new and old ideas

ultimate aim:
to revitalise redundant consumer spaces into active stages for cultural expression
in an attempt to:
increase everyday participant agency within urban environments

Deb Polson: Games designer and academic
Debra Polson currently lectures in the field of interaction design at QUT and is a project leader at the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID). Debra has worked as an interface designer on multiple interactive children's games and various other multimedia productions and continues to design location-based games for various sites in Brisbane, including SCOOT and Cipher Valley. Her research interests lie in new hybrid forms of game play that blur the edges between the digital and physical realms.

Debra Polson is project leader of the Location Based Game project at ACID. This project develops new knowledge and applications in the field of LBG design in two key areas. First, it expands the potential for location-based games by applying the technology’s capacity for developing relationships between people and space for a new purpose: enhancing cultural participation and cultural capital in an inner city area. Application of LBG technologies for this purpose increases participants’ engagement in the histories and activities of their community and the communities of others, as well as developing a more coherent identity for local businesses, cultural institutions and other agencies. This is seen as an important contribution given the contemporary focus on developing the culture of cities to enhance peoples’ quality of life, the reputation of specific places and the generation of wealth (Zukin, 1995). Second, it involves the development of human focused approach in this area through a research design that systematically integrates research into socio-cultural aspects of locations and social groups into the game design process. The policy relevance of the research is also enhanced through the incorporation of utilisation-focus principles, building stakeholder values and goals into the development and evaluation process.

more details

Marcos Caceres: Interaction Designer and programmer.
Marcos Caceres lectures in the field of interaction design at QUT and works as a systems
intergration consultant for various projects. Marcos' primary research interests lie in new-media communication and multimodal interaction design.

Marcos is responsible for much of the systems design on all the 'newish' projects.

As a researcher, professional practitioner, and educator, Marcos is particularly interested in the areas of dynamically generated digital media, intelligent interfaces that expand the living environment. He recently presented a paper at the international Computing Arts conference, on the topic of applying creative design practices to artificial intelligence to create more effective multimedia. He is currently collaborating on a number of projects with the Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre (CIRAC) and Kids Help Line, as well as with the Australasian Centre for Interaction Design (ACID) and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), in Melbourne. In addition, he is also currently working as lead programmer for post-doctorate fellow Dr. Keith Armstrong's large scale arts project Intimate Transactions. The project involves bringing together sound designers, programmers, 3D designers, and other performance artists, to develop and exhibit a unique interactive work that makes use of alternative user interfaces.

key contributors - the project - roles

Corin Edwards - SCOOT character and interface design
James Quinn-Hawtin - SCOOT Programmer and data base design
Yang Wong – SCOOT Flash web game design and installation design
Gerard Cutcheon – SCOOT Audio-visual -interactive site Installations
Craig Gibbons – SCOOT Sound and music design for games and installations.
Silas Rowe – SCOOT Flash web game design
Joseph Gatling – SCOOT Flash web game design
Simon Joslin – SCOOT Flash web game design