Evening of Innovation Program

3D printing. Google Glass. Virtual reality. Augmented reality. Allmobile environments. Crowdfunding. Discoverability. Curation
Cognitive computing. Data science. Sentiment analysis. Tangible toy
and transmedia storytelling. Recommendation engines. Socia
storytelling. Location-based entertainment. The Internet of Things. Th
Imagination Economy. Emotional wearables. Dynamic book
Personalized news. Rumor analysis and tracking. 360-degree stories
Evening of
Innovation
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Contents
Foreword: Welcome to an Evening of Innovation
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CRUNCH Student Design Challenge4
College Knowledge Los Angeles (CKLA)
4
RePlantLA5
SNAPbasket6
SphereTEC7
Trail8
XCLU9
The Edison Project: The New Screens
10
360-Degree Storytelling10
Tangible Storytelling10
Augmented Storytelling11
Augmenting Accessibility11
DSAIL: Black Twitter12
Sports Media & Entertainment Fan Engagement Strategy
12
Athena News13
PulsePin13
Situated Engagement14
Sankofa RED14
Learn It!14
Bench Beats14
About USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab
2
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Annenberg Innovation Lab
foreword
Welcome to an Evening of Innovation.
Here at USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab, we like to say that our work can be sorted into three main categories:
Participatory Learning Experiences, Prototypes and Publications.
This is a lie.
The truth is, we gleefully blur these three “categories” every day. Participatory Learning Experiences are what
we call our on-campus workshops like our hackathons and Annual Student Design Challenge, our big events
like our biannual Think & Do ideations, and our lecture series such as Geek Speaks or our weekly Lunch &
Learn. Those events serve as the wellspring for our Prototypes, which are what tonight’s Evening of Innovation
is all about. We believe deeply in a philosophy of critical making, that the best creations come out of deep
research, reflection and conversation, and that the best way to truly understand something is to roll up your
sleeves and start building.
Tonight we’re excited to share the culmination of the 2013-14 CRUNCH Student Design Challenge. You
will impact who becomes our 2014 Startup in Residence by voting for one of six prototypes built by the
student teams in AIL Creative Director + Research Fellow Erin Reilly and AIL Research Assistant Andrew
Schrock’s Digital Design and Innovation 12-week Incubator. Over three years, this program has seen two of
our CRUNCH winners go on to participate in accelerators, raise additional funds and launch their startups.
The Blackstone Foundation has recognized these past successes by including the Annenberg Innovation Lab in
a Southern California regional multi-year grant, which will enable AIL to become the go-to hub for all USC
students looking for help with their entrepreneurial ideas. Going forward, this grant will transform our annual
CRUNCH Student Design Challenge into the Blackstone LaunchPad @USC, and we’re excited to support
more students across campus.
Our research fellows have also been hard at work throughout the year. You’ll have first look at a number of
prototypes from AIL Research Council member François Bar’s Situated Engagement class, which was held
this semester in conjunction with the USC Cinema School. We’re also showing off the prototypes currently being
built out from last fall’s Edison Project Think & Do on The New Screens by AIL Technical Director + Research
Fellow Geoffrey Long, Lead Developer Aninoy Mahapatra, and Research Associate Francesca Marie
Smith, and from the Re-Envisioning the Evening News Think & Do with exciting projects from AIL Research
Council member Gabriel Kahn. Rounding out the exhibition are a number of other prototypes being built by
other AIL Research Fellows and Assistants, all based on the Innovation Lab’s research into the future of media,
entertainment, communications, journalism, and society.
Oh, and Publications? What you hold in your hands is itself a prototype, as much of the contents of the
following pages represent the first drafts of our findings from these works on display tonight.
For the majority of these works, tonight is the first time they’re being unveiled – but please feel free to share them
around! Tweet them. Post about them on Facebook. Take pictures and toss them up on Pinterest. However you
want to spread the word, please go to town – because we do this work to help push everything forward, and the
only way to do that is to inspire as many people as possible. And if you are so inspired, please reach out, come
join us, and most of all, come play!
Jonathan Taplin
Erin Reilly
Geoffrey Long
AIL Director
AIL Creative Director AIL Technical Director
+ Research Fellow+ Research Fellow
Evening of Innovation 2014
3
crunch
College Knowledge Los Angeles (CKLA)
Sharla Berry, Vanessa Monterosa, Christopher Perez
College Knowledge LA connects Los Angeles students to local
resources and events. Many college access mobile apps aim to
simplify the process and pack as much information as possible into
one app, but let’s keep it real. There is nothing simple about getting
into college, especially as a first-generation college student. We are
not looking to replace counselors, college advisors, or educators.
We are an online resource that aims to connect students to offline
resources. We aim to provide real access to real people who are
committed to helping students get into and through college.
For more information, please view our concept video at
www.vimeo.com/91694888, visit www.collegeknowledgeLA.org or
email [email protected].
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Annenberg Innovation Lab
crunch
RePlantLA
Althea Capra, Sonia Guggenheim, Luna White, Alex Zelenty
RePlantLA is a transmedia experience for 8-12 year olds to encourage
pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. As a part of the Crunch
Hackathon for Transmedia Branding for Environmentalism, ReplantLA
is a story and game that takes place through various mediums including
an online site, an episodic series, playing cards, and the use of physical
plants in order to foster or strengthen a relationship young people might
have with plants.
The unique part of RePlant is that children have direct responsibility of
the life of a plant that corresponds with the life of a fictional character
which is represented online and through custom playing cards.
For more information, please view our concept video at
http://tinyurl.com/replantla or email [email protected].
Evening of Innovation 2014
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crunch
SNAPbasket
Bessie Chu, Catherine Peiper, Gabriel Shapiro
In Los Angeles alone over 1 million low income
individuals are enrolled in the Supplemental
Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). Often
these individuals are shopping for families, work
two or more jobs and do not have the resources
to comparison shop and find the best deals.
SNAPbasket will provide an easy-to-use SMS
and mobile-accessible web-based application that
provides low income individuals with up-to-theminute, location-based grocery pricing information.
For more information, visit www.snapbasket.co, watch our
concept video at https://vimeo.com/91756864 or email
[email protected].
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Annenberg Innovation Lab
crunch
SphereTEC
Charlie Benson, James Lynch, Douglas Rose, Carolyn Wee
The traditional exchange
of contact details is a
cumbersome, inefficient
and often awkward process.
This leads to countless lost connections, particularly at networking
events like conferences and trade shows where attendees are meeting
a high frequency of people. Through designing a ubiquitous,
disposable electronic wristband that records who you meet simply
through a handshake, SphereTEC hopes to facilitate an effortless
exchange of contact details. At the end of the event, users will be
able to review the contacts they made during the day, along with indepth, enriched contact details.
For more information, please email
[email protected].
Evening of Innovation 2014
7
crunch
Trail
Conrad Kurth, Andrew Poksay, Sam Sagartz, Brian White
Trail connects you to the currently inaccessible
event maven network, redefining what it means
to be an event app. Being that the most effective
means of communication is word of mouth, we
combine this community of event mavens with
our AI recommendation algorithm to ensure
that users take advantage of enriching opportunities. Given the depth of data
we secure from our users throughout their use of Trail, we are able to induce
serendipitous moments, providing people with an invaluable experience.
For more information, please visit trail.mobi or email [email protected].
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Annenberg Innovation Lab
crunch
XCLU
Chelsea Foster, Brittany Jenkins, Josh Lev, James Lin, Joel Suarez
XCLU is a mobile app that empowers independent creatives
to produce multimedia content using live-streaming.
Currently creatives want to independently monetize the
traction to their content, but existing online platforms lack
affordable products and feasible revenue streams for them to
do so. Our solution is to provide creatives with a cost-effective
product platform that streamlines their ability to create and
monetize their content independently. Our vision is to inspire
innovative independence through building a creative space for
opportunity. XCLU is a space where creatives can reimagine
their vision.
For more information, please visit xcluapp.com or email [email protected].
Evening of Innovation 2014
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the edison project
360-Degree Storytelling
Geoffrey Long and Erin Reilly, in collaboration with FOX and DirecTV
One team at the New Screens Think & Do was thrilled by what 360-degree
viewing experiences could provide for horror productions such as FX’s American
Horror Story. Such tools could allow audiences to experience the element of surprise
and suspense first-hand. This concept of “360-degree storytelling” resonates with
multiple areas of the Edison Project, beginning with virtual reality and moving into
the Connected Home/City.
Geoffrey Long’s The Lighthouse in the Woods is an immersive ghost story. Donning an
Oculus Rift, the user finds herself locked in a windowless study as a disembodied
voice tells how, one by one, the narrator’s family fell victim to a mysterious curse.
Portraits on the walls illuminate as each family member is introduced, dim as
each one falls, and re-illuminate as they come back. The audience member can
move around the room, but cannot leave it, and has no control over how the
story progresses – replicating the narrator’s experience of impending doom
and helplessness. The Lighthouse in the Woods leverages the Rift’s unique sense of
360-degree immersion, but by removing nearly all of the audience’s agency, it subverts the assumption that the Rift
is a gaming device and delivers a storytelling experience more akin to film, TV or theater.This project also explores
how storytelling could evolve for a connected home. The Lighthouse in the Woods uses portraits to tell its story because
connected digital picture frames are one possible additional “screen” to use in a living room.
the edison project
Tangible Storytelling
Geoffrey Long and Erin Reilly, in collaboration with BC “Heavy” Biermann and FOX
How might 3D printers be used as a component of a transmedia storytelling
campaign? Audiences could experience a show and receive a ‘token’ or some
tangible printable artifact upon watching content. These physical pieces could
be collector’s items reserved only for fans who actually watched the show, and
fans could be further incentivized to print tokens by using webcams, Kinect or
other forms of machine vision to visually recognize the printed token and unlock
additional content In this prototype, audiences begin their experience by watching an episode of a TV show like
FOX’s Sleepy Hollow, and are prompted to download and 3D-print one or more pieces of a puzzle. In a social
viewing context, each member of a group might be provided a code for a different piece. When all of these pieces
have been printed, correctly assembled and shown to a camera via a mobile app, a new piece of video content is
displayed via augmented reality.
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Annenberg Innovation Lab
the edison project
Augmented Storytelling
Geoffrey Long and Aninoy Mahapatra
This project explores the concept of asymmetric synchronous TV experiences - in other
words, how two people might watch the same show on the same couch at the same
time, but have two different experiences if one of them is wearing an augmenting
device like Google Glass. In this prototype, by feeding the director’s commentary
assets (audio, video, text and/or image) to Glass, the Glass-wearer can experience
the movie augmented by the director’s commentary while the other person
experiences only the movie. The lab’s next exploration imagines two viewers, both
wearing Glass, being fed different content from two “commentator” type characters
via Glass. For example, in a mystery one viewer’s commentator may whisper in their
ear, “Character A is lying, because of X”, and the second viewer’s commentator
may whisper, “Character B is lying, because of Y”. At the end, the viewers work
together to piece together what their commentators told them to crack the case.
the edison project
Augmenting Accessibility
Francesca Marie Smith and Aninoy Mahapatra, in collaboration with the Global Event and Media Accessibility
Initiative and Marc Bovee’s SliverWindow
In partnership with the Global Event and Media Accessibility Initiative, the
Annenberg Innovation Lab is exploring new ways of enhancing access to media
content using ocular wearable devices like Google Glass. Our goal is to allow
audiences, regardless of their physical needs or preferred communication methods,
to watch a film or television show on a main screen (ideally at any cinema or in
their own home) and immediately, seamlessly select from a range of supplementary
content streams on their wearable device.
These content streams might include subtitles in a variety of languages or audio
description for the visually impaired, as have been introduced in some theatres
already using various proprietary devices. However, wearables like Glass also make
possible new sorts of individualized, multi-layered viewing experiences, including
the SliverWindowASL prototype premiering here. Recognizing the 90 million people worldwide who
communicate primarily through visual means, including children who cannot or prefer not to read written
words, Marc Bovee has designed his SliverWindowASL technology to provide American Sign Language
video components that can be played alongside media content. This demonstration features English
subtitles, audio description, and SliverWindowASL experiences, accessed via Google Glass, accompanying
Cameron Covell’s short film “Run With Me.”
Evening of Innovation 2014
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dsail
Black Twitter
Francois Bar, Dayna Chatman, Kevin Driscoll, Alex Leavitt, and Vinodh
Sankaravadivel in collaboration with BET and IBM
DSAIL is currently exploring the mobilization, cultural
practices, and fan and civic participation of a highly active
sub-community of Twitter users often self-identified as
“Black Twitter.” We are compiling data that will allow us to
investigate and map specific user connections, explore how
information is spread and by whom, and identify the types
of communication practices that are unique to Black Twitter.
As part of this research, we are engaged in highlighting
and evaluating both the immediate and longterm social
implications of these online interactions.
Sports Media & Fan Entertainment
Engagement Strategy
Erin Reilly, Jake DeGrazia, Rhea Vichot, Cynthia Wang, Bessie Chu, and Vinodh Sankaravadivel in collaboration with
Havas Sports & Entertainment, BET and IBM
Fans of both sports and entertainment media engage
with the fan objects they follow (shows, books,
characters, players, teams, tournaments) in different
and discernible ways. Some fans, for example, engage
to make friends or strengthen relationships with other
fans. Some engage to learn more about a game they
love. Others engage because they identify with the
people they’re watching. Still others engage in all
those ways at once. Our goal with this research is to
explore eight different logics of fan engagement and
how they cluster together to offer varied experiences
within both a sports media event, such as the World
Cup or an entertainment franchise, such as Being
Mary Jane.
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Annenberg Innovation Lab
Athena News
Gabriel Kahn and Fenni Huang, in collaboration with ICT and Cisco
The TV news viewing model is broken. Athena News is
attempting to fix it. Athena News creates a specialized feed of
video news stories tailored to each individual user. It also gives users
complete control over how, where and when they want to watch the
news. The news is anchored by an avatar who can respond to voice
commands. Want to skip to the next news story? Tell the Athena news anchor and she
queues up the next one. Need more context? Athena can bring up relevant news clips
from previous broadcasts that to answer your questions.
PulsePin
PulsePin
Gabriel Kahn, Amir Tahmasebi, Pramodh Aravindan, Arpit Bansal, Puimek Gunatilaka, Zhang Kunpeng,
Tony Spore, Samantha Chiu, Jake de Grazia
PulsePin is a mobile app that lets ordinary citizens report and share crucial information
during a disaster. Users who witness a potentially dangerous situation – a car crash, an
explosion, a mudslide – can snap a photo and file a brief report. The information is uploaded
onto a map where it can be seen by others. A widespread disaster, such as an earthquake
or a wildfire, only amplifies the utility of PulsePin. Imagine, moments after an earthquake,
hundreds of citizens upload photos of what they see onto the PulsePin map.
The app is designed to provide both small and large communities
with a platform to connect and share information. When people
first download the app, they sign up for a group. The group could
be created by their employer, their church, their school. Each group
has an assigned group manager - a person who has access to the
PulsePin dashboard.
At any moment, the group manager can send out a push notification
to all the group members. For example, a regional hospital network
could create a group comprised of all of its medical staff. If a major
accident were to occur, and one hospital in the network suddenly
needs extra help in the emergency room, how can it quickly mobilize
its staff? With PulsePin, it can send out a push notification to all its
group members, asking: “Can you report to work? Yes/No.”
Evening of Innovation 2014
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s i t u at e d e n g a g e m e n t
Sankofa RED
So many people were involved…
check out http://leimertphonecompany.net/about-us/
Sankofa RED used to be a boring old payphone, stranded in a
Santa Ana shopping mall. No longer! We rescued it, transplanted
new electronics in its belly, gave him that dashing exterior, added a karaoke
microphone and tablet display. Now, Sankofa RED becomes your guide to Leimert
Park’s events and history. Pick up the phone and let it tell you what’s going on. Or
pick up the mike, plug in your tunes, and rock the plaza.
s i t u at e d e n g a g e m e n t
Learn It!
Francois Bar, Matthew Chen, Kylie Nicholson, Naim Omari, Mark Pitts, and Katee Weimer, in collaboration with the LA Times
Learn It! uses art to bridge past, present, and future. We transform underused
Los Angeles Times newspaper boxes to showcase Leimert’s art history. Our
re-invented NewsBox pays homage to the past by integrating how the previous
generation received information with how the youth today process theirs. Learn
It! reinforces the vibrant culture of Leimert Park and illustrates the many ways in
which we draw influences from our own histories.
s i t u at e d e n g a g e m e n t
Bench Beats
Charmaine Regina, Chris Swiatek, Emily Molina, Robin Giliam, Tim Huang
“Bench Beats” is an interactive drum-machine built into a wooden park bench.
Sit down to turn it on, play, collaborate and share music in the community.
The Bench Beats team brought Leimert Park’s rich musical history into the design,
encouraging community interaction. Bench Beats invites collaboration by providing two sets of keys for the drum
machine, allowing two users to sit and play simultaneously. Take a seat, make a beat!
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Annenberg Innovation Lab
About USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab
The Annenberg Innovation Lab was established for the purpose of fostering real-world innovation at
the dynamic intersection of media and culture. Our impact comes as much from our doing as from our
thinking. We have assembled an internal team of leading domain experts from across USC’s campus and
our sponsors include some of the world’s most innovative global companies and public sector entities.
Together we have pioneered breakthroughs in areas such as big data social sentiment analytics and the use
of transmedia techniques in branding, ideation and social curation.
The Lab is approaching its fourth anniversary with increasing support from Media, Technology, Telecom
and Consumer Products companies around the world. In its short history, the Innovation Lab has attracted
support from BET Networks, Cisco Systems, Dreamworks Animation, DirecTV, EPB, Fox Broadcasting,
Havas Media, IBM, Intel, Los Angeles Times, Mattel, Orange, Paramount Pictures, Petrobras, Spark 44,
Verizon, Viacom, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. We have also received funding from the
Ahmanson Foundation and the Gates Foundation to work on projects at the intersection of social and
technological spheres.
For more information, please visit www.annenberglab.com, follow us on Twitter at @annenberglab, friend
us on Facebook at facebook.com/annenberglab, watch our videos at vimeo.com/annenberg or email us at
[email protected].
Evening of Innovation 2014
15
www.annenberglab.com