Wednesday, January 18, 2006

"Oh my, what very experientially stylised teeth you have!"

Via the always wonderful we-make-money-not-art

So back in 2004 as part of my Interaction Design subject I came up with the idea for a room specifically designed for enhancing presence in particular roleplaying games (Hell yeah! King of the geeks!). The idea was that at particular moments the Gamemaster/Storyteller had the facility to play with the experiential elements present in the room, i.e. lighting, music, sound effects, room temperature, etc.

Now Philips comes along with a technology they're calling PML (Physical markup Language) to allow media to influence your physical surroundings. The example they give is a PML version of the children's classic "Little Red Riding Hood."

"An Ambient Intelligence system can interpret a description in PML in such a way that the devices in its network can jointly use their individual capabilities to render that experience at a given location.

In effect, your whole room becomes a 'browser' that brings the experience to life. For example, PML-enabled lights add to the experience by getting brighter or dimmer, or changing colour. A PML-enabled hi-fi provides an appropriate soundscape..."

"To illustrate the principle, we have developed a PML-enhanced storybook telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood. As you turn the pages of the book, the book knows exactly where you are in the story. The PML associated with the scene described on that page is communicated to the space around you. The many Ambient Intelligence devices in that space then use their capabilities collaboratively to transport you into the world of the story."

It's an interesting attempt to break out of the desktop, creating an immersive physical environment using ubiquitous computing elements. Interesting to see where they take it in the future.


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