Last Month, Stephen and I attended Flash Forward. I came back charged up and totally inspired. We have reached a point where the potential of the technology we work with (Flash, PHP, .NET, hammer, nails) has exceeded our ideas, and we need to take advantage of it. What a beautiful place to be in! We get to think bigger, smarter, crazier, more creative... and outside of the desktop. I'll be honest, I can hardly wait to break free.
Craig Swan: Imagination+Technology
The best reason for me to attend an event like Flash Forward is inspiration. Seeing the amazing ways people are playing and experimenting really gets the ideas pumping. Craig Swan from Crash Media gave a presentation on imagination and technology, where he showed off a number of pieces he has worked on. In this first example, he challenged what he could do by accessing the camera object in flash (the isite on his macbook). He discovered that he could analyze the bitmap data coming in through the computer and use that to trigger different events in the flash environment. Flash can determine where his hand is at, how fast its moving, what color his shirt is, and any number components of the video. With that he was able to move objects around in flash by moving his hands in front of the camera on his laptop. He then asked the crowd to imagine a crowd in an international museum filled with people who speak different languages. With everything he was doing there, he could cause exhibits to interact differently with them based on stickers they could wear on their shirts. Brilliant and totally simple to execute.
Next up he brought out his MAKE board and an IPAC. The make board is a microcontroller that is used in robotics, interactive exhibits and other types of research. You can really take advantage of and explore its potential without a degree in electronics or software engineering. The IPAC is like having a full keyboard without the keys. You can attach anything to its screws that will complete a circuit. When the circuit is completed, it is like hitting a key on a keyboard. Craig showed an example where he used a wind chime connected to an IPAC to capture how the wind could interact with his work. While this opens up potential for fine art, it really begins to make my wheels turn for our clients.
Jared Ficklin: How Sound Can Control Flash
Jared Ficklin from Frog Design took a similar angle but focused on the compute spectrum function in Flash. The first example he showed was an experiment he made called Auto Crowd. Essentially, he used flash to analyze a sound spectrum and determine when certain types of events begin or end. With that, he was able to create a music player that has a built in crowd that reacts to the current song being played. The second was a simple physics experiment called a Rubens' Tube. There is a glass tube with holes drilled in it, a propane tank on one side and a speaker on another. If you pass a frequency through it, you can create a standing wave of fire. The cool part is if you play music through it, it acts like an equalizer. Check it out on YouTube. This experiment gets you thinking about what could be accomplished by analyzing the sound spectrum with flash.
This stuff sounds really cool, but...
This doesn't mean that we need to sell our clients on some totally awesome way they can harness fire with Flash at their next tradeshow exhibit. It means that we now have the tools to create deeper, more meaningful experiences for our consumers. New ways to interact. New ways to participate in and build communities. The challenge is that we who are the experts in interactivity need to ditch of notions of what interactive means (websites, microsites, touch screens, mobile devices), and start thinking outside of the computer. In the Quicksliver ad above, Saatchi & Saatchi turned a bus stop sign into a ramp. Interactivity is the bare minimum now, so we have some awesome opportunities in front of us. I don't know about you, but I am stoked.