CHISIG NSW "Audio Nomad: The Art and Science of Location Aware Audio"
Category: events | Date: 14/01/2006
When: Tuesday, 7 March at 6pm for a 6.30pm start
Where: PTG-Global office
RSVP: to Susan Hansen nswrep@chisig.org by Monday, 6 March. Space is limited so book early
How much: free for members, $5 for non-members
Who should attend: Anyone interested in HCI, Usability, Design, Collaborative Design, Mobile Computing, Location Awareness, Audio Art, meeting other HCI researchers and practitioners
Summary
Scenario: As Chloe walked through the gardens, the trees uttered their botanical names, producing a soundscape of directional whispers. The plants to her left revealed more about themselves as she gestured them to speak...
About: Audio Nomad (www.audionomad.com) explores the design and deployment of location-based audio with applications in the area sound art installations. The project is funded through the first round of ARC Synapse Linkage grants which bring together artists and scientists to produce new research activity in new media art and engineering. In 2004, Audio Nomad produced "Syren" a shipbased spatial audio artwork on the Baltic Sea and on March 17-19, 2006, a new version of Syren will be presented on Sydney Harbour as part of the New Constellations Conference at Museum of Contemporary Art.
The Audio Nomad team is a dynamic collaboration between audio artist, Dr. Nigel Helyer, Dr. Daniel Woo (HCI, Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW) and Professor Chris Rizos (Geomatic and Spatial Engineering, UNSW).
At the heart of the process is a user centred process that fuses technologies in audio, user interfaces, digital mapping, location awareness and mobile computing. We will talk about the project, the lessons learned and aspects of the user centred design process that have been incorporated into our development. Our perspectives on the challenges of multi-disciplinary engagement will be also revealed.
A formal usability facility with close engagement with the software development process has been a key factor in the evolution of the project, reinforcing the need for software-aware usability expertise in new media projects.
Bio: Daniel Woo is an engineer who has been involved in cross-disciplinary research and commercial development in areas spanning speech, telephony, audio, mobile devices, desktop interfaces, computing and user interface design. He currently leads the Usability Laboratory in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW. His teaching passion is to empower software savvy students with user centred design skills enabling them to cross the chasm between designer and developer, whilst always remaining mindful of the "human in the loop". He was recently awarded an Australian Apple University Consortium Best Practice Award for Innovation in Teaching.
