Treasure Mapping Workshop November 27, 2009

Treasuremapper allows you to trigger mediafiles on a mobile phone depending on where that phone is in real space. It uses GPS to display location-specific images or play location-specific sounds. The goal of Treasuremapper is to create locative media experiences that are easy to make for non-nerdy people.

What?
Locative media help us to link the real and the virtual together, creating what many call a 'hybrid space'. This re-mediation of public space comes with many promises and prophesies. For instance, will we strengthen social bonds through location-based messaging, turning public space into space 2.0? Will we create safe and healthy communities through environmental monitoring?

This workshop explores these and other questions. It offers:

- An overview of the current state-of-the-art experiments in this field: from mobile and 'big' games to streamlined shopping and social experiences. From military initiatives to artistic reflections.
- A critical theoretic perspective on locative visions of the future: which parties are invested in this idea, and how do they envision this locative future? How can these visions be critically understood?
- A hands-on experience of locative media: users can try and, more importantly, create locative experiences during the workshop, using the new open-source Treasuremapper tool.
- Experiencing the concept first-hand is a hard to overestimate experience which can be both sobering and exhilarating.

For who?
The workshop is relevant to the interests of experience designers, architects, city planners, marketeers, students and any other field where creative media-augmentation of our daily surroundings is of interest.

What is the outcome?
Participants are invited to work on a concept of their own in which they position themselves in the landscape, metaphorically as well as literally. Using the media-tools provided they develop a prototype of their idea. The experience of these prototypes is a lot of fun.

What's so nice about Treasuremapper?
- It's based on the hip Python programming language, so it works on a lot of phones, including older models. This makes Treasuremapper cheap and accessible to a lot of people.
- It's open source, meaning you can change it easily, or you can find a nerd to do it for you without too much hassle. It also means it's free!
- It doesn't need mobile internet to work (but if you do have that, you get extra options).
- It should work with most if not all Bluetooth GPS devices.

Trainer
The workshop is run by Tijmen Schep, founder of the NetNiet.org Foundation which promotes wireless media art in public space. He has a MA in Media Design as well as Media Sociology, and has extensive knowledge about locative media.

What to bring?
You need a smartphone with bluetooth or with an internal GPS, and it should run the Symbian S60 operating system. If your phone is in this list you're almost certainly good to go. If your phone doesn't have a built-in GPS, you will need an external GPS device that can talk to your phone through bluetooth.
And of course your laptop and a digital camera.

Phone check
www.forum.nokia.com/devices/matrix_s60_1.html
3lib.ukonline.co.uk/s60history.htm

Information and registration
Workshop is from 10.00 - 18.00. We serve coffee and tea.
Price is € 50 inc. VAT. Please register by clicking the 'count me in' button on the website and we will notify you 2 weeks before the workshop starts.