More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/

research-article

Over the rainbow: information design for low-resolution urban displays

Authors:

Dietmar Offenhuber,

Susanne SeitingerAuthors Info & Claims

MAB '14: Proceedings of the 2nd Media Architecture Biennale Conference: World Cities

Pages 40 - 47

https://doi.org/10.1145/2682884.2682886

Published: 19 November 2014 Publication History

Abstract

To what extent can information be successfully communicated through a media façade and what are the relevant parameters? In this paper, we focus on the issue of information design for media façades, which is not often discussed separately. As a thought experiment, we propose homing in on this topic as a core domain for the deployment of low-resolution, ambient displays in the city. We discuss the advantages and limitations of five techniques for encoding information: color, movement, text, images, and shape. Though designers may not always be aiming to convey explicit information, onlookers may still seek additional layers of meaning and end-users may re-appropriate an infrastructure over time. Two examples from our recent practice, a series of single-pixel wayfinding beacons and a low-resolution media façade, serve to illustrate these techniques. By linking the broad notions of 'content' and 'meaning' to a set of purpose-driven and actionable parameters, we invite designers to scrutinize the low-level communication processes facilitated by media architecture.

References

[1]

Bertin, J. 1983. Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps. University of Wisconsin Press.

Digital Library

[2]

CBS Pittsburgh 2012. How To Read The KDKA-TV Weather Beacon Atop Gulf Tower.

[3]

Dalsgaard, P. and Halskov, K. 2010. Designing Urban Media Façades: Cases and Challenges. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (New York, NY, USA, 2010), 2277--2286.

Digital Library

[4]

Dexia Towers Rainbow LEDs / lab-au: 2010. http://www.archdaily.com/70264/dexia-towers-rainbow-leds-lab-au/. Accessed: 2014-09-25.

[5]

digital mural: 2012. http://www.wgbh.org/about/mural.cfm. Accessed: 2014-09-26.

[6]

dotVote - Northeastern University: 2014. http://nuweb9.neu.edu/visualization/dotvote/. Accessed: 2014-05-16.

[7]

Fahle, M. and Poggio, T. 1981. Visual Hyperacuity: Spatiotemporal Interpolation in Human Vision. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences. 213, 1193 (Nov. 1981), 451--477.

[8]

Fischer, P. T. and Hornecker, E. 2012. Urban HCI: Spatial Aspects in the Design of Shared Encounters for Media Facades. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (New York, NY, USA, 2012), 307--316.

Digital Library

[9]

Hespanhol, L. and Tomitsch, M. 2012. Designing for Collective Participation with Media Installations in Public Spaces. Proceedings of the 4th Media Architecture Biennale Conference: Participation (New York, NY, USA, 2012), 33--42.

Digital Library

[10]

Johnson, B. and Shneiderman, B. 1991. Tree-maps: A space-filling approach to the visualization of hierarchical information structures. Visualization, 1991. Visualization'91, Proceedings., IEEE Conference on (1991), 284--291.

Digital Library

[11]

KDKA-TV Weather Beacon atop the Gulf Tower, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA: 2013. http://www.colorkinetics.com/showcase/installs/Gulf-Tower-Weather-Beacon/. Accessed: 2014-05-19.

[12]

McCullough, M. 2013. Ambient Commons: Attention in the Age of Embodied Information. MIT Press.

Digital Library

[13]

McLuhan, M. 1964. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New American Library.

[14]

Media Architecture Biennale 2010, Workshop 5: 2010. http://www.a-theory.tuwien.ac.at/Veranstaltungen/Workshop5. Accessed: 2014-05-19.

[15]

Mitchell, W. J. 1994. The reconfigured eye: Visual truth in the post-photographic era. the MIT press.

Digital Library

[16]

Moere, A. V. and Hill, D. 2012. Designing for the Situated and Public Visualization of Urban Data. Journal of Urban Technology. 19, 2(Apr. 2012), 25--46.

[17]

Moere, A. V. and Wouters, N. 2012. The Role of Context in Media Architecture. Proceedings of the 2012 International Symposium on Pervasive Displays (New York, NY, USA, 2012), 12:1--12:6.

Digital Library

[18]

National Debt Clock: 1989. http://www.durst.org/about/clock. Accessed: 2014-05-17.

[19]

Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc.: 2012. http://www.oaaa.org/. Accessed: 2014-05-16.

[20]

Points | The most advanced wayfinding sign on Earth: 2013. http://pointssign.com/. Accessed: 2014-05-19.

[21]

Pousman, Z. and Stasko, J. 2006. A taxonomy of ambient information systems: four patterns of design. Proceedings of the working conference on Advanced visual interfaces (2006), 67--74.

Digital Library

[22]

Project Blinkenlights: 2001. http://blinkenlights.net/. Accessed: 2014-05-16.

[23]

Projections --- Jenny Holzer: http://projects.jennyholzer.com/projections. Accessed: 2014-05-19.

[24]

Running Falling? 2004. http://www.jimcampbell.tv/portfolio/low_resolution_works/running_falling/running_falling_question_mark/. Accessed: 2014-09-26.

[25]

Schyns, P. G. and Oliva, A. 1999. Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile: When categorization flexibly modifies the perception of faces in rapid visual presentations. Cognition. 69, 3 (1999), 243--265.

[26]

Seitinger, S. et al. 2009. Urban pixels: painting the city with light. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems(2009), 839--848.

Digital Library

[27]

Semaphore: 2006. http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/sjsemaphore/. Accessed: 2014-05-16.

[28]

Shen, X. et al. 2005. An intrusive evaluation of peripheral display. (2005), 289--292.

Digital Library

[29]

Starr, T. and Hayman, E. 1998. Signs and Wonders: The Spectacular Marketing of America. Doubleday/Currency.

[30]

Taylor, C. R. et al. 2006. Use and Effectiveness of Billboards: Perspectives from Selective-Perception Theory and Retail-Gravity Models. Journal of Advertising. 35, 4 (Dec. 2006), 21--34.

[31]

Telhan, O. et al. 2010. Interaction design with building facades. TEI'10 - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (2010), 291--294.

Digital Library

[32]

Tufte, E. R. 2006. Beautiful evidence. Graphics Press.

Digital Library

[33]

Tufte, E. R. 1983. The visual display of quantitative information. Graphics Press.

Digital Library

[34]

Underkoffler, J. et al. 1999. Emancipated pixels: real-world graphics in the luminous room. Proceedings of the 26th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques (1999), 385--392.

Digital Library

[35]

Urbanflow Helsinki: 2012. http://helsinki.urbanflow.io/. Accessed: 2014-05-16.

[36]

Vande Moere, A. and Offenhuber, D. 2009. Beyond Ambient Display: A Contextual Taxonomy of Alternative Information Display. International Journal of Ambient Computing and Intelligence. 1, 2 (2009), 39--46.

[37]

Venturi, R. et al. 1972. Learning from Las Vegas. MIT Press Cambridge, Mass.

[38]

Venturi, R. and Brown, D. S. 2004. Architecture as signs and systems: for a mannerist time. Harvard University Press.

[39]

Weiser, M. 1991. The computer for the 21st century. Scientific American. (Sep. 1991), 94--104.

[40]

Weiser, M. and Brown, J. S. 1996. Designing Calm Technology. PowerGrid Journal. 1, 1 (1996), 75--85.

[41]

Wisneski, C. et al. 1998. Ambient displays: Turning architectural space into an interface between people and digital information. Cooperative buildings: Integrating information, organization, and architecture. Springer. 22--32.

Digital Library

Cited By

Hoggenmueller MTomitsch MWorrall S(2022)Designing Interactions With Shared AVs in Complex Urban Mobility ScenariosFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2022.8662584Online publication date: 11-May-2022
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2022.866258
Kikuchi NFukuda TYabuki N(2022)Future landscape visualization using a city digital twin: integration of augmented reality and drones with implementation of 3D model-based occlusion handlingJournal of Computational Design and Engineering10.1093/jcde/qwac0329:2(837-856)Online publication date: 28-Apr-2022
https://doi.org/10.1093/jcde/qwac032
Tomitsch M(2022)Interactive media facades—research prototypes, application areas and future directionsRethinking Building Skins10.1016/B978-0-12-822477-9.00019-X(313-337)Online publication date: 2022
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822477-9.00019-X
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Over the rainbow: information design for low-resolution urban displays
1. Human-centered computing

Recommendations

Smart Citizen Sentiment Dashboard: A Case Study Into Media Architectural Interfaces
PerDis '14: Proceedings of The International Symposium on Pervasive Displays

In this paper we introduce the notion of media architectural interfaces (MAIs), which describe the relation between users engaging with dynamic content on media façades through tangible artifacts on street level. Firstly, we outline existing research ...
Mapping Chongqing's Urban Media Ecology
MAB '18: Proceedings of the 4th Media Architecture Biennale Conference

China's cities are being remade and rebranded with light emanating from ubiquitous digital media in the form of media architecture, urban screens, mediated retail environments, and mobile media in taxis, elevators, personal devices, and public transport. ...
Self-moving robots and pulverised urban displays: status quo, taxonomy, and challenges in emerging pervasive display research
Abstract
After almost a decade of relentless development, pervasive urban displays have fragmented into a diversity of approaches with radically distinct characteristics in terms of how mobile they are, as well as the materials they are made of. In this ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

MAB '14: Proceedings of the 2nd Media Architecture Biennale Conference: World Cities

November 2014

110 pages

ISBN:9781450333023

DOI:10.1145/2682884

Conference Chair:
Martin Brynskov,
Program Chairs:
Peter Dalsgaard,
Ava Fatah gen Schieck

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

Sponsors

Aarhus University: Aarhus University
MAI: Media Architecture Institute

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 19 November 2014

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Conference

MAB '14

Sponsor:

Aarhus University
MAI

MAB '14: Media Architecture Biennale 2014

November 19 - 22, 2014

Aarhus, Denmark

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 27 of 68 submissions, 40%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

16
Total Citations
View Citations
227
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)14
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 13 Jan 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Hoggenmueller MTomitsch MWorrall S(2022)Designing Interactions With Shared AVs in Complex Urban Mobility ScenariosFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2022.8662584Online publication date: 11-May-2022
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2022.866258
Kikuchi NFukuda TYabuki N(2022)Future landscape visualization using a city digital twin: integration of augmented reality and drones with implementation of 3D model-based occlusion handlingJournal of Computational Design and Engineering10.1093/jcde/qwac0329:2(837-856)Online publication date: 28-Apr-2022
https://doi.org/10.1093/jcde/qwac032
Tomitsch M(2022)Interactive media facades—research prototypes, application areas and future directionsRethinking Building Skins10.1016/B978-0-12-822477-9.00019-X(313-337)Online publication date: 2022
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822477-9.00019-X
Offenhuber DAuinger S(2021)Distancing interfaces—improvisational media architectures for place-based discourse under lockdownProceedings of the 5th Media Architecture Biennale Conference10.1145/3469410.3469421(111-120)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3469410.3469421
Hoggenmueller MHespanhol LWiethoff ATomitsch M(2020)Self-moving robots and pulverised urban displays: status quo, taxonomy, and challenges in emerging pervasive display researchPersonal and Ubiquitous Computing10.1007/s00779-020-01422-226:3(749-765)Online publication date: 30-Sep-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-020-01422-2
Hoggenmueller MHespanhol LWiethoff ATomitsch MKhamis MSorce SCauchard JGentile V(2019)Self-moving robots and pulverized urban displaysProceedings of the 8th ACM International Symposium on Pervasive Displays10.1145/3321335.3324950(1-8)Online publication date: 12-Jun-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3321335.3324950
Bader PVoit ALe HWoźniak PHenze NSchmidt A(2019)WindowWallACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/331027526:2(1-42)Online publication date: 13-Mar-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3310275
Hoggenmueller MWiethoff AVande Moere ATomitsch MFatah gen. Schieck AColangelo DZhigang C(2018)A Media Architecture Approach to Designing Shared Displays for Residential Internet-of-Things DevicesProceedings of the 4th Media Architecture Biennale Conference10.1145/3284389.3284391(106-117)Online publication date: 13-Nov-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3284389.3284391
Hoggenmueller MWiethoff ATomitsch M(2018)Designing Low-Res Lighting Displays as Ambient Gateways to Smart DevicesProceedings of the 7th ACM International Symposium on Pervasive Displays10.1145/3205873.3205876(1-8)Online publication date: 6-Jun-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3205873.3205876
Hoggenmueller MTomitsch MWiethoff AMandryk RHancock MPerry MCox A(2018)Understanding Artefact and Process Challenges for Designing Low-Res Lighting DisplaysProceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3173574.3173833(1-12)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3173574.3173833
Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Table of Contents