Last night we spent the evening at Tine Bech‘s + DCRC‘s + PM Studio‘s tracing light event.

The event was designed to carry out a public consultation using play. So, no never-ending online forms, questionnaires with leading questions and ratty ladies in the street. Basically, get a load of people together, tell them to think about what the space around means to them, then go out and draw it in fun light shapes. Which… was really fun!

Here’s some of team PM Studio’s pics from tracinglight.co.uk,

Smokers

Watershed cinema

It was also a pretty jammy’ night, a great chance to chat with great Bristol artists, business people & photographers. Never mind heading to the golf course for business, Thought Den do it next to the bar, create some art and do research on new media practices too. Bloody brilliant.

Here’s some more things other groups made, and to find out more, contact Tine Bech

The Essential 360 Storytelling Lab is the most advanced and comprehensive short courses in multi-platform media in the world and will be run by experienced cross-platform dramatists Rik Lander and Hazel Grian.

And it’s happening right now in the Pervasive Media Studio!

They’re broadcasting live from London’s National film School and all I can hear from our Thought Den hostdesk is lots of laughing, a very ‘Hazel’ presenter on the screen (she enjoys colourful bubbly characters) and lots of talk about Tweet games.

Wonderful, BBC take note! To learn a bit more from the PM Studio blog, http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/events/mon-22022010-1200am

Thought Den have recently finished hosting a programme of workshops at the Pervasive Media Studio. With the help of Jon Dovey, UWE academic and one of the studio founders, we encouraged residents and invitees to discuss the commercial prospects for pervasive media, looking at the markets we currently exploit and areas we’d like to move into. The sessions also tied in very nicely with the studio’s latest bid for funding from the Technology and Strategy Board so fingers crossed – sustainability is the word! Download the document if you’re interested in reading what came out of the sessions…

A common problem facing many of the studio residents is how to pitch their wares to commioners who might not be as technically au fait with the sort of work coming out of the studio. The ethos in the studio is to collaborate, explore and innovate and at times we risk isolating ourselves clients who are looking for more mainstream solutions. The T-Mobile campaign is a great example – swathes of the creative community sneered at the Liverpool St Station dance-off because Flash-mobs were so 5 years ago , but the general public absolutely loved it! And T-Mobile’s Trafalgar Sqr singalong sequel is again doing well on You Tube. So we looked at ways to take a step back from the cutting edge to make our work more accessible, along with what metrics might be relevant to demonstrate the success of our work. For residents like Simon Games and AntiVJ it can be a real challenge representing the success of a project because more often than not they’re dealing with a more profound emotional engagement than a simple page impression. These issues are far from solved but the debate is beginning…

Know anyone invited to go to the MIA awards and win something? We do, us! The Pervasive Media Studio, where we’re currently residents, scooped the ‘outstanding contribution to innovation’ award.

The sexy awards night showcases the best in the South West’s talent through a wide spectrum of Media categories.

I found some of the best pieces were, Scayrecrow a dark and twisted animation that scared the cr*p out of me in the screening.

Moose Hunt, which let loose ripples of giggling from all tables as Simon from Simon Games meandered through the New forest with nothing but a moose costume on….

Finally, we were honored to be the guests for the University of the West of England‘s table, red-wine included. It’s was very warming to see all their School of Art, Media and Design staff talking so passionately about their job roles. Lots of chatting about how they’re making their MA the best, discussions about maximizing students employability and the direction of their courses. Even better however is how much fun they all are, comments about ‘interesting’ Satin dresses, the 2 course Dean and school photos… What goes on tour, stays on tour.

Let’s see what Thought Den can win on their own next year!

It’s difficult enough explaining what Pervasive Media means so how on earth do we go about persuading clients to part with their dwindling cash supplies on projects that are inherently risky? They regularly challenge traditional interaction and engagement; they can involve un-proven technologies that are still in development; they are often only delivered on a small scale, to a handful of people.  It seems that, at the moment at least, a large part of what we are aiming to do is create a spectacle and generate buzz, encourage debate, mobilise the digital communities and inspire as much press coverage as possible.

Many of the clients employing Pervasive Media for promotional campaigns are dependent on its PR success. Enable Interactive’s Alternate Reality Game (ARG) for the Red Cross was hugely effective because of the extensive press coverage achieved with an almost non-existent media spend. The product engaged its audience and was genuinely interesting to the national press; innovation captures the imagination.

So are we likely to see more brands take these sorts of risks? And let’s be honest – the risk must be part of the appeal. As the arteries of the internet continue to be clogged with LOLs and ROFLs , sponsored marketing messages and sleep-walking dogs it is harder and harder to build an authentic and rewarding relationship with an audience. Pervasive Media is the new frontier for engagement – it could be online, offline, on a mobile device, in a busy metropolis or on a deserted hillside, in a dis-used prison or projected onto a building facade. What is unique about this sort of work is they create an atmosphere, they are experiences that transcend the medium and exist as part of day to day life, no longer confined to the screen.

AntiVJ + Créa Composite / Nuit Blanche 08 / BXL from lego_man on Vimeo

And so how do we sell these products, services and pervasive propositions? We need to get people excited about them, we need examples, we need to develop a language that describes pervasive experiences, we need to come together as a community and keep on expanding and exploring, pushing the envelope, dancing on the cutting edge!