Overall Project Direction

For the Final Review, my proposal for the Major project was to develop a Music/Sound based device that would provide a means of collaboration amongst friends, or even strangers in the Gen-Y demographic. I presented two concept directions related to this proposed theme. They are as follows:


Audio Graffiti


The idea for this was to have an Bluetooth ear-piece double as recording device. This would allow users to record a message, or song. The user would then take the earpiece and place it over top their Blackberry and "spray" the audio data into the ether as if it were an aerosol can of paint, hence the name "Audio Graffiti". In creating this audio-based graffiti, the audio sample is "tagged" at that person's given location in a method similar to the Geo-Tagging of Photos. From the opposite perspective, an unassuming passerby with a Blackberry would then have the opportunity to be notified of the Audio Tag. By raising their Blackberry upward and using the built-in camera and augmented reality, the user would be able to locate the audio tag in 3-D (or Virtual) space (a space invisible to the naked eye - visible only to Blackberry devices). The user would then have the opportunity to listed to the audio that is attached to that visual representation shown on their Blackberry screen. The concept sketch is below:





Collaborative Music


The Collaborative music concept provides the ability for multiple members of Gen-Y (or other generations) to participate in a collaborative music performance. The Blackberry would have a peripheral device that would provide digital (or virtual) instruments for each of the individuals involved. The concept below shows 2 options: The first is a peripheral that each individual would carry with them and attach to their own Blackberrys. It would project an instrument onto a surface and the user would be able to interact with it through multi-touch sensitivity. The 2nd option was to provide a lone projector for all users that would be mounted on a wall (or perhaps on a tripod of some sort in the middle of a surface). The projection would allow the users to use their Blackberrys as the music instrument, much like the way the ReacTable does on the Microsoft "Surface" table. The concept board is as follows:






* For a closer look at the boards, they can be downloaded here.