the fastest method of carrying out work tasks.
• Elderly people who are trying to recall their memories and monitor any health problems that are afflicting them will be able to know instantly what is wrong and what medication/medial attention to ask for.
• Children and students who are wanting to improve their education could use this application as the app could monitor their memory and understand which modules they know best; in mathematics for example. And decide which modules they need to revise. The application could ask test questions and help the child/student revise when the app knows they’re on a bus, walking between locations or simply sat watching television.

5.   Links
Presentation
Video 

6. Team members
Byungjun Kim, Yonatan Wolowelsky, Meritxell Audebert Sanchez, Ashley Wilks, Ares Juclà, Annija Gancōne, Alexander Whitcombe, Rita Kamola

FEEDBACK:
The feedback statement to the team presented by René Lansink in the feedback discussion, last day plenary:

Project 7 LifeSense
The project life sense focused an application future application that will serve as a personal guide or assistant trough your life. The application monitors all kind of data from the user (bio-metrical, memory, cloud), analysis it’s behaviour and assists the users in all kinds of ways. This was visualized in an animated video that served as a user scenario.

The exact technological features of the application or system was not really the object of this presentation was not really the object of this presentation. The real object was to raise a discussion on the desirability of such a ‘Little Brother’. After the presentation a discussion on this subject actually developed, so as such the project met it’s objectives.

As such the project focused on a actual dilemma considering privacy, ownership, and data mining versus comfort, safety, health and other practicalities. By making the advantages in the user scenario rather ridiculous they made their point and triggered the discussion afterwards.

Summary of comments by other lecturers

The group performed a very good presentation with short sentences and few words. 
The device description was not clear enough for the audience: we suggest it could be eye lenses instead of leaving the design opened to any form. 
Maybe it will be more useful to stay in only one use of the device. 
For a next step the concept can be improved by narrowing the target public and by pushing the limits of the technology, as there is no need to be so practical when raising the question of how the technology can be used. The lecturers agreed that the group could work on a kind of more bizarre uses of the augmented reality.

Project demo presentation: Feelink (goa team)

Team members: Rolands Tiss, Marta Vinaixa, Edwin Haverkamp, Marc Vila

We started with the topic “connecting cultures”. By looking for ways to communicate in a universal way we found 1 universal language: communication through inner feelings. With this premise we wanted to create a social solution to solve the lack of communication between people with communication problems. So we came up with Feelink and found out that persons with medical conditions could benefit the most from our project. So we did research about possible sensors and converters to detect inner feelings and ways to generate inner feelings.

The possible physical Feelink product could be a sticker, the sensor and converter. It could have different designs and because it's a sticker it could be placed on different parts of the body, depending on the patient needs (closer to the heart, on the neck, etc..)

Have a look at the 1 minute video for a brief explanation of the project and how it could be used with Alzheimers patients:



Links to important Feelink documents:

Presentation
Concept evolution
Feelink - commandments
Research
Flowchart and the problems -> solutions and considerations we encountered
Feedback
Link to the Feelink video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYh4FEKoM1A
https://vimeo.com/78814037
Learning and networking
European dimension
Future of the project:
Funding

FEEDBACK:
The feedback statement to the team presented by René Lansink in the feedback discussion, last day plenary:

Project 6  GOA
In this project biometric data were used to detect the emotional condition of a person (a) which were then sent to another person (b) and translated by a wearable device called ‘FEELINK’ into auditive or tactile stimuli. So, person (b) is able to ‘feel’ the emotional condition of person (a).

The compact was illustrated by a very well chosen animated example of a grandmother suffering from ‘Alzheimer disease’. The application of FEELINK was also suggested for a whole range of other medical conditions. To prevent addiction a maximum time of 3 seconds ‘mood change’ was suggested. To overall presentation was clear, compact, to the point and finished with a nice cliffhanger: ‘Can’t wait to feel you’.

The whole concept of ‘feeling’ another person is interesting and stimulates the fantasy. As it is a rather personal and intimate use of technology other uses in the private domain might be considered in further development.

Summary of comments by other lecturers

It was a short, complex, very good pitch, with a fine structure, even with a terrible ending, and showed a nice animation prepared in only two days time! That was amazing for the audience.
Maybe some more examples would have been useful to understand the transmission of feelings. 
For a next step, the Alzheimer use of the product should be developed instead of trying to reach all mental diseases. It is an important project for society, and there is still a lot to think about. 
The lecturers agreed that the logo doesn't match the concept: it looks erotic. 
They are a team of four people that divided from a group of ten that was a smart decision due to the difficulties in reconciling the different opinions on the main subject they chose to work on: the feelings.

KUPLA - get to know what you see

Team members: Chrystal Giam, Yee Feng, Alba Tudó Domingo, Aivis Gailītis, Rachel Hagreen, Emilia Kwiatkowska, Clara Calvet Oliver, Ineke Brinksma, Anna Garriga i Valverde

video & presentation slides

KUPLA aims to create a system that allows you to access information about everything you see by using simple gestures and innovative projection technology with wearable devices which has sensors. It will be the perfect product for a busy individual who wants to increase knowledge and productivity whilst continuing with their busy day-to-day life.

The content (data/information) is retrieved from the Internet via open data (Wikipedia style) and you can also bookmark info that you wish to review later into the system.

We designed this product because we wanted to make knowledge more accessible at anywhere and anytime. KUPLA is meant to make life easier and more complete with all the information you can get around you. Its simple design interface makes learning easier and more efficient as well.

 Here are just some among many functions that we envision KUPLA to have:

• Real time translation. The ability to translate any language in any situation.
• Site Navigation / GPS: Maps and directions projected as you get to your desired location quickly and efficiently.
• Education e.g. learning history of the buildings in more efficient way by visualization and interesting storytelling.
• Object information e.g. description, ingredients/materials, price, place to get it
• Human e.g. type of outfit, physical attributes, etc.
• Entertainment e.g. watching films/ TV, information of the actors, setting location, etc.
• Bookmarking. Possibility to continue expanding the knowledge at a later time.

During MC2020 students were learning not only from the teachers but also from each other. While working on our concept we could count on help from all teachers which were giving us tips. It was really helpful especially during the time when we had to divide work between each other. The thing is that “never is too late” to implement better solutions.    

Networking is about making connections and building enduring, mutually beneficial relationships. To succeed you must continually connect with new people, cultivate emerging relationships and leverage your network. To MC2020 we met a lot of people from different countries and cultures. We got to know our skills and work attitude what can bring profit in the future or really good friendships. One day all of us will be working in different places but we will still remember about each other.

FEEDBACK

Our team have improved the concept from the first edition into a wider area because it was a limited idea in the beginning and there are already products developed (LinkedTV, Second Screen). During brainstorming sessions we went through a lot of stages. While thinking about getting content vs. creating content to get information we mainly focused at education learning tool projected into a room. After having a lot of discussions we finally focused on “get to know what you see” slogan used in our project and since then we wanted to create a product which will be always next to you when you need it. In the way this concept is extension of Google glasses or simpler Google search engine but we wanted to try to remove the aspect of using devices like smartphone. We did not focus on specific thing/aspect/area because we wanted to get information about everything as much as possible. Movements which are used to “open” KUPLA are short and they do not have to be repeat many times. We think that it wouldn’t be a problem in the future if this became a trend or norm. Nowadays most of the people are tapping and swiping on smartphones and other devices.

Our team members had a little bit knowledge here and there (in general) in different skills, so it was a little difficult to set roles for everyone in the team. But through our two-week experience of working together, we learnt that task list and workflow timeline are essential to keep us on our feet. We pulled it together as a team and delivered a memorable presentation.

photo by Rosa Pons

The feedback statement to the team presented by René Lansink in the feedback discussion, last day plenary.

The KUPLA project focused on using gestures to interact with a virtual visual interface. The idea is to connect or link ‘virtual’ information onto ‘physical’ objects. In a movie several user scenarios were visualized. For instance, extra information over food, location specific events, navigational data etc. could be retrieved by using specific gestures. It was also possible for users to ad information to ‘real world’ objects using a kind of Wiki-like application.

The project group did not want to focus too much on the technological details of the ‘system’, but elaborate more on the possible use and interaction with this  so called ‘location based augmented reality system’. ‘Get to know what you see’, a simple design interface and the use of real time information where the key ingredients of this project.

The use of gestorial information for interaction is of course a promising area of technological development. Especially in a context in which other means of interaction are impossible (danger, handicap, language or cultural  barriers). As a next step such a specific, carefully chosen context, could be worked out in greater scale.

Feedback from other teachers

The video was very good and clear, resulting into a very strong point of the presentation to understand how to interact with the virtual world.
The presentation had another strong point: it was sympathetic.
The examples could have been thought more far away, to challenge a more fictional experience, it was more of an interface, to focus in one situation would have been better. 
It's a big group of eight members: it was difficult for them to organize the roles because of the similar skills they have. When they finally settled down the roles they were much more efficient and comfortable. They lacked of a coordinator, but the suggestions of teachers were helpful to reshape the group dynamics.

Our Experience Explained: Group 2A

Media Culture 2020 - Liepāja, Latvia

Group 2A
Andrew West

Heather Barral
Rachel Robinson
Samuel van Dijk
Pau Cristòful

Media Culture 2020 brought young creatives together to collaborate and think about media in new ways. The intensive two week program encouraged groups of students to develop concepts, produce designs and finally present this progress. The daily lecture programme encouraged us to think of possibilities and potential for media in the year 2020.

Before arriving in Latvia, students communicated via GoogleDrive and Facebook to analyze MC2020 projects developed in Finland in March 2013. Group 2 analyzed ‘My Guide’, a holographic travel guide to inform the user of a new culture.

After a long journey to Latvia we were welcomed, and wined and dined with our new comrades. The following morning we had the first group plenary sessions, discussing our analysis of ‘My Guide’.

[doc] Pre-Workshop Presentation

Group 2, Connecting Cultures & My Guide

Our workspace during the week was located at the Art and Design College in Liepaja. A usual working day began at 9.30 and we worked until dinner at around 5.30. The programme of workshops informed and inspired much of our project direction. Lecture content forced us to consider alternatives and group plenaries gave us the necessary feedback to amend our concept, practically.

We wanted create something during MC2020 that would aid communication, using technology as a means but connecting people in a physical way. Group 2 began with 10 students, although managing effective discussion and progress with a group of this size was difficult. Everyone agreed feelings are not a language as such, but can express the essence of human emotion in a way that everyone can understand.

Group 2, Brainstorming

After 3 days of collaboration on ‘Connecting Cultures’ we decided to split the group in half to work more efficiently into 2A and 2B. 2A included Andy, Heather and Rachel from the University of Lincoln, Samuel from Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Pau from the University of Vic.

Lectures and plenaries were useful as a means of receiving feedback from students and tutors, which informed many of our practical and ethical considerations. By the second week, we had decided on brand and installation designs for EQ. iWeek talks & shows began on 3rd November, and MC2020 students presented workshop results on 7th.

[video] Visual Scenario

[doc] Our Final Presentation

The process of developing our concept and designing has been exciting and we would like to make our installation in real life! On the whole, MC2020 has taught us new ways to invent, expand our knowledge and networks and increased our global connections. Liepaja has shown a little unforgiving Latvian weather, but a beautiful city and way of life.

We will remain in contact and miss the experience!

FEEDBACK:

The feedback statement to the team presented by René Lansink in the feedback discussion, last day plenary:

Project 1: EQ

The EQ project is focused on mediating emotions between two people using biological data (heartbeat, body temperature, breath rate etc). In a ‘pod’ like installation the users are connected to ‘the system’ which monitors the bio-data and converts it into a visual projection, sound, wind, temperature etc. within the ‘Pod’. The objective of the users is to ‘tune’ into each others emotions and thereby influencing the ‘environment’ in the ‘podlike’ installation. The user experience was visualized using a by a flowchart, a visual scenario and a short movie.

The project group had elaborated profoundly on the concept of using emotion as a universal language. As such it was kind of a research project into this subject with the installation as a preliminary end result. Other user contexts where also suggested in the fields of conflict resolution, medical use or more intimate uses within relationships. Also a portable device and ‘emo-transmission’ over a long distance where suggested.

As a next step, one of these ‘user scenarios’ could be worked out on a deeper level, with a focus on how a particular emotion (anger, fear, joy, lust) is exactly detectable and translated into a sensorial experience.

Summary of comments by other lecturers

The group changed the concept developed on the first edition.
They had almost a philosophical approach to the concept. It was a kind of a research project.
If they had more time, they would have been able to developed new ways of using the technology.
Maybe some more examples were needed; it seemed there was more work done, but the presentation didn't succeed in showing it, although it was a good presentation. 
The art installation is interesting as an example, but the rest of examples were not useful, maybe they needed more description.
The group dynamics was the best part, breaking the big group of ten in two groups of five, was the best decision made.

Demo 4: Happ - Human hardware, wearable software

Team: Ben Gray, Tuomas Mikola, Joonas Samposalo, Maria Sebastià, Lluís Tous, Bryony Watson, Daniel Wright

Happ - Human hardware, wearable software
Video (1:32)
Presentation slides
Happ is a way to transform and store data using haptic technology. This means that you can download digital data by just touching the source of data and store it into human body. Happ is compatible with any media platform and operating system. No more cables, no more memory sticks or memory cards, no more running out of battery.
In a nutshell this means that the human body is like human hard drive, wearing the software to process the streaming data and powering it with human body’s own natural electricity. To be able to interact with digital world without any devices.

Our vision
Our ten commandments were guiding us towards the wanted outcome:

1. Would be useful across all cultures
2. Should reduce the needs for portable devices
3. Could be used this product as a tool
4. Representing the need for personal privacity
5. Making more information easier to obtain
6. The concept should be future ready not bound by current/ present technologies
7. Easily usable by any generation (no age restriction)
8. Not dependent upon a constant Internet and service connection
9. Accompanying software and applications must be intuitive
10. The final idea should not be a dead end

From these points we wanted to create a vision which encompasses these ideas and gives us access to information more easily. We saw the video "Connecting me" by Ericsson and it was a big inspiration for us. It spawned many new ideas; the information into our body, the kinetic electricity, the combination of the digital world with the real life, and so on.

Uses for HAPP
The uses for Happ are endless.  Educational (gain information easily), security (personal identification, banking), home entertainment (media file transferring by touch), medical (dietary tracking, live patient to doctor information), retail (product information retrieval, price comparison, pay by touch) and business (exchange business cards by shaking hands) to mention few. We have user cases filmed on video also.

How it works
Simply put, you store data in your brain. (In 2020's it is possible to modify memory to store any information you want. Using your body's own electromagnetic field, it is also possible to transfer data from human to a machine or from a human to another human.
You can't forget your data devices any-more, as you are the device.
However, we are not talking about implants. You as the user of the technology have the choice to wear the software, which is a sticker or a temporary tattoo chip, wearable electronics in device. You don't need to have any kinds of microchips under your skin. Removable sticker contains all the necessary technology to read and write memory and manage connections.
In short - your body is the hard drive, the wearable sticker takes care of the processing of the data.

Advantages

• Can access information and transfer data instantly through touch
• You don’t have to carry around a device to store and transfer information
• Can be used and understood by all ages and cultures
• Adaptable to any technology including future products
• Sustainable and ecological due it being powered by the human body
• Works without an internet connection
• Easy to wear and remove
• Capacity to be used for all areas of life, the possibilities are endless
• Chips are affordable and easily updateable
• Information is stored within human cells so without this hardware the chip is useless and information cannot be reached

Disadvantages

• Still need a device to see the information
• How would you choose which file you wanted to transfer without a device? Brain power? Options on device?
• Viruses
• Power failure
• Ethical questions. Fear of technology. Will people believe it is safe to store information in cells?

Research & Technology
Capacitive coupling - the transfer of energy within an electrical network (this becomes possible within humans as we have a very weak out put in AC electricity and a weak magnetic field.
Skin mounted electronics allow for many capabilities and possibilities, So far is capable of displaying LED lights use fully functioning radio frequency capacitors and other wireless antenna. (Led by John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder professor of engineering at the University of Illinois.)
This is not so much competition as it is a companion. We feel in 2020 the capabilities of this skin mounted electronic device will allow for management of data flow in partnership with the Happ's capacitive coupling capability.

Ericsson's connected me - using haptic technologies to bridge a connection between devices and data through touch. They propose in their video and demonstration that using the human body we can bring together two technologies and transfer data between the two, like a human cable. We still follow this ideology but have removed the possibility of only being a bridge between devices. In fact now we chose to store data and have the freedom to choose what data to receive and store within the human brain cells, a human memory drive for digital data. We remove the need to constantly have a touch connection with two devices.

This competition goes on to explain how the human body can be used as a smart cable transferring data at around 10 mbps. This is a very weak and slow data connection speed and such things in the modern world as HD video and larger files would take impossible amounts of time to transfer.

Nokia's recently patented R&D idea of a haptic connected vibrating tattoo. This product involves actual tattoo possibilities (artistic expression) and sticker placements on the human skin, within the tattoo ink and sticker magnetised ink that reacts to magnetic waves to cause vibrations. For example, a text message or phone call is received and the reactor vibrates alerting the wearer to answer the call or view the message. The magnetic waves would be produced by the mobile phone developed by Nokia. Of course many issues arise here in terms of will any magnetic field cause a vibration and once the Nokia phone becomes outdated and you buy a new brand the technology is now useless and un-valued. This idea also is only the transfer of very simple data in the form of commands, such as vibrate patterns to alert for different meanings.

NTT Data from Japan has also been researching into the possibilities of capacitive coupling using the human body as a high powered cable. This company however from 2007 focused mainly on their connection speed between devices, starting with a speed of only 10 Kbps. Again this idea was to use the human body and its weak magnetic and electrical fields to transfer basic data. The power required for such technology to work was also recorded as less than what Bluetooth requires. This company did manage to also produce a transmitter on the devices that did not require physical touch but instead a proximity to the transmitter, eliminating the need to hold any device at all times when transferring data, keeping a phone in your pocket. However their connection speeds thus far are very limited and larger data files would take time to transmit.

Our idea goes beyond just being a cable to transfer data, but also store it without the need for a device and the retrieval of any information.

Connecting Cultures
Happ eases also cultural connectivity. You eg. obtain information about products with your own language outside your own country. Companies could place information chips in their product’s label for consumer to have detailed information about the product.

The data transfer would be easy and natural no matter which culture you’re from. Just like handing out a postcard to another person.

FEEDBACK:
The feedback statement to the team presented by René Lansink in the feedback discussion, last day plenary:

The tagline of the HAPP project was human hardware, wearable software. Basically this was a research project to investigate the possibility to use the human body, especially the human brain, to decode, store en encode digital information. The group studied the current state of technological development of wearable electronics at the research groups of Nokia, Siemens, NTT Data.

In the application the group developed a sticker with an embedded micro chip is attached onto the human skin which can transmit data and signals to and from the body. By using a sticker the ‘device’ is easily ‘removable’, e.i. the user can decide to be either on- or offline.

The suggested use of this ‘system’ was rather generic: education (automated learning), security (identification), home entertainment (file transfer), medical (real time biometric info), retail (virtual shopping).

The project was worked out and presented in such a convincing way that it almost seemed ‘of the shelf’ technology, which was a strong aspect considering the media 2020 context of the project. As we are speaking of a kind of ‘telepathic’ technology here, the examples of the use of this technology might have been a bit more imaginative or mind boggling…

Summary of comments by other lecturers

The team worked very well and showed good results. The idea of brain storage of data it's promising. 
Maybe it was more a research project than a design, but the very clear remarks about how the use of the haptic technology could be, demonstrated that the team had answered many previous questions and had puted an amount of thought about it. The initial project changed a lot out of the research done.
For a next step the audiences should be narrowed a little bit to a specific target. 
Maybe the examples should be clearer about telepathy: that could be a nice interesting point for next edition.