A Letter from our Editors-in-Chief
Rules for Collaborative Research
What Can I Say?
Daviid Gauthier: A Portrait of the Engineer as Architect of Information
Cell Skins by Marit-Saskia Wahrendorf
Territory as Interface: Design for Mobile Experiences
I Turn My (Digital) Camera On: Thoughts on Nuit Blanche, Toronto
Editor's Choice (Winter/Spring 2007)
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Collaborative research can often be an exciting venture if conducted with honest intentions, respect for the collaborators and accountability to the project. Having experienced both the benefits and disadvantages of collaborative research, here are some of the rules that I have finally come up with!
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In a café on St-Laurent I cup a mug of tea and wind my scarf against the cold. Michael from Île Sans Fil (or ISF) and I are meeting to discuss a writing project for this journal, and I am trying to find a new angle on a story I've lived in for two years. The last thing I want to do is to write another case study of “Canada's most successful community wireless network.” I'm no longer inspired to write about innovative business models that encourage local businesses to share their internet bandwidth. I have already written about the sociology of volunteer groups that define their political engagement through technology. And while I feel that ISF's use of Wi-Fi hotspots to create new media distribution sites, and their work with artists creates sites of cultural exchange, I don't only want to tell that story either, as interesting as it might be.
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Daviid Gauthier is one of the lead engineers in the Mobile Digital Commons Network, a collaborative research project involving Concordia University, the Banff New Media Institute, the Ontario College of Art and Design, and York University. As a researcher in the network, I have had the privilege and pleasure of working closely with Gauthier in numerous circumstances, from technology tutorials to in situ testing. What is proven time and time again is the fact that Gauthier has defied the stereotypical role of engineer. By this, I am suggesting that even though Gauthier is involved with the quintessential tasks allocated to engineers, his role as 'engineer' has moved well beyond any limited definition. Recently, I had the opportunity to formally talk to Gauthier about his experiences with the Mobile Digital Commons Network. What follows only but a snipit of the dynamic role Gauthier plays in the creation of location based games.
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In the summer of 2006, Marit-Saskia Wahrendorf was commissioned to develop a series of 'skins' for the cell phone as a part of the MDCN. Skinning is a term used in industrial design to discuss the surfaces that overlay a given form. In answer to this request from MDCN, Wahrendorf crafted a series of hand-made, customized covers out of colourful scraps of old fabric to re-skin the cell phone. This audio piece by Barbara Crow discusses Wahrendorf's work, and is accompanied by a photo gallery displaying the skins she developed.
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The Mobile Digital Commons Network is a national collaborative research network launched in 2004 by the Banff New Media Institute and Concordia University. Situated in Banff, Toronto and Montreal the network is made up of designers, engineers, and communications scholars from a number of institutions that also includes the Ontario College of Art & Design and York University. The MDCN explores the connections between human beings, urban and wilderness settings, and mobile technologies. By developing interactive mobile experiences and observing the dynamics inherent in wireless immersive environments, each of the MDCN projects that make up the network moves us closer to understanding how these technologies augment, enhance and transform our culturally situated experiences of urban and outdoor spaces.
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Despite the wet and dreary weather, the inaugural Scotiabank Nuit Blanche attracted more than 425,000 visitors bustling on the streets of downtown Toronto. At what is promised to be "the sunset-to-sunrise celebration of contemporary art", the event offered Torontonians everything from provocative bedtime stories (Bedtime Tales: Fables and Fantasies, 2006), "ballroom" dancing (Ballroom Dancing by Darren O'Donnell, 2006) to an all-night swimming party (Night Swim by Christie Pearson, 2006). Modeled after the highly successful event launched in the city of Paris in 2002, Toronto's Nuit Blanche is divided into three zones (Zone A: Bloor/Yorkville; Zone B: McCaul/University; and Zone C: Queen Street West), in turn providing more than 100 access points to showcase a wide selection of contemporary artworks by both Canadian and international talents.