FINAL REPORT

Digital Fieldnotes: An investigation into the relationship between

collaboration and when/where information is generated. (FRDF
3626154/9506)

Once communication between heterogeneous series is established,

all sorts of consequences follow within the system. Something
“passes” between the borders, events explode, phenomena flash,
like thunder and lightening (Deleuze, 2004 p.144)

The project brought together researchers from diverse disciplines to examine the
relationship between mobile media and collaboration, and served as a catalyst for
a network of personnel and activities that could advance both these and
emergent themes from the work. The project was grounded in the theory of
Wenger (1999) and Coyne (2010), however little stimulus was required for
potential participants to offer opinion and examples of how mobile devices
manipulate, change and adjust situations. With mobile phones proving a catalyst
for impassioned discussion and debate around information, collaboration and
group working the research stimulated a wide range of both curiosity and concern
regarding issues such as identity, synchronicity, inter-disciplinary, information
over load and interaction.

Figure 1: Group cluster of notes within the Digital Fieldnotes application.

The main thrust of the research was to develop a mobile software application
(Figure 1) to run on iPhones and iPads that could be used to test difference
suppositions on group working. Different disciplines brought approaches and
methodology for developing the application – private computing consultants and
Computer Science proved particularly adept at this. Architecture and construction
served as the focus for group working exemplars, meetings and design
discussions being the main point of interest. Business and cultural studies raised
questions and proposed workshops to test theories regarding digital media and
identity. The Geo-sciences and archaeology provided a divergent field of study
focusing on synchronicity and asynchronicity. Emergent themes have resulted
from the inter-disciplinary nature of the project and additional research continues
to be consolidated at the expiration of this project.

Activities
As proposed a mobile application was designed and deployed on iPhones and
iPads, also ‘test-cases’ were held with the mobile phone application being
deployed in various contexts.

The application: digital fieldnotes

The digital fieldnotes iPhone application aims to create a framework based on the
contextual and temporal importance of informal information during the creative
process. The application allows for the organization of informal ‘fieldnotes,’ which
can be text and imagery tagged by temporal and locative metadata. It enables
the creation of groups, and participants within a group can access all the
fieldnotes of that group.

Figure 2 Screenshots of the group selection screen and a typical 'fieldnote' containing both
text and image

The digital fieldnotes application does not presume to replace face-to-face

communication; rather it attempts to augment it by providing access to the furor
surrounding inter-disciplinary group working

Test case 1: group dynamics

The application was deployed and used at group meetings. The PI, AI and
consultants met regularly throughout the project. The application was loaded
onto the participants iPhone/iPad and used to log notes and asides related to the
project during and after the meetings.

Test case 2: problem solving

The project was deployed within a group of designers and business researchers
exploring how mobile media can be used in the context of business.
Specific objectives of the research
As outline in the research application, there were six research objectives:
1. Develop a software application: The dfn iPhone application that is
illustrated in Figure 1 & 2 has been completed. We are at the moment
negotiating its acceptance into Apples iTunes app store.
2. Use known Human Computer Interaction approaches to develop new ways
to generate and interface with temporal and locative media: Having
developed the application it has attracted a jointly supervised Masters
student, who has been appointed to explore this aspect of the research.
3. Use ReMo and eDelphi semantic mapping software to analyse the data:
We have revealed that the politics of note taking on mobile devices—such
as text messaging for example—does not adhere to semantic conventions.
This means that results that can be gained from semantically mapping
text generated on a mobile device are considerably less reliable than
semantically mapping well-written letters or documents. This has
implications for current developments in semantic mapping that may have
to consider the changing grammar conventions that operate on mobile
devices.
4. Identify when and where the application was beneficial and problematic:
Note taking during the project meetings was problematic. It became
apparent quickly that there are certain group working contexts in which
participants needed to be cognitively ‘present.’ In such contexts note
taking was problematic. It proved beneficial in more asynchronous
situations. After a meeting, after time to reflect and digest the discussion
– more pointed and reflective notes were added, often from very disparate
locations depending on when and where participants found themselves in
an environment that catalysed such reflection.
5. Publications, Output Targets & External Funding: Conference – The paper
‘i-phone therefore I am’ has been accepted to the CAADFutures (PBRF A
ranked) conference. Another paper ‘designing in techno-social landscapes’
is currently under review by the ‘Leonardo’ Journal. The other publication
proposals are scheduled in June 2011 on the project timeline.

External funding – the project has led to and is part of an application to

the Marsden Fund. The MIMEx Digital Trace project will investigate mobile
computing that enables a ‘digital trace’ of activities and experiences in
place, creating an augmented reality (AR). Widespread use of AR is a
recent occurrence and there exists a gap in the research to provide
analysis of the effect this technology exerts on place and vice versa. The
applicants will develop, test and refine guidelines and a computing
platform with targeted case study groups. The broad outcomes are
expected to be insights into how place is transformed through this
technology and how it can be effective in urban and rural landscapes.

Although the FoRST target for application is June 2011, changes in the
FoRST funding body may require a reframing of the proposed project.

Research Themes
The research was proposed to ‘seed’ future work. As the project is now wrapping
up, several themes have been consolidated, and will be explored in future
research.
Electronic Memory
A digital topography now exists between, across and folded into objects and
places. Increasingly occupants are sensitised to this digital landscape and ‘check-
in’ using 4square or facebook. Incentives are given and new invisible territories
created, existing in parallel and exerting an effect on our built environment.
Architecture has a long tradition of embedding memory in built objects. However,
can we design for this electronic memory? How does this rich digital media
influence the perception of place and space?

Identity & Linkage

Scenes of revelry in Christchurch following events in Egypt and Libya serve as a
poignant reminder that geographical identity now seems to be stronger than
ever. People can be constantly linked to their country, local newspapers, and
friends no matter where they are. What effect does this have on cultural identity?
How has cultural identity changed with this linkage? What does this mean for
multi-cultural cities? Are notions of cultural ‘indoctrination’ into a new culture
redundant? What resistances and opportunities does this produce for the
city/country as a social and cultural organ?

Inter-group dynamics
In environments that are still subject to the ravages of nature data gathering
remains an analogue process. However a new generation of smart phone and
tablet mobile computing is changing that. Although we take synchronous
communication as a given in our current situation, Within processes such as of
governance, and environmental or archaeological investigation, groups and
individuals work autonomously recording and logging data in pro-forma layouts.
Quickly identifying both inconsistencies and agreements in such environments is
important, however being able to align a single groups data can be time
consuming, let alone analysing inter-group dynamics, consistency and
resonances. The digital fieldnotes applications presents the possibility of the live
logging of data and tagging it with group as well as locative information. Can this
supposed benefit actually help inter-group working? How can we display, mine
and interact with such complex information?

Good enough = Great!

A raft of new technologies that are not ‘great’ are sweeping the digital landscape.
There strength is that they are cheaper than ‘great’ or sophisticated technology,
they are easy to use and often they can be easily appropriated for personal
modification. Design and construction continue to use sophisticated and
expensive hardware and software – is there opportunity in deploying easy to use
ad-hoc applications on mobile devices for appropriation and manipulation within
the design and construction context?

Related and Planned Projects

The project and the research cluster that has formed around the project has
contributed to the following:
1. Augmented Architecture: Current architecture/computer science
collaborative project underway. Developed under the aegis of ‘good
enough = great!’ Using handheld Augmented Reality Technology to deliver
information to its geographical location. Unlike current BIM methodology it
does not propose to detect clashes and inconsistency, which can be
registered by the small number of participants who can use these complex
softwares. Rather it proposes to free up such information and put it in the
 hands of more participants on site, providing deeper access to localised
and pertinent information.
2. Kinect to Architecture: Current architecture/computer science collaborative
project underway. The use of gaming technology to enhance navigation of
models and virtual construtions.
3. Marsden Application: Digital Trace - Memory, Interpersonal Meaning and
Experience of Places. The Digital Trace project will explore the notion of a
‘digital trace’ of activities and experiences in place, creating an augmented
reality (AR). Widespread use of AR is a recent occurrence and there exists
a gap in the research to provide analysis of the effect this technology
exerts on place and vice versa. The applicants will develop, test and refine
guidelines and a computing platform with targeted case study groups. The
broad outcomes are expected to be insights into how place is transformed
through this technology and how it can be effective in urban and rural
landscapes.
4. ConVR Conference: From the above masters projects, two submission has
been made to the PBRF ‘B’ ranked conference. They are currently under
peer review.

Project plan review

The purchase and installation of the virtual server took over 6 months of this 12-
month research project. It should take no more than 1 month. This was due to a
combination of unclear ordering procedures and inadequate communication of the
virtual server’s set up requirements through Faculty IT to ITS. The test cases
were rescheduled to accommodate later data gathering, and the volume of data
was down sized. The ethics application covered the entire duration of the project
so this did not impede the project outcomes. However, the scope of future work
could have been increase with timely delivery of the equipment.

Expenditure
Expenditure went according to the intended budget outline in the project
application. There were some fluctuation in hardware cost but these were
mitigated against other costs within the project budget. Balance as of March was
NZ$4397, final invoice of NZ$4025 (excluding GST) was submitted 4th April.