We’ve landed a neat little R&D project with BBC Learning Development that aims to explore how Augmented Reality can be used in education for children. Great news for our expanding educational output, that includes live events, games, animations and bespoke online applications.

The project will launch at the Big Bang Science Fair in early March and presents users with a familiar problem – re-assemble the mixed up parts to form the whole. This time the twist is that the puzzle takes a 3D dimensional form and interaction occurs with an AR marker via the webcam. The best bit? Dinosaurs are involved. Dan is very excited.

What better way to start a research project than with a real-life puzzle and a cup of coffee. Play Nicely laid down the gauntlet by assembling their dino-kit first, though we’re not entirely sure how anatomically correct their version is. Justin, in full 3D himself, will mastermind the modeling and Mr Adam Vernon will be developing the Flash interface.

We’ll be using a mixture of the FLARToolkit and papervision, though the current debate is how to get the smoothest effect for live 3D and a model that has over 3,000 polygons. We’ve even discussed creating a series of PNGs for increased verisimilitude at the expense of full 360 interactivity. Tests will be posted for comment if anyone out there is interested in our progress.

Over at Play Nicely, the boys are making leaps and bounds with their Total Immersion AR projects, but for this brief it was essential no 3rd party software was required beyond the usual Flash Player, which currently stands at 94% penetration throughout Europe…

Thought Den were invited down again to Bournemouth University last week to run a professional studies day to second year Interactive Multimedia, Script Writing and Film Production students. So we packed our buckets, spades and a condensed version of our Thought Den Industry Day workshop and headed to the seaside. With Ben being away in San Fran, Helen (that’s me) developed the session with Dan, adding my unique insight into multi platform production into the Industry Day package.

The Industry Day was part of the students Professional Studies module, the aim of which was an introduction to the processes involved with producing content for the current market. With this vast subject in mind, we chose to include reflections on current market trends, ethics, legal issues, pitching, production roles, career routes and brainstorming methods. Opening with a ‘Pop Quiz’ to assertain the student’s understanding of terms used in current media production (and to make sure everyone was awake), we were able to focus on areas in which they were less knowledgable later on in the day. The day ended with the students developing ideas to pitch for the Bournemouth University student television channel, ‘BUStation‘ using the techniques that we had shared with them.

In addition to our professional commitments, there was also the important task of getting fish and chips to eat down by the sea, however, with autum starting to show signs of arriving, a walk along the beach…on the way to a nice pub (http://www.sixtymillionpostcards.com/) which served fish and chips (with mushy peas, thank you) was chosen instead.

Contact us if you are looking for help with external lecturers for a Professional studies modules or similar. Places with a good reputation for fish, chips and mushy peas will be given priority…

Multimedia huh? Almost as vague as ‘pervasive media’ given it can describe anything from animated gifs to stereoscopic projections. Definitions aside, Thought Den were honoured to be invited to help the region’s A-level and GCSE media teachers swot up on how businesses are exploiting the power of digital.

Bristol already has a thriving media scene and educational institutions in the area are constantly innovating in the way they nurture upcoming talent – something we’re happy to support. A new Multimedia Diploma is being launched in the region and we aimed to get the creative juices flowing, mixing exercises, group brainstorms, front-line experience and observations of the market at large.

The good people at Learning Partnership South West and Vital, part of the Open University, commissioned a 3 hour workshop, part of which involved an in-depth look at some of our own multimedia solutions in three key areas – Government, Consumer and SMEs. Thought Den have worked closely with eDemocracy and online consultation specialists Delib for almost 5 years now and projects such as Fire Kills and Delib’s very own Your Freedom site for our new coalition Government were useful case studies.

Voucher Cloud was given as an example in the Consumer category, and Thought Den’s jewel in the crown Parashoot (risk assessment tool for the TV industry, like Base Camp but with animations) exemplified the highs and lows of developing unique intellectual property for small businesses.

Following a busy Friday and Sunday in preparation, the session kicked off at the Pervasive Media Studiowrapping for lunch at 1:00. It was a great session and we’re putting a video edit together as we focus on landing more work in this area. Please get in touch if you’d like us to run a similar workshop for you. Brows these videos for examples of what we’ve already done.

Bournemouth Industry Day (50 students, 8 hours, bridging the gap between industry and education)

BBC design recruits training (Creative thinking in Pervasive Media)

This is us looking gormless