Mscape Fest 2007 followed on from a far more low-key, one day event held at HP labs in October 2006, which marked the end of the Mobile Bristol project (funded by Bristol university, Appliance Studio and HP Labs), and the point where HP were looking to the user community (primarily KS2, secondary teachers and artists), for feedback on how to move the project forward.
At this event, following the successful launch of the new Mscaper website in May 07, there was a real buzz about the potential of the new version of the tool, which is significantly more functional and easy to use for developers and players; with wizards, guidelines, dedicated support and a growing user community. The conference had also doubled in size; a 2 day event with 120 participants which quickly sold out. It included evening entertainment, a packed programme and a far more diverse audience than previous events, with attendees from across Europe and the US, (comprising game developers, new businesses, heritage, theatre (including the highly acclaimed Punchdrunk), arts, education at all levels, broadcasters, and others generally interested in locative media).
The primary aim of the conference: to build community, communication share practices, help the medium grow and kick-start the development of a much needed business model for those wishing to make money from the work they’ve up until now only been able to do for free on the educational licence.
I was particuarly heartened to hear about the opening of a Pervasive Media Studio; a cross-disciplinary, cross-community, cross-industry teaching and research studio affiliated to the University of West England, HP and the University of Bristol. Located at the Bristol Watershed it will pioneer new digital media through socially engaged practice and world-class research, providing infrastructure (ipaqs, editing facilities, workshops, work-spaces) and opportunities to apply for small project grants.
Day 1 focussed primarily on the designer and developer community, providing workshops around game, experience, community, content and tool development. In the evening there was a networking event at the Watershed bar and a chance to try out some of the mediascapes in Queen’s Square.
Day 2 comprised a series of presentations from a wide range of experienced locative media designers from around the world including Teri Rueb, a landscape artist whose work engages digital, architectural and traditional media, Jon Williams, Creative Director of Licorice Media, and Steve Coast, Founder and Chairman of theOpenStreetMap Foundation.
The event was enormously enjoyable and I left feeling inspired and excited about the future of locative experience and game design.
Photos of the event can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mscape/pool/ and the majority of the presentations can be accessed from the Mscape Fest page.
