ABOUT ME (what exactly is a Jab?)
If you have any interest in unusual photography techniques I have this small Blog.
I will drop in soon and show you all my unusual control tech and leave you with a few games that may drive you bonkers.
Can’t wait to meet you all!
Excited Neurons
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MY CORE IDEAS (get these out of my head; please!)
None of the suggestions in this document are based on any curriculum but are designed to give you and the students tools that can be fine-tuned to a subject or problem and equip the students with unique mind or tech boosts to help them learn faster, think in many new ways and retain information more effectively. This document just introduces a core set of ideas.
The curricular ideas will start to form once we start working together and begin a dialogue. They will be the most important items to create. This is just a primer to begin that dialogue and to hit the ground running.
As you undoubtedly know, promoting thinking and discovery is of the utmost importance. Facts are easy to find, and in a couple of years, Googling will be a conversation, not just a bunch of searchwords. Much of what we think of as work today will be automated tomorrow. This will include not only manufacturing, but also research, teaching, and even creativity. This is not a future that is decades away; we are already on the cusp. IBM’s Watson is a prime example, making huge leaps in cognition, seeing patterns and responding in succinct sentences, and all that power will be open to developers early next year and that, in a sense, will open the floodgates. Watson can collate data, huge amounts, including photographs and handwritten notes. Currently it can diagnose a patient with a hint more accuracy than the average doctor and suggest treatments, and even tell the patient which part of the US is best at treating their problem. Having taken on medical and law schools, it’s now moving into many other areas. It’s even capable of writing research papers. And that’s just ONE system. IBM has already opened it up to a select few and will be opening it up to the rest of us unworthy developers very soon. A similar A.I. in China just wrote a published article on China’s consumer price index that is almost indistinguishable from a human written piece (I’ve had 2 Chinese speaking friends read it). Moving forward, ideas, being open to new ideas and new ways of thinking are the core assets one needs to face the future. Having the ability to change or expand the range of thinking is possibly the most important skill to give a growing mind. I hope I can help with this learning to think, even just a little.
Obviously I've neither seen the school nor talked to the staff or students yet, so these basic ideas are completely generic and we’ll be developing curriculum specific ideas too, soon. Much will be added when I hear other ideas, talk with staff, see the school and talk to you. Hopefully, I will also have one or two examples of interactives for core subjects like Math(s) & Geography to show you on Day 1 so that you’ll have a sense of where we can go and what we can achieve.
I will do a show and tell with my technology for the staff and then their ideas specific to a subject, a problem learning area, demographic or even individual student will start to form. We can then enhance the curriculum with new tools and add them to your library for the current students to use and all the students to come.
These games will be changeable, with sliding scales of difficulty from easy to infinitely hard. So one game can be used for 6 year olds or adults, history or grammar, depending on the settings and the files we feed it. Some games need some jumping around (in the real world) or making noises (in the real world). Some games are just techniques you already use, but you might not recognise them. You’ll see fun, asteroids, explosions, frantic hand movements, panic, or, em, zombies. But what you are actually looking at is a system of flashcards! Just flashcards, albeit flashcards with a ton of psychological, emotional and visual trickery thrown on top.
So not only is there a sliding scale of difficulty in each game, but the core information or subject can be altered too. Flashcards are probably the easiest example because they just requires a prompt and an answer (or set of answers) for any subject.
E.g France = Paris, Germany = Berlin, 金曜 = Friday, 夏 = Summer etc.
The flashcard app will simply access a database list and do the rest of the work from there. Like, start easy and increase with difficulty, ignore or enforce pairs as it learns the students knowledge strengths or weaknesses. It will go heavy on the unknown and throw in a bit of the known.
That’s just one example of the educational side. Another will be the ‘Revolver’ I am currently developing. It will use patented techniques (mine) to use Tai-chi type movement to learn geography, math(s), anatomy or whatever you need. These games not only teach facts but require energy, physical movement, which can give that endorphin kick, or even a sense of relaxation all while learning. It can be addictive learning, even addictive learning of boring information. It’s learn without the burn.
I can give you all examples of these type of motion controlled games for your Macs. But the tech also runs on iPhone or iPads (just more difficult to share).
We have found that while playing a game which is an onscreen puzzle, but one that requires motion, the brain areas activated can be similar to those activate while skate boarding! The more relaxing games that use motion are more like a session of Tai-Chi. We have even had Olympic swimmers play my Swimming game while holding weights. In fact, two gold medallists went head to head in Belgium and we witnessed all that competitiveness at its fierceness return. It was funny because both of the swimmers were in shirts and ties.
This is a seriously early version, still in development, of one of the REVOLVER lessons.
Each game can be played immediately with clear rules but will contain elements of discovery and not all instructions will be given. There will be cheats, added bonuses and so on that students will discover for themselves, discuss and utilize.
I do hope you will play these games too. The teachers will set a standard and the students most likely won’t stop until they’ve smashed your scores. Again, it’s simple psychology, a need to win, to discover, to play, to be rewarded. And beat the teacher.
Incidentally, this same tech was vetted by the Mayo Clinic for its ‘health by stealth’ calorie burn and tested on thousands of people of all ages. The ideas were utilised in schools by the Olympic committee (EOC) and given an award by the U.N. Also, the technology itself won a top prize for innovation in Silicon valley. It has opened many doors for me and I’ve met many of the top players in many corporations, some famous people, but more importantly got to interact with some of the best minds on the planet. People I grew up reading, some of whom I’d actually call friends today, some acquaintances. Some MORTAL ENEMIES. (that last bit was in jest, but I just came out a sticky situation lately. Still feeling the burn. File that for later).
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“BUT THIS IS SO BORING!” (not for long, kid)
Picture this.
You are teaching the students some graphing maths. An equation to draw a circle, a square and a wavy line, sines and cosines and blah blah blah. I did these in school and could answer the questions but had no idea what they were for. These days I use them all the time! I now use them to blow things up, make birds flap or group together or fabricate a spring or magnetics effect in my games. I wish I could have seen what they could be used for back then.
So, with that lesson learned, tell the students to come up with an equation that draws a roller-coaster, a simple 2D one to start. It could have one bump, two, anything. And if they come up with a good one, you’ll plug them into a VR helmet and let them RIDE THE EQUATION. An entire structure can be created based on a simple formula. The best one goes first.
Suddenly, there will be a little more interest, a lot more Googling and before you know it you’ll have students that put in that little extra effort to get some crazy shape, loop-the-loops, etc. Let them go nuts, copy formulae or use Wolfram Alpha or Mathematica.
You can then add some parameters whereby a curve that is too bendy could throw the rider off, crashing to the ground with suitable noises and destruction. Watch the kids work around whatever parametres you give them. It also ensures that although they’ll start Googling and copying equations, they will have to have at least a basic understanding to start tinkering with them, making the ride safe! (Although crashing will be great fun).
From this:
To this:
You could go further and let them design crazy 3D shapes and then run around in those shapes in VR. I’m talking about actually standing IN AN EQUATION. Perhaps you can add a variable and watch the world change from one shape to another while you’re standing in it.
Or get them to design a shape, perhaps a cup. Best one will be 3D printed and presented to them as the first KAIS Equation Trophy. It would be fairly cheap to do and I can tell you the programming behind it is pretty simple. I can feed in an equation and have Unity build a track to ride on, a path to speed along or a world to stand on.
They can hit their books, find other books, use Google, Wikipedia, whatever they like. In no time they will start to get a feel for how tweaking a value of ‘x’ or a magnitude of a SINE can change a curve.
One thing I’m working on and have almost cracked is the ability to create worlds based on simple fractal algorithms. These are tiny formulae that change massively with the smallest of tweaking. It might be fun to fly through one soon. Or stand on one! Fun, but still pure maths. They can have the tools to play around with them at home too if they like. They can tweak them on screen in normal 3D and have a ‘visit’ in virtual reality with the headsets in school. Imagine them voluntarily looking up equations in their own time and itching to get back into school to climb inside them!
Fractal equations are usually quite short and recognisable once you’ve used a few.
Soon, one of the students could look at an equation and say, “I was there”.
Or see a world and have an idea of the equation that created it.
We’re not talking wireframes and green pixels. I’m talking about being in HERE:
You could build farms with fractal trees. There is really no limit. And even outside of VR using just a computer screen, they’ll be fun to play with. 
“Fractal Bonsai. Oops, You made that one too top heavy, so it fell over, try again!”
And printing them out is seriously cute:
Virtual reality headsets are going to be standard fare in 2016. I am just waiting to see who the winners will be. My money, literally, used to be on the Oculus Rift but now I am leaning more toward the HTC Vive. I’ll talk more about new technologies we can use later. And I intend to write the occasional report on any new tech or software that can enhance the students AND MY OWN abilities and experience.
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THE RANT WALL (a problem is a terrible thing to waste)
(or Suggestion Box) : is totally anonymous, students can leave comments, complaints, ideas.
This is a free to say anything safe place.
‘A problem well defined is a problem half solved.’
Your problems are a mine of opportunity and information that can help you sculpt the school into something even more special. But you have to know what the problems are. Some will be obvious to you but others regarding the minds of the students are not immediately accessible.
If you could hear what these were, straight from the students, that information would be priceless and allow you to correct and improve aspects of the schools’ methods, stuff they just don’t get, individual problems, etc. It will be a dump of text but there will be some gems in there. Really serious problems will appear multiple times from many students. These are the ones to look for.
Although you have ample access to teacher feedback on student based problem issues you will get almost zero useable feedback from the students themselves (especially in Japan). Although you may get a little if you push them for it, you won’t get a full answer and any real problems the students have will remain hidden to you. You could try a paper survey and even still you’ll get the cold shoulder. Plus you’ll be setting the parameters with this, so you’ve already lost.
But what if you could ask questions like….
What do you wish was different?
What does not work for you?
What do you like, what do you dislike?
And get verbose, honest answers.
It’s not impossible.
You set up a webpage on a non school based server. Call it the Rant Wall or something a little nicer. This webpage has one message box and a send button. It asks the three questions above and at the bottom of the page will read...
Have your say. Speak your mind. In total confidence.
No information is recorded except what you write in the box below. You don’t have to sign your name unless you wish to.
This can be in English and Japanese and only you (Charlie) and those you select will have access to the messages that are collected.
It will not track IPs or anything that will identify the writer. However, you will get the real thoughts of the students. Expect the odd threat, abuse, lie, spam, or revelation, especially at the beginning, it is an unfettered insight into the current mood and feeling of your students that you cannot get any other way (unless you actually are a student of course).
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THE TRIBUTE WALL (or congratulations, get well soon, good luck, etc.)
This type of wall or rather webpage can be used as a mass notice board, available to be used and viewed by all at a moment’s notice. Each will have a unique look and become more interesting-looking over time.
Whenever there is an event of great importance, such as a new pupil coming, a teacher or student leaving, a super star visitor, or perhaps one of the children is a little under the weather at home or stuck in hospital, we can activate and title a new wall. These walls can take any form and I’ll list a few walls I’ve created in the past after this example.
Let’s start with a bare sakura tree which will be gently animated. Pretty all on its own but any messages previously typed will already be here as a blossom on the tree.
Users are given the opportunity to type a new message to the teacher, student or visitor. Each message, once typed and signed will make a new blossom to appear on the tree. Over time there will be many blossoms (messages gathered). Rolling over any of the blossoms will reveal the message in a nice font.
Soon the tree will be filled with messages in blossom form. Old messages will eventually fall off the tree but be kept on the server for posterity. So the latest messages will always be visible. We can display the last 1000 messages or messages from the last 4 weeks. Totally adjustable.
Messages are stored simply on a server, all messages can be checked and deleted by staff. And we can also make it so that new messages must be given a green light from staff before they appear publicly.
Past uses of the wall:
Padraig Harrington was Ireland’s world famous golfer and about to enter a competition to become world number 1. O2 (the phone company) asked me to create a wall and so we made an empty golf green near the hole. Every message made the sound of a golf ball being hit in the distance and then it landed on the green. It filled up quite quickly with hundreds of ‘good luck’ messages and Padraig had a good laugh looking through them.
BECK. We created a simple message wall so that people could comment on the new Beck album at the time. It started as a nice nebula background and each message appeared as a small star. This one was insanely popular as Beck was huge. We upgraded our servers twice to deal with the traffic. Within a month there were so many messages that the screen was almost white. Even so, we decided to leave them all up there and soon EVERY PIXEL you could roll over had a message, sometimes two.
Ronnie Drew. A well loved Dublin character and front man of the band The Dubliners. When he passed away in the late Summer of 2008, I created an animated image of the Dublin Canal, which features in many of his songs and it’s walks and leaves inspired many of Ireland’s most famous writers. Each message was a leaf that dropped and floated on the water. As it was nearing Autumn (Fall) the leaves would change colour depending on the date. People left some great messages, even some close friends of the man himself left favourite personal memories. The messages were read by his fans, family and friends. In his last few years he and my business partner became great friends and collaborated on many projects. He was always very sweet to myself and Suzanne and it was a pleasure to get to make the wall. He was a true ‘character’ as we say in Ireland and a great raconteur. Ronnie Drew.
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THE LOBBY SCREEN (Welcome to KAIS)
For first time visitors, invited guests, new students and their parents there should be a bit of a visual kick coming into the school. Something that shows ‘we can tech’. Ideally, if there is a reception area there should be a rather large screen behind the main reception desk. Or wherever is convenient.
I still have to see the place(s).
The cool logo of the school, the nice one with the tree and sky, will be on screen most of the time but this will change subtly depending on the time of day, weather outside or according to the season. Christmas, Halloween, White Day, Golden Week and other holidays can also be integrated into the display on these occasions. This screen can have welcome notes, announcements and be changed easily by changing a text file, at any time from anywhere in the world by those with access.
Major announcements can scroll across the bottom, and we can do interesting things with the logo like making it a clock from time to time. I can even schedule slideshows if needed, it’s totally up to you.
I’ve done this for a number of establishments, the biggest being the head office of O2 and the Jameson’s whiskey visitor centre at their Distillery in Dublin.
I have a lot of modules we can put in there, and soon I’ll give you a list of these. As I implied we can make this as easy or complex as you like, even down to making a full scheduler that can call various modules at any specific time. Perhaps you can lay out the entire week in advance. It’s no problem.
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THE STUDENT SCREEN (have we got your attention yet?)
This screen will be visible wherever the students congregate the most. Lunch areas perhaps? I’ll know once I visit. Like the lobby, it will have the changing school logo but the difference here is that it will always have something interesting, humorous or darn right puzzling on it. Anything to create a talking point or debate.
We can give them strange and wonderful facts of the day (which I can supply). The screen can also provide announcements, download links or emergency information, quotes etc. Perhaps this could have a camera and also be used for interaction (like the other activity units).
The facts here will always be designed to be unbelievable, weird and to spark debate, but they will always be quite correct. And probably a little sneaky. Anything to get the talking or Googling when they see it.
Some examples (each of these facts is UTTERLY TRUE at the time of writing):
The Ozone Layer smells a bit like Geraniums.
Just under 1/6th of the land on Earth is owned (legally) by the Queen of England!
An Octopus has 3 hearts.
Most diamonds are 3 billion years old and there are enough of them in the world to give each person an entire cupful!
A song that gets stuck in your head is called an ‘EARWORM’. Yuck.
100 billion neutrinos pass through your brain every SECOND. But you probably haven’t noticed.
25 - 55 + (85 + 65) is actually equaled to 5!
(But if you think it’s not, it will hurt your brain, at first. )
The math teacher might get it.
The City of London has a population of about 7000 people. Yes, the one in England, That one.
In Peru, people eat guinea pigs (60 million per year). But in Switzerland, it is illegal to keep just ONE guinea pig as a pet. In case it gets lonely. That would be cruel.
This screen can also be an equaliser that reacts to music if the area is being used for an event, a clock, or even run the occasional competition for small prizes (books) or free games. A competition could take the form of a sneaky question or a “Guess what this is!” picture.
For example: ‘What is this?’ (the answer is quite safe, I took this pic myself)
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OTHER SCREENS (wherever you want them)
Depending on budget or available equipment (which I can work around) it would be good to have a number of screens in different areas of the school(s). Hallways, group areas, classrooms etc.
All computers can be accessed and controlled remotely using a laptop, iPad or iPhone, just like I do with my home computers. And here are many examples of what we can run on them.
Remember these can all also be used for specific curriculum ideas, exercise machines, puzzle machines, points of interest, hall monitors, general fun and mischief, and so on.
Here is a small list of the types of things we can use them for...
Passive interactive : Games like running, swimming, birdie, etc. can be left to just run in the background and a passing student can interact with the on screen game at any time. They can play the game, beat a high score and walk away. If these interactives are educational in nature then they should have some teachers high scores on screen. These scores will be suitably high and some kids will either give them a serious go or work in unison to beat the score and wipe the teacher from the hi score board.
These screen can also have interactive art where movement changes what is visualised. Perhaps if a student stands there long enough the arty computer might start to paint them!
Audio Interactives : These can be games that are played using voice—quacks, singing, notes, etc. These games are quite immersive, but non educational. However, they cannot be played without losing some inhibitions. You will be surprised by which students take to them (some of the quieter ones).
Audio Passives: Graphic equalizers that can react to music playing live. Or these can be art, created with noises, or even act as noise guards. In quiet areas, if a large noise is detected, a suitably large and ominous head will appear and look towards any large movement. The interactive can even point at the closest face and emote. Nothing like a big head on screen looking straight at you to calm a person down.
Short term:
Older games (Exercise) : I have many games that were made for the Olympics originally and reskinned a few times since to suit other clients. I can have one or two of these running at all times in various parts of the school(s), changing the games every week or two.
If a game seems popular we can bring it back. Also, I can make versions that can be downloaded BY STUDENTS from the school tech page? Or something like that.
A note on exercise games:
These can be played without any equipment, but by just picking up a couple of bottles of water, pieces of fruit or actual weights their calorific and difficulty level shoots up.
The can be rigged to be easy or extremely difficult.
Older games (Brain Games) : Some of the older games still work (1996 to 2007) on the Mac but I’d like to make small reworks of these because a lot of them are puzzle based. Either word or logic, even some maths but in a not so ‘in your face’ way. As I implied, these are a little rough around the edges by today’s standards but still workable. Most are keyboard and mouse affairs.
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TEACHING MEMORY (did I mention this before?)
One of the most fascinating things you can show someone is a quick tip and an immediate improvement in memory. For example, on average, people can remember 10-12 words from a long list and 6-8 words in order. With about 15 minutes of training, a person can suddenly remember lists of 30 words, backwards or forwards. Or 40, or 50. Super-powers.
What is more, the bigger the daydreamer, the more imagination, the better the memory. It sounds utterly counter intuitive but is based on some very old techniques that can be modernised for the young ‘uns.
Not just place systems, peg systems and other mnemonics but coming up with their own techniques. Customised to what they know and how they think.
Take the game Simon (quite popular years ago) : Four lights arranged in a circle. One light comes on and you press it. Then that light comes on again followed by another light. Which you must then match. The games would then continue with longer and longer sequences to be followed. Again most people won’t make it past 10 in a sequence but with less than a half hour of training I can teach almost anyone to double, if not triple that.
The method is so absurd that it seems like it couldn’t possibly work. Yet, on a second go, many people have managed to BREAK the game. The original game stopped if you could follow a sequence of 32 lights. Easy peasy.
Deeper Memory:
I’d like to develop a stepped learning course (a few minutes a day), possibly in the form of an app for Mac or pc they can take home, that can expand the memory and then expand on that—From words, dates, phone numbers, faces to memorising 50 digits, or 100. Or a pack of cards. Methods that each person can alter to their own patterns and expand upon for the rest of their lives.
I’d like to develop a stepped learning course (a few minutes a day), possibly in the form of an app for Mac or pc they can take home, that can expand the memory and then expand on that—From words, dates, phone numbers, faces to memorising 50 digits, or 100. Or a pack of cards. Methods that each person can alter to their own patterns and expand upon for the rest of their lives.
Unfortunately, I learned these methods about a year AFTER finishing school. But I’ve learned to add to the methods, using them to fuel other tricks (eg. What day did a certain date fall on), and even compressing information. A deck of cards can be reduced to a couple dozen simple images that can be recalled IN SEQUENCE or even by position (e.g what was the 23rd card).
Once again, not directly course related but something that can be applied to almost any information and used throughout the school courses and then for a lifetime.
If presented correctly, the memory enhancement game will give points for every advancement—level ups and the usual. We can add to it over time, take feedback, look at results and hopefully have a rock solid set of tricks that anyone can follow. Especially the next set of students.
If you’d like, I can give all of this to you first and you can try it for yourself or with your kids. Above all, it’s actually fun.
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MATHEMAGICS (exactly what it sounds like)
I showed you a seemingly complex algorithm that guessed a number missing from a bunch of random numbers YOU chose (Artemis Fowl Curio). But it is not complex. I can do it in my head, instantly. And I can teach a 10 year old. And there are many variations of it. It is one of my favourites and comes from an out of print book (since the sixties) in my own library that is probably the most expensive book I own.
Although not directly course related, just showing a growing mind that numbers can be fun or magic can flick a switch that removes the stigma some feel toward the subject. Mental tricks can be as big a trigger as VR helmets. Both involve seeing things from another perspective.
I can give you an almost unending supply of math tricks in the form of apps or practical pen and paper curiosities that can show the elegance of numbers.
There is also the Trachtenberg System of rapid maths that is worth a look into and a few others that have real practical value. I can give you a big list of these.
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NEW DISCOVERIES (what the….?)
Many of the pieces we can set up and newer methods haven't necessarily been tried on a mass of people in the same age group. A lot of the exercise apps have though and I have that data regarding the endorphin kick, time passing quickly and calories burned, etc. But the mind side of things.. not so much. From experience with the few that I have tried in schools and classes I found that often there can be some surprising or downright unusual results. For example, a friend of mine wrote a children's book where the protagonist finds that words are magical if spelled backwards. So we set up a site based around the book called NOITANIGAMI. Imagination backwards. I created a game in which you control a rocket ship that has asteroids coming directly for it. When you roll the mouse over an asteroid a word will show. However you will only see this word for two seconds. To destroy the asteroid before it hits your ship, you simply have to type the word BACKWARDS. As the game carries on the asteroids get faster and the words longer. It's not long before it all gets too much and the ship is destroyed.
I thought this was an interesting enough game and I enjoyed playing it myself.
We tried this in schools and found something really amazing. The students who were the worst at reading basic English whom the teachers knew or suspected of being dyslexic did better in the game than the other students. We then tried to get them to spell words backwards without the game and found the same result in two sets of classes.
Had we more time and weren't promoting a fiction book it would have been interesting to test this further on a larger scale.
But even just playing the game for fifteen minutes, your brain seems to rewire itself so that you can spell as quickly backwards as you can forwards.
So we should be on the lookout for results like this that will add to future learning methods and tactics for dealing with differently abled minds.
(Incidentally this game was the original version of the flashcards app described earlier.)
Conversely, if I make a game that the kids don't take to at all, then we'll drop it like a hot stone. At least WE will have learned something, at the very least : what NOT to do.
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NEW TECH (research & development)
Every week or so I will circulate an email with new ideas, software or hardware that has caught my interest. This won’t come from teaching blogs but from my usual sources of tech, science, art, software and futurist newsfeeds. I consume at least 2 - 3 hours worth of these per day.
The amount of feeds on these subjects has increased exponentially over the last few years and now I just get to skim the headlines and read the most interesting ones.
Thought control, speech control, image recognition, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual realities, the internet of things, new sensors and so on.
It’s important to keep an eye on these as I need to know which versions of which technology are the most interesting and the most useable for us. Take VR headsets. I’ve used the Oculus rift V2 and still have a version. It is extremely interesting tech and I can make small worlds with it. People wearing it can be in an ancient Roman temple, the Library of Alexandria, Space, anything you can imagine.
However Oculus has since been bought out by Facebook, will now only support PC and only on a PC that costs around $2000. Ridiculous. So that hardware isn’t worth looking into any more, for me at least.
The HTC Vive is the set that everyone is most excited by. I’d like to get my hands on one of these and make some educational worlds for it.
I’d like to get my hands on some simple equipment to open up even more possibilities. A 3D camera like KINECT or something similar can send me down new avenues of creativity and ideas. It won’t cost much.
Obviously research and development is very important.
I’ve already given you an example of VR headsets and their amazing possibilities but I have some other suggestions that may be of interest.
Here is another example:
Meditation and mindfulness which is now on some schools curriculum can improve concentration, memory, anxiety issues etc. It can even change the shape of your brain!
I have been using the Interaxon Muse (the one you tried yourself Charlie) and have found that 15 minutes a day or more can have a massive impact on how I deal with stress, clarity of thought and so on. I’ve been looking into programming for the MUSE and it is possible. The company have made a software development kit so that I can make games or interactives with it. It is a very accurate EEG machine but at a basic level it can detect brain waves on a scale ranging from STRESS through CONCENTRATION to CALM. Imagine a game where the landscape changes to represent the current brain state. Where huge gates can only be opened by calming the mind. And walls can be jumped by concentrating on something difficult. How much fun would that be? And how much control over the basic sense of self would that give you over time.
I intend to open up an INFINITE CANVAS for each subject on the curriculum for the students to play with.
And the graphics we have access to are no longer ‘home-made’ looking even though they are literally made at home..
Take a look at this demo reel. Everything you are seeing is worked out and rendered by the computer at least SIXTY TIMES A SECOND. It’s utterly astonishing. I used to have to wait days just for a single picture of an object to render. The phone I use today is a billion times more powerful than the computer I used back then.
Again here is another example of what I can have on my laptop, iPad or iPhone. It’s staggering.
Tom, the original creator of Unity is an acquaintance and we’ve been in contact since he worked on 3D in Macromedia Director back in 2004. He actually gave me a copy of the village used in the short above a year ago. Although since then I think a version was released to the public.
I’ve walked around this village for myself. IN VR. An entire Viking village with incredible detail. It took my breath away and it still gives me the heebies.
The future is a fun place to be.
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STRANGE CONTROLS (very strange)
Motion Control:
I have invented many different versions of this.
Motion Gesture : Looks for a particular motion, swimming, running, flapping etc.
Motion Flow : Taichi like movement, gives an amazing amount of control.
Motion Click (tickle) : User wiggles a finger and the place on screen is detected.
Motion Track : Simply tracks the largest moving object on screen.
Air Grab : For menus. User grabs the air (button) and drags down to select.
Face Track : Actually finds faces and locates the eyes. Lots of possibilities.
Audio Control:
I can detect a range of sounds and break them down into their tones and volumes.
Games can be controlled using a myriad of strange noises. The pitch can, for example, move an object in a particular direction and the volume can determine the force.
This can also be used for various live graphic equalisers, or simple noise monitors.
I’ll be demonstrating these technologies when I do my introductions and I will tell you some of the unbelievable ways they were used, as kiosks, cinemas, through windows, as home games, industry, hospitals, and on iOS.
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A FEW FINAL IDEAS (I have too many and this doc is already too long)
SEQUENCY:
Sequency was a neat little game I made for Sony to sit on their website in Ireland, and promote their bigger PlayStation game Frequency. The little version I made became so popular that it soon featured on the front page of every Sony PS site in the world and stayed there for a year or so.
Sequency allows the user to build a simple tune FASTER than they can listen to it! Once created, they can replay the track, even using graphic equalisers and visuals. Using VR it’s now possible that the user could sit INSIDE the equaliser.
I don’t listen to music myself (I’m musically anhedonic) but that doesn’t mean I can’t break it down and develop interesting pieces for it.
I would really like to talk to the musically minded people in the school (looking at you Charlie) and see what we can come up with together.
ENCOURAGING CHEATING ?!?!??! with the City Run Game:
I have a running game that requires the user to stand in front of it and run on the spot with their arms (weights can be used). It can be left in place and the running continued again by any student at any time.
The game takes the form of a man running through a city but it could just as easily be a fantasy world, outer-space, underground, even under water.
I had an interesting idea for this one…
We put the game as is in a hallway or classroom. Each week, for the first few, we give the students a distance target that must be met. Week one, the runner must cover a couple of kilometres. In week two, 10 kilometres. Any student, with or without weights can pick up the baton, as it were, and drive the distance number up.
Now in week 3, we explain to the students how the game works.
It works by the camera detecting at least one face and looking for an up and down motion on the left and right side of the camera image.
Then we give them an IMPOSSIBLE TARGET. Their weekly target this time is 500km. Thus requiring the game to played solidly for 12-24 hours per day!
However, now that they know how the game works, we tell them they can CHEAT! Totally up to them how they fiddle the game, they can use any method they want!
How do they do it?
Putting a photo of a face in front of the camera is easy enough but how to do the up and down on both sides? A robot arm? A pendulum?
They would have to work together and figure out a good system. They will have to brainstorm, research and engineer a solution. Cheating? No, innovation and teamwork.
Edward de Bono, the father of ‘lateral thinking’ really liked this idea. For a short time before I moved to Japan we met a few times and he became a partner in my company. My business partner is actually still writing a book with him. I grew up reading his ideas and using them since the 70’s!
The easiest solution, which Edward (I call him Eddie-baby) came up with immediately is to actually stick a video of a student doing the motion on a loop right in front of the camera! Simple.
But I wonder what wonderful things the students will come up with for themselves.
Let the journey begin.
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