A permanent exhibit developed for BBC Birmingham’s Public Space.

‘Be On Radio’ is a multi-screen touchscreen experience where users pick a radio station and programme (based upon those broadcasting from BBC Birmingham) and then have a minute to ‘broadcast’. The touchscreen acts as a radio desk - with faders and cueing buttons - while instructions from the producer appear in the wall mounted screen. The users also have a microphone, and the whole minute is played back afterwards as it would have sounded ‘on air’.

The kiosk is based on a high spec Windows XP PC, with a pre-amp for the microphone and an amplifier and speaker for playback. Echo cancellation is handled in software, as is recording. The installation was produced in Photoshop, Avid and Flash for content and is built on Director 8.5. The housing was produced in conjunction with a set-design firm, and is a bespoke piece to hold the touchscreen and microphone sourced for the application.

Temporary interactive for BBC Birmingham. The game allowed the public to ‘conduct’ an orchestra, by waving a baton at a video screen. The faster they ‘conducted’ the faster the orchestra would play – or if they ‘conducted’ too slowly the orchestra would grind to a halt. If they’re too out of time for too long the audience will boo them off – reach the end of the piece and they get a round of applause. Have a quick look in this video:

Proms Game from bounder on Vimeo

The kiosk featured an Apple Mac Mini and a JVC LCD TV, and the conductor’s baton was a modified Nintendo Wiimote. The connection between the program and the controller was achieved by use of Darwin Remote (an open source controller driver) - the wiimote used a hand-built LED array to ascertain its position and transmits to the Mac via Bluetooth. The interactive was built with Avid and Photoshop for content and Director 8.5 for scripting.