Next test of v1.0

Posted on 15 Feb 2011

We're currently working on a new performance installation marking the closure of the 1970's Royal Mail sorting office building in Coventry. This is an opportunity to try out v1.0 of the Difference Engine in a walkabout installation context - which we're keen to do before the next phase of development and further testing at Warwick Arts Centre.

A City Growing out of Words will be on in Coventry the first weekend of March - if you'd like to come and see it and play with the Difference Engine, please get in touch: janet[at]talkingbirds[dot]co[dot]uk

The Difference Engine

Posted on 31 Jan 2011 see more like this

*PROJECT SUMMARY

THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE is a new access solution which allows audiences with diverse needs (for example visual or hearing impairments) to access an extra content-rich layer of interpretation on a cultural event. Delivered via the mobile platform, taking advantage of the technical capabilities of modern smartphones and tablet-form computers, the Difference Engine's key application is the delivery of assistive, contextual and supplemental content to audiences, serving as a personal subtitler or audio describer. It is suitable for use in conventional venues such as theatres and concert halls but also in non-theatre or unusual spaces, such as the hospitals, cattle markets or underground car parks where Talking Birds often makes its work.

 

*WHAT DID THE DCD ENABLE YOU TO ACHIEVE?

The DCD funding was 'proof of concept', and it enabled us to work with programmers from Coventry University to develop, in the first instance, a simple platform to deliver subtitles and audio, and for users to be able to feed text back. It's simple in order to allow it to work and to be tested across as many of the current smartphone/tablet computer operating systems as possible, in tandem with research into the most-used platforms by the target user groups.

It allowed us to use the prototype in the making of a short chamber theatre piece (called Capsule: tinyurl.com/TBcapsule). This meant that, from the start we integrated the fact that the audience would (possibly) be using the Difference Engine with the making of the show. It became a piece that was predominantly based on sound and mainly performed in the dark, but with multiple points of focus where the audience could glimpse bits of action when directed by light or sound. Although in this instance the Difference Engine was solely delivering assistive content, the possibilities for delivering creative content were thrown into even sharper focus by this small experiment.

The funding also allowed us to start fundraising for development of a 2nd version of the Difference Engine.

 

*WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT?

One of the main motivations for building the Difference Engine was to reverse the assumption that you make a piece of theatre and then (afterwards) decide how to make it accessible. Talking Birds' approach is to try and start from a point of universal access - and experiment/play with the creative possibilities of access in its widest sense. We see the Difference Engine as an important tool in that whole process. As soon as we got to play with the first prototype, it opened up the possibilities for us (even wider than we had imagined) so now we've learned more about what we want and need it to do.

We're trying to find a workaround for the syncing of (in particular) sound files - as their start point varies from device to device based on that device's ping-rate.

We've also learned that a freezing cold warehouse space in November is perhaps not the best testing ground for a technology-based project! Handheld devices seem to suffer in various different ways from the cold - in particular playing the audio was patchy.

 

*HOW HAS THE PROJECT AFFECTED YOUR COMPANY?

Mainly by opening our eyes to the creative possibilities suggested, and supported, by this new tool we have. Our forthcoming artistic programme has projects specifically inspired by and designed around delivery via the Difference Engine.

A characteristic of Talking Birds' work is that it is often built on a foundation of audience/participant engagement on a personal level. How this participation and engagement manifests itself varies from project to project, and as new tools become available. In the same way that the concept of 'apps' has transformed how people think about and interact with mobile devices, the ways we can conceive of using the Difference Engine in building audience/participant engagement continue to evolve.

Accessibility could now be said to even more underpin our every move - which is obviously positive - and it's (perhaps oddly?!) incredibly liberating too. We're optimistic about how we might be able to make the system, once developed, available to others - and about how this might benefit the sector as a whole.

 

*HAS THE PROJECT INCREASED YOUR ABILITIES TO REACH NEW AUDIENCES OR CLIENTS?

We believe of course that it will. Obviously, with a new and simple way to supply subtitling and audio-description we now have a whole new audience base to develop. But in addition to audiences with particular access needs, there is also a whole burgeoning audience of those interested in the places where theatre and technology coincide. Even the experimental performances of Capsule in the freezing cold drew people from further afield and not our regular audience to have a go with the Difference Engine. One audience member commented: "Coming to your shows makes me reluctant to go to 'normal' theatre, because sitting in the chair is not enough anymore!!! You make it worth it for me to keep coming to Coventry!!"