(Click for larger image)

The Ethics Table, at the Newseum in Washington DC, is situated in the display section on Journalism and Ethics. The table is a game where players are asked various ethical questions that journalist face in their work. As players answer questions correctly, a newspaper fills up with articles. The first ‘side’ to complete a newspaper spread wins. The table can be played by up to 8 players, with up to 16 people playing together.

To begin, a player touches one of the eight available ‘plates’. The table is based upon the principle of ‘hot-spotting’, which means any gesture will be registered as a ‘click’, with hotspots changing based upon the game’s context.

As a new player starts the game, one of the ‘avatars’ on the table approaches them and says ‘Grab me!’. This only happens when a player begins. Throughout the game, contextual help is given to the players.

Once an avatar is grabbed, their question appears on player’s plate. All questions in the game have either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer…

If the answer is correct, the avatar does a dance of joy, hi-fives.. and moves to the side of the plate. At the same time, each correct question fills up a space on the newspaper. You can see by the pile under the question how many answers were correct.

If the answer is incorrect, the avatar becomes dejected, or shrugs, and walks away from the plate. The player chooses a new avatar to question. Each avatar carries a card of a particular color. Each color represents a spot on the newspaper that has to be filled.

Sequences of states of the newspaper in the center of the table:
(left) The newspaper when the game has started.
(second to left) The newspaper gradually fills with articles as the players answer.
(middle) The newspaper has completely filled with articles.
(second to right) When a side has won, the newspaper joyfully spins.
(right) If a side loses, the text looks sad and the newspaper recedes.

The graphics for the UMMA table were developed in long consultation with the museum. We wanted to have available all the artworks on view in the museum’s collection, with a way to update when what was on view changed. We looked at a variety of ways to characterize each piece with, for example,  student tags, as well as find ways to connect each piece to others in the collection.

The table is organized around eras and locations. Every artwork has a line that connects it to a location on the map and to the date around the perimeter. The perimeter acts like a calendar, with all artworks displayed as ‘grass’, from the earliest piece at the top, to the latest piece created. As you pass your hand over the grass each artwork’s icon pops up – so that you can select and view it.

When you select one of the round icons (Grab me!) the icon opens up larger with a variety of available options. One option is to show the location of the artwork in the museum. Other options are ‘tombstone’ information – general info about the artwork. If there is a movie associated with it, the icon to start that is shown too.

As two visitors each select a work of art that is available on the table, the tags that describe those works are used to discover relationships between them. Selecting any of the tags opens up a different form of discovery.

A visitor can also create a pool of their favorite artworks. As they insert works into the pool, a variety of tags describing the connections between the artworks appear. Each of these tags, when selected, make other artworks available for browsing. In this way, the pool can become thematic, rather than a collection of disparate objects, as the table hints at relationships in one’s collection. The pool is saved and available on the Internet for further study.

Layout of an artwork as a visitor uncovers more about that work. If a movie is present, that can be played. As it is playing, other works that share information with that movie appear alongside it.

Graphics: Johanna Kindvall

The Shimmer Wall is located in the link between the two buildings of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. A place of contemplation designed by James Carpenter Design, the wall projects the subtle shimmering light as the sun plays with the Hudson River.

Kinecity have designed the camera recognition system that recognizes the shimmer on the water. Moving and zooming throughout the day on a very slow orbit, the artificial intelligence system tracks the beauty of light reflecting off water, through which on occasion a ferry or yacht passes by.

Client: Museum of Jewish Heritage
Artist: James Carpenter Design Assoc.
Leds: Ledeffects

The Podium Light Wall is located on the South and North facades of 7 World Trade Center. As people wander on the pavement below a strip of blue light gracefully follows them. This strip of blue light is 7 floors tall and is visible from Freedom Park. The Podium Wall accentuates the individual, and the patterns that are created as many pass by together. Kinecity designed the interactive element of the design for James Carpenter Design Assoc. who were the responsible for the wall as an art piece.

Sequence showing the light following a pedestrian below.

Architects : Skidmore, Owings & Merril Llp
Artist: James Carpenter Design Assoc.
Lighting Design: Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design
Interactive System: Kinecity Llc
LED system: LED Effects

Dialog Table is a shared interface where you use hand gestures to discover more about any dynamic information. Several people can gather around and together explore the table’s movies, narratives and 3D journeys. The table provides an opportunity for people to discuss with each other their thoughts on what they have seen, whether it be an artwork. a game or a service.

The first Dialog Table was commissioned by the Walker Art Center as a permanent installation in their museum. The table won an international design competition to promote social interactions among visitors, to provide access to the Walker’s multidisciplinary collections, and to facilitate learning about art.

Dialogtable at Walker Art Center

Client: Walker Art Center
Architects: Herzog & De Meuron
Interface Design, Dialogtable 1: Kinecity Llc
Interface Design, Dialogtable 2: Walker Art Center, New Media Initiative

The Dialogtable won the GOLD for the 2010 Muse Awards in Media & Technology for Interactive Kiosks.

A multi-user interface enables several people to:

• Watch movies about works of art, artists and ideas found in UMMA’s galleries.
• Discover connections among works from different time periods and places around the world.
• Create their own collection of favorite objects through semantic relationships between the works. This collection, or ‘pool’, is saved to the web so that people can discover more at home.
• Find the location and other basic information about works on view in the museum.

Dialogtable at UMMA

More about the graphics for the UMMA Dialogtable…

Client : University of Michigan Museum of Art
Multimedia Production : Night Kitchen Interactive

Jakub Segen conducts independent research and consults in the area of computer vision, imaging and human-computer interfaces. Dr. Segen has spent 21 years at Bell Laboratories Research, where he led research and development in computer vision and its applications to human-computer interfaces. His recent contributions involve real-time recognition of hand gestures, gesture controlled animated humans and video-based analysis of human motion. His research contributions also include fields of computer graphics, pattern recognition, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, image compression, signal analysis, information theory, and bio-engineering. He holds a doctorate in Electrical and Bio-engineering from the Carnegie-Mellon University. Dr. Segen holds ten patents, with four more in process, and more than 60 publications.

Wesley Heiss’s is a visual artist and designer whose work explores humanities relationship with technology. Besides the collaborative commissioned work with Kinecity his installations and sculptures have been shown across the US including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Menil Collection in Houston, Brooklyn Academy of Music in NY, and Arthouse in Austin. His artistic practice has earned him many awards including the Artadia grant, the Dallas Museum of Art Kimbrough Grant and residencies at both the MacDowell Colony and the Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting. Wesley received a Master of Architecture from Rice University in Houston, Texas and a BA from Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont. He is currently a Professor of Practice at Lehigh University where he heads the Product Design concentration.
wesheiss.com
walczakheiss.com

Johanna Kindvall is a designer with a background in social work. In May 2003 Johanna got a grant from the Arts Grants Committee in Sweden to work with Marek Walczak in New York City on digital interaction. She have been working with Marek Walczak and Kinecity ever since on a wide range of interactive projects. Between 2004 and 2005 Johanna also worked for James Carpenter Design, New York City, working on graphics, presentations and project development.
johannak.com

The Ethics Table is a multi-user game for young teens and up. The table is the center of the “Ethics” exhibition at the new Newseum in Washington DC. Two teams spontaneously play a simple question and answer game that addresses the complex questions journalists face every day. Using camera recognition technology, people can use any gesture to collect questions and answer them as speedily as possible.

More about the graphics for the Ethics Table…

Client : Newseum
Exhibition construction :  Kubik