My pitch is very much up to be changed. I would love to grab the attention and ideas of any students interested in moving beyond rectangles (display screens, computer screen, or piece of paper). Specifically, I am interested in concepts of the third place, augmented spaces, community involvement in urban libraries, and getting DH tools in the hands of communities (I consider myself a techno-constructivist so I want communities to use technology to use technology to learn about and construct their own experiences). With all that in mind, I have two project pitches.

Pitch 1

Project Title: Annotating the Air – Community Histories, Diaries, and Catharsis

Problem Statement: I feel that although there are multitudes of rich sources (typically academic content) for Digital Humanities, communities also have important stories to tell. I want to create a technology that puts DH tools in their hands and allows them to learn about each other, themselves, and the technology.

Approach: I imagine a mobile application rooted in AR ideas. While exploring community spaces, a community member can leave a digital trail of memories, voice recordings, words, photos and videos attached to particular locations for others to stumble upon. It would be like geocaching taken to the next level.

In first iteration, the medium could be a mobile application but I would want further iterations to allow the medium to be more ambient and ubiquitous (a non-disruptive experience that unanchored to a typical screen… that in fact only some people can access).

Audience: I would want all members of the community telling their stories, so the application would need to be usable by people of all ages and technical abilities. Skills needed: For this project, I would love another person to brainstorm and design with but I really need 2 people skilled in mobile native application creation (preferably iOS). I am a programmer as well, but I am unfamiliar with mobile applications so I would need help getting started and knowing what is feasible for our timeline.

The foci would be: making the experience of content pulling and content creation as easy as possible for users, creating a backend where this wide variety of content is geotagged and accessible to users, and learning to use the phone’s geolocation system (would the app constantly run and constantly take the user’s location?).

Pitch 2

Project Title: Urban Library 2.0

Problem Statement: Due to my experiences in DC Public Libraries, I find myself yearning for technological innovations in more library spaces. I am used to having my library be (at least the beginnings of) a hub of tech innovation / a maker space. Libraries must be early adopters of interesting technology. In addition, library resources are continually hidden and undiscoverable.

Approach: I want to create a better library experience with ambient user interfaces (such that it would augment but not disrupt reading and discovering processes). I would like to design a better library experience in which you can find and preview books, interact with other readers, create art with text, and leave a digital footprint.

Audience: As a mobile application, targeting high school college students and older. As ubicomp, all library users

Skills needed: I need another designer to help me brainstorm and design. I also need 2 programmers (they would be free to pitch a medium they are familiar with to host our new library experience).