blinkblogs

In Translation

2006-12-20T16:03:00.000Z

THE BACK
where I play football, wrestling,
the place I know well,
especially the hiding places.
I can't climb the big tree
but the small one is easy.

The Back, written by Mohammed Rahimi from Abraham Moss High School in Manchester, translated into Punjabi for Anywhereblogs.

We have an SMS system, like the City Poems one, up and running now in India, so it's about time I finally organised myself to get the leaflets printed, in English and Punjabi.

It Takes A Global Village

2006-12-08T15:28:00.000Z

We can use mobile phones to reach anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Will connectedness eventually make everywhere in the world the same?

Or does the character of local people and places turn technological networks into unique personal networks?

To find out, poet Ann Sansom visited Shaheed Baba Khushal Singh Secondary School in Lambra, Punjab, India, to run creative writing workshops with teachers and students, then Ann and poet Shamshad Khan went to Abraham Moss and Cedar Mount high schools in Manchester.

At the three schools they asked teachers and students to write poems about the places and things that matter to them in their neighbourhoods.

IN THE SKY
I ate ice-cream made by clouds,
chapattis made by the sun.
Ice looks like cotton,
and the fields like bed sheets.

Inderpreet Kaur

MY VILLAGE
is Kang Sahbu.
I pass my childhood in it.
Old people are like
the banyan tree in it.

Gurjit Singh

REMEMBRANCE
Flowers wishing in the wind.
Wind chimes. Teddy bears.
Mud squelching. Quietness.
Stones banging. Leaves crisping.

Nathan Foster

THE BACK
where I play football, wrestling,
the place I know well,
especially the hiding places.
I can't climb the big tree
but the small one is easy.

Mohammed Rahimi

Rather than in a book, these poems have been published on a new mobile phone service using text messages.

Readers in both the UK and India, carrying their mobile phones, can read the students’ poems while they are in the places described, as well as comparing them to poems about similar places in the other country.

Flying for Exercise

2006-11-17T12:07:00.000Z

Genie allowed children visiting the Magna Science Adventure Centre to find and set free Genies trapped in objects around the building by Mardi, an evil wizard.

To free the Genies, children used a Magic Mirror, created by Magna the Magnificent.

The Genie is an RFID tag, and the Magic Mirror is a tablet PC with an RFID reader.

As well as trapping the Genies, Mardi stole their stories and memories.

Magna has built the Magic Mirrors and put signs where each of the Genies has been trapped, but not even he is powerful enough to give them new stories.

Only the imagination of young people can do that.

The Genie talks to the child through words on the Magic Mirror, and asks questions about itself and its world. These questions are the missing memories that Mardi stole.

The child answers by writing and drawing on the Magic Mirror, and so gives the Genie new memories and a new shape.

"he eats clouds and drinks rain. which makes him quite clean and he often breaks wind that don't smell"

(the one above is my favourite)

"Battle was in the north castle lots of people came to the castle and killed him He could not do anything at all." [written by a 5 year old boy]

The formal assessment of Genie focused on how it measured up against “learning outcomes” for a school visit.

That was a straightforward place to start and the results were very positive, though based on a small sample over only two days.

But next time I’d also like to gauge it a little bit more on its own terms, in the way that I’d understand the success of a book for example.

Was it really using a magic mirror to free trapped Genies, and does writing a story bring them to life?

It was that idea that stories are real and have a life (and are what we use to give things value), and that if everything has a story (a spime?), then everything is alive, that struck me about RFID in the first place.

Text Yer Heart Out…

2006-10-02T14:59:00.000+01:00

We’re currently collaborating with award winning theatre company, Pilot, on a unique text-to-podcast initiative that looks at new and creative ways of engaging with venue based audiences using mobile technology. During the Autumn/Winter tour of Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads audiences are being invited to text in their comments to the writer, director and characters of the production. The texts are going to form the basis for a podcast discussion between Writer, Roy Williams and Director, Marcus Romer. The podcast will be free to download from www.pilot-theatre.com in January 2007.

The text-to-podcast initiative is also being profiled as a case study later this year by the Jerwood Foundation funded think-tank, Missions, Model, Money. See www.missionmodelsmoney.org.uk/ for more info.

Email abby at blinkmedia dot org to find out more about this project

Digital Wellbeing Labs

2006-10-02T13:41:00.000+01:00

Bluevend features in The London Design Festival at The Shop atBluebird on the Kings Road between 15 - 30 September. On the menu is a selection of Pocket Shorts films and some of the best wallpapers from Start Mobile ( showcases the world’s premier emerging + underground artists) www.startmobile.net

www.digitalwellbeinglabs.com

Disclaimer

2006-07-18T18:49:00.000+01:00

I can say this because, despite it being Blink, I can't take any credit for it whatsoever - Lisa and Abby did it all - but We Love Technology was great.

You'd expect those speakers to be thoughtful, well informed, and have great stuff to show.

Which they were, and did.

But what was lovely was how open and enthusiastic everyone was.

the digital future

2006-06-23T14:49:00.000+01:00

Blink will give a talk at the Kinsgton University Digital Future event on 29 June 2- 5pm.

Find out more -
Lisa will talk about Pocket Shorts, films for mobile phones and Bluevend ; the evolution of an idea and the importance of ?made-for? content.

Contact Amanda Sleet for details.

We Heart On Your Sleeve

2006-05-24T15:56:00.000+01:00

Conference. Merchandising concession.

Mapchester

2006-05-24T11:00:00.000+01:00

That's my little bit, up by Victoria station.

The Co-op headquarters is up there, which was a nice reminder of Manchester's history of radical, regional, self-help.

Mapchester.

The Future is Orange

2006-05-22T20:25:00.000+01:00

Dr Tej Purewal and me (andrew) at Lambra High School in Punjab, India.

It’s a really great school that has grown out of a social and environmental activism and Punjabi cultural movement.

Blink are planning an Anywhereblogs/City Poems type exchange between Lambra and a school in Manchester for Manchester Literature Festival in October.

We're really chuffed to have the chance to work in India, because we think there is going to be lo-fi mobile phone fun created in the developing world which will be a lot more thrilling than downloading clips from the Big Brother house.

RFID Snakes and Ladders

2006-05-22T20:20:00.000+01:00

RFID Snakes and Ladders

We Love Technology

2006-05-22T19:57:00.000+01:00

Preparations are well under way for the best creative technology showcase of the year designed for visual arts orgainsations based in the North of England. Check here for updates www.welovetechnology.org or the link on the menu and book now as places are very limited.

WLT is produced by Blink in partnership with Digital North and University of Huddersfield.

MELT summon the genies of South Yorkshire

2006-05-22T19:40:00.000+01:00

Unique funder MELT support Blink's new RFID project

Genie uses RFID technology to generate creativity and enhance children's
engagement with museums and galleries. For the R&D project, GENIE will
be piloted at Magna and will allow children to use RFID hardware and
unique software to interact with spirits trapped inside exhibits.
Children will search for exhibits in Magna marked with a secret sign and
then use a “magic mirror ” (a tablet PC with RFID reader) to interact
with the spirits, bringing them to life and giving them new memories
through a narrative and creative writing interface by poets Peter and
Ann Sansom.

www.love-melt.com

ONE TAKE 22 quality entries

2006-02-02T12:49:00.000Z

Winner of the 5000Euro prize fund went to Italian Dorector David Ballerini for his funny sketch Black Market . Watch em online One Take.

RRRRRRRRRRotterdam

2006-01-29T11:36:00.000Z

We have been in Rotterdam for four days now and Bluevend is being hammered like never before. I am happy to say it is presented well in a prime festival loctaion, in the entrance of the Lanterens Venster Cinema cafe. It is busy from 9am till 2pm and there never seems to be a time when BV is left alone. The One Take Competition is going well too. Festival registered directors from all over the world are using N70 Nokias to make films of up to 2 mins. Nicky Cogan from Dark Light and I will be part of the One Take selection panel tomorrow night - there should be about 17 films to choose from by then - the winner will receive a 500Euro prize fund. Aart Helder - our man in Rotterdam and manager of One Take - has been working night and day to sign up new directors, and with us is learning how to shoot and edit film on mobiles and make them compatible with Bluevend. Some mean task. As always though Dan is doing the monster share of work - programming and reprogramming, making the transfer faster and all this in a busy cafe full of curious filmsters. It's been hard though not without reward - today we are looking forward to some Exploding television today www.explodingtelevision.net.

www.bluevend.com
www.bluevend.blogspot.com

Check us out - we got Melted!

2006-01-16T18:27:00.000Z

Blink has teamed up with Gamesauce and Magna on a brand new RFID project supported lovingly by Melt

Ferry cross the North Sea

2006-01-16T18:14:00.000Z

Pocket Shorts and Bluevend are off to Rotterdam International Film Festival for their first trip overseas : 25-31 Jan 06. They will feature as part of the ExplodingTelevision programme and the One Take initiative which will be inviting all film directors attending the festival to make a 60 second film using Nokia N90 series mobiles : the best of which will be added to Bluevend and made available for free to anyone with a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone. Rotterdam is probably one of the most progressive film festivals in Europe - see for yourself.