Josh Esslinger from eTapestry and I were at the Biannual Media Arts and Science capstones presentation event Friday, December 5, 4-8 PM, talking with students and representing the IU School of Informatics Alumni Association.



26 students presented their projects in a poster session / public presentations through out the second floor of the IT (Informatics) Building on IUPUI's campus. This was a great opportunity to see what students are doing and how they view informatics.



Some highlights:

• Chauncey Frend presented his immersive PIPE, showing off a video, in stereoscopic 3d, in a contained space (room for no more than one), with smell and sound effects to put you in the movie. Yes, smell. Chauncey has several controllers that release specific smells at designated times during the movie to bring realism to the video. See Chauncey's blog for more info and the short video interview for quick summary.
• Luke Meyer presented his Facebook application Shotgun! (beta) Ride-Sharing App. Luke showed off the app to me and two other gentlemen. After the pitch and answering several questions from me, the other men introduced themselves as being from Young & Laramore and saying they were looking for people such as Luke. They are starting up an interactive web group and Luke was the type of person they were looking for. Luke got a solid intro from his work and his excellent presentation skills.
• Ellis Gary built a Digital Graffiti wall that, on first look, appeared to be part of the building on the second floor. Seriously, this wall fooled even Informatics staff! The digital graffiti wall utilized a Wii remote on the ceiling as the data capture element tied to a computer. And sending signals to the remote was a faux spray paint bottle rigged up with an infrared transmitter and a trigger. Press the trigger while in the range of the remote and the computer translated that into digital spray paint on the screen. And to complete the illusion, the computer (which was behind the wall) generated the spray can sound. Ellis did not invent the Wii Spray (see WiiSpray) but what he did is create an interesting environment that engages people. His project was in a well trafficked spot and lots of people tried it out, playing with the spray cans. I think there is a lot of pent up graffiti painting in everyone:). Video has example WiiSpray in action.

There will be another capstone presentation, both in Bloomington and again in Indianapolis, in the spring 2009. If you missed this, then please make time for the spring ones. This is an opportunity to talk one on one with bright students and see engaging projects. I'll post those capstone presentation date/times soonest.

Below is a Flickr slide show of the students and their projects (also link to pics on Flickr)